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A U.S. bankruptcy judge has blocked New Mexico and Mississippi from pursuing lawsuits accusing Johnson & Johnson of misleading consumers about the safety of its talc products, such as its baby powder, for now. (Knauth and Pierson, 10/5)

More than 100 researchers, scientists and public health professionals want fentanyl-related substances to no longer be Schedule I drugs — saying a different classification has the potential to unlock research for more drugs to treat opioid addiction. As first reported in Pulse, the experts outlined their concerns in a letter Tuesday, sent to the White House along with leaders at the DEA, DOJ and HHS. They ask the administration to overturn a temporary Trump-era decision to tightly restrict all substances related to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. (Payne and Mahr, 10/5)

Telehealth company Ro has reached an agreement with the National Institute on Aging to create a registry of patients that could participate in Alzheimer’s disease research, a new approach to tackle the stubborn issue of recruitment for clinical trials. (Aguilar, 10/6)

Here in the U.S., it’s “in” to study the social determinants of health. The opposite is true for the commercial determinants of health, which studies the ways businesses impact public health. As one researcher bluntly put it, the field is all about “when companies profit from making us sick.” (Florko, 10/6)