Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
1.3 Million People With Diabetes Rationed Insulin In The Last Year
In the United States, an estimated 1.3 million adults with diabetes — 16.5 percent of those who have been prescribed insulin to manage their disease — have rationed their use of the medication in the past year, according to a report published last month in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. The researchers found that some people who ration insulin delay refilling their prescriptions, and others skip doses or take a smaller dose of insulin than needed. Insulin is a hormone, created by the pancreas, that helps the body turn food into energy and also helps control blood sugar levels. (Searing, 11/8)
In other pharmaceutical news —
The Food and Drug Administration released an alert Tuesday warning health care professionals to be "cautious" of an animal medication that has entered the illegal drug supply and been identified in overdoses. (Breen, 11/8)
David Light can’t wait to show off his tchotchkes. The curly haired scientist lights up with boyish enthusiasm when he picks up a black coffee mug from the endless array of memorabilia in his office. It’s emblazoned with the trademark lettering of Zantac, the blockbuster heartburn drug. (Edney, 11/9)
Roberta Ness is on a mission to warn pregnant people to use less acetaminophen. The epidemiologist who helped convince jurors that baby powder likely causes ovarian cancer is now equally convinced of the dangers of frequent acetaminophen use during pregnancy. (Weintraub, 11/9)
Over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety soared, and many Americans turned to antidepressant medication to help them cope. Even before the emergence of Covid, 1 in 8 American adults was taking an antidepressant drug. According to one estimate, that number rose by 18.6 percent during 2020. Zoloft is now the 12th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States. Given this, you might assume that the question of how — and how well — these drugs work has been clearly answered. And yet recent papers have challenged their efficacy and actions in the brain. Some researchers even say the medications are barely better than a placebo and ask whether they warrant such widespread use. (Smith, 11/8)
Moderna Inc must face a patent infringement lawsuit over its COVID-19 vaccines, a federal judge in Delaware ruled Wednesday, finding that the biotech company has not shown that the U.S. government should have been sued instead. (Brittain, 11/2)
GSK's blood cancer drug Blenrep failed the main goal of a late-stage study designed to show it was better than an existing treatment on the market, the company said on Monday. (Aripaka, 11/7)
Chemists specializing in nanotechnology draw inspiration from nature to create molecular transporters that optimize the release of therapeutic drugs. (University of Montreal, 11/2)
