Medicine

The Wall Street Journal reports: A pharmaceutical nonprofit was granted priority review from the Food and Drug Administration to make an inexpensive overdose-reversal drug for use without a prescription. Harm Reduction Therapeutics Inc. said its 3 milligram nasal spray naloxone formulation, called Rivive, had three times higher concentration in the blood of 36 participants than naloxone delivered as a shot. …

CBS News reports: As the holidays near and health care facilities grapple with a “tripledemic” of viral respiratory infections, people are being urged to consider donning masks and calling out sick. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked seasonal spikes in influenza, Sars-CoV-2 — the virus that causes Covid-19 — and respiratory syncytial virus or RSV, three viruses …

From the study’s abstract: The rise in working-age mortality rates in the United States in recent decades largely reflects stalled declines in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality alongside rising mortality from alcohol-induced causes, suicide, and drug poisoning; and it has been especially severe in some U.S. states. Building on recent work, this study examined whether U.S. state policy contexts may be …

Reuters reports: Another wave of COVID-19 infections may have begun in Europe as cases begin to tick up across the region, the World Health Organization and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Wednesday. “Although we are not where we were one year ago, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is still not over,” WHO’s Europe …

Politico reports: The Biden administration is racing against the dropping temperatures to convince more Americans to get the updated Covid-19 booster shot amid low uptake numbers driven by confusion over the shot, declining cases and profound pandemic fatigue. By the end of last week, the administration expected between 13 and 15 million people out of 283.4 million Americans aged 12 …

USA Today reports: The NFL and NFL Players Association’s investigation into Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s evaluation for a concussion found both independent medical professionals and team medical staff followed the league’s concussion protocols, in a statement released Saturday. The biggest takeaway from the NFL’s findings: “The outcome in this case is not what was intended when the protocols were …

Via press release from the CDC: With a potentially severe respiratory season ahead, about half of all US adults remain vulnerable to influenza (flu), according to new data released today by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). The new NFID survey of US adults found that only 49% plan to get a flu vaccine during the 2022-2023 flu season. …

Ars Technica reports: Pharmacy giants CVS and Walmart will have to face trials over claims that placing ineffective homeopathic products alongside legitimate over-the-counter medicines on store shelves deceives consumers into thinking that the pseudoscientific products are akin to evidence-based, Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs. The claims come from the nonprofit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which filed nearly identical lawsuits …

The Washington Post reports: An experimental Alzheimer’s drug slowed cognitive and functional decline by 27 percent in a closely watched clinical trial, the sponsors of the medication said Tuesday, increasing the therapy’s chance for approval as soon as early next year. Japanese drugmaker Eisai and its American partner, Biogen, in a news release said the slowing of deterioration, compared with …

The Hill reports: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning young people against engaging in an online trend that challenges people to cook with over-the-counter drugs, saying there are “significant risks” in using these medications incorrectly. At the beginning of this year, the trend took off on social media apps such as TikTok, where users would post videos of …

From the National Institutes of Health: A Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the antiviral tecovirimat, also known as TPOXX, is now enrolling adults and children with monkeypox infection in the United States. Study investigators aim to enroll more than 500 people from clinical research sites nationwide. Interested volunteers can visit the ACTG website for more information. The trial is sponsored …

Via press release from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul: WHEREAS, a case of paralytic polio was identified on July 21, 2022, in an unvaccinated resident of Rockland County who had no international travel during the incubation period for polio; WHEREAS, the poliovirus that infected the Rockland County individual has been identified as a case of vaccine-derived poliovirus, the last of …

The Advocate reports: A federal judge in Texas has ruled partially in favor of plaintiffs that argued that requiring insurance companies to cover medications for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, violates their rights on religious grounds. Jonathan Mitchell, who founded a one-person law firm in 2018 intending to challenge decades-old Supreme Court rulings, brought the case Braidwood Management Inc., vs. …

CBS News reports: The Biden administration’s planned fall COVID-19 booster campaign cleared a key regulatory hurdle, after the Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday it has authorized updated shots adapted for the Omicron variant of the virus for Americans as young as 12 years old. People could get the new booster as little as 2 months after their last shot …

ABC News reports: U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020, according to a government report being released Wednesday. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimated American lifespan has shortened by nearly three years. The last comparable decrease happened in the early 1940s, during the height …

Bloomberg Law reports: Moderna Inc. said it’s suing Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, claiming the technology in the partners’ Covid-19 shot infringes on its patents, a move that sets the stage for a massive legal clash between the three vaccine titans. Moderna, in a statement Friday, accused Pfizer and BioNTech of violating intellectual property protecting key elements of Moderna’s messenger …

USA Today reports: Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill appears to provide little or no benefit for younger adults, while still reducing the risk of hospitalization and death for high-risk seniors, according to a large study published Wednesday. The results from a 109,000-patient Israeli study are likely to renew questions about the U.S. government’s use of Paxlovid, which has become the go-to treatment …

The Associated Press reports: Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Monday to authorize its combination COVID-19 vaccine that adds protection against the newest omicron relatives — a key step toward opening a fall booster campaign. The Food and Drug Administration ordered vaccine makers to tweak their shots to target BA.4 and BA.5 that are better than ever at dodging immunity from earlier …

As if COVID, monkeypox, and polio wasn’t enough: The Health Department today announced that West Nile virus (WNV) has been detected in two people and a record number of WNV-infected mosquitoes have been detected in New York City (NYC) across all five boroughs. Mosquitoes infected with WNV are typically present in NYC from July through October, with peak activity during …

The New York Times reports: Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Wednesday delivered a sweeping rebuke of her agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying it had failed to respond quickly enough and needed to be overhauled. In a meeting with senior staff, Dr. Walensky outlined in broad terms a plan …