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A closely watched Alzheimer’s drug from Eli Lilly won the backing of federal health advisers on Monday, setting the stage for the treatment’s expected approval for people with mild dementia caused by the brain-robbing disease. Food and Drug Administration advisers voted unanimously that the drug’s ability to slow the disease outweighs its risks, including side effects like brain swelling and bleeding that will have to be monitored. (Perrone, 6/10)

Scientists at the U.K.'s University of Oxford have found a potential dementia treatment from an unlikely source: Viagra. Over 5 million Americans over the age of 65 live with dementia, according to 2014 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dementia comes in different forms and is characterized by an impaired ability to remember, think and make decisions. (Dewan, 6/10)

The way we explore our environment might contribute to healthier brain aging, a new study suggests. The findings may offer new methods for staving off cognitive decline, as well as early biomarkers for Alzheimer's diagnosis. Spatial navigation is a skill we use every day, and it tends to decline as we age. Historically, this decline in navigational abilities was attributed to worsening spatial memory. But according to new research, it may also be due to changes in the ways that we explore new environments. (Dewan, 6/11)

Pfizer has been working on a vaccine for the H5N1 influenza virus since 2023 as part of the company’s “broader pandemic preparedness efforts.” The company said May 28 that a vaccine candidate has shown to provide “notable increases in antibody responses” against the virus commonly called bird flu. (George, 6/10)

A resolution aimed at overturning President Biden's controversial nursing home staffing minimums has a chance of passing the Senate. The vote would show the resistance to the first-of-its-kind standard and reveal a rift among Democrats, even though Biden would almost certainly veto the measure. (Knight and Sullivan, 6/11)

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a lawsuit by more than 200 hospitals that serve low-income populations accusing the federal government of shortchanging them on Medicare funding by about $1.5 billion per year. The hospitals, located in 32 states, are asking, opens new tab the court to overturn a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding the current method of determining funding used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (Pierson, 6/10)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it will review a lower-court’s decision that limits Medicare payments for hospitals that treat a disproportionate number of low-income patients. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the Health and Human Services Department in September. A group of 213 hospitals that filed the initial case in 2017 petitioned the Supreme Court in December to review that decision. (Kacik, 6/10)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must recalculate Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia’s Medicare Advantage star ratings, a federal court ruled Friday. Parent company Elevance Health sued over its scores in December, alleging CMS did not follow proper procedures when it modified how it assesses quality and distributes bonus payments to the highest-performing Medicare Advantage plans. SCAN Health Plan won a similar case before the same court last week. (Tepper, 6/10)

Chemical and manufacturing groups sued the federal government late Monday over a landmark drinking-water standard that would require cleanup of so-called forever chemicals linked to cancer and other health risks. The industry groups said that the government was exceeding its authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act by requiring that municipal water systems all but remove six synthetic chemicals, known by the acronym PFAS, that are present in the tap water of hundreds of millions of Americans. (Tabuchi, 6/10)

Drugmaker Amneal Pharmaceuticals (AMRX.O), opens new tab with the backing of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission convinced a New Jersey federal court on Monday to remove five Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA.TA) patents from a U.S. Food and Drug Administration list of patents covering Teva's breathing drug ProAir HFA. U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler agreed with Amneal and the FTC that Teva's patents only covered inhaler device technology, ordering it to remove the listings from the FDA's Orange Book and clearing an obstacle for Amneal's proposed generic. (Brittain, 6/10)

The White House is teaming with Microsoft and Google in a bid to help hospitals strengthen their cybersecurity in the face of escalating hacks. The tech firms have agreed to offer some hospitals free or discounted services, with a focus on rural facilities, the White House said Monday. (McAuliff, 6/10)

As the summer travel season approaches, new parents may be navigating airports with their babies — and the complexities of keeping them fed. Despite federal guidelines for airport agents laying out how to treat nursing moms, stories about problem encounters with security sometimes go viral. (Brown, 6/10)

Former President Trump on Monday virtually addressed a conservative Christian advocacy group that supports the end of abortion, telling the organization’s members if he’s reelected they would “make a comeback like just about no other group.” ... He made no mention of abortion in his remarks to the group, though he vowed to defend “innocent life” if reelected. (Samuels, 6/10)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Biden Plan To Save Medicare Patients Money On Drugs Risks Empty Shelves, Pharmacists Say

Months into a new Biden administration policy intended to lower drug costs for Medicare patients, independent pharmacists say they’re struggling to afford to keep some prescription drugs in stock.This story also ran on Fortune. It can be republished for free.“It would not matter if the governor himself walked in and said, ‘I need to get this prescription filled,’” said Clint Hopkins, a pharmacist and co-owner of Pucci’s Pharmacy in Sacramento, California. “If I’m losing money on it, it’s a no.” (Jaffe, 6/11)

Bans on flavored e-cigarettes —also known as vapes—may lead to an unintended increase in tobacco cigarette use, particularly among young adults, according to a recent analysis. Public health experts have long debated whether the availability of flavors such as fruit, candy, and mint significantly attract young people to vape products. Over the last decade, the immense popularity of vaping brands like Juul has led to piecemeal restrictions on flavored varieties. (The FDA banned Juul outright in 2022, but recently reversed course.) (Mesa, 6/10)

The U.S. Justice Department and the Food and Drug Administration on Monday launched a new task force that will take aim at the sale and distribution of illicit e-cigarettes, in a move to protect youth from illegal vaping products. The new enforcement effort comes after the FDA issued more than 1,100 warning letters to manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers for illegally selling or distributing unauthorized new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. (Lynch, 6/10)

A multi-agency coalition of law enforcement agents will begin tackling the unruly market of illegal e-cigarettes, under pressure from antismoking groups, lawmakers and the tobacco industry urging federal authorities to stop the flood of vaping devices favored by adolescents. The Justice Department and the Food and Drug Administration announced the new effort, which is expected to target fruit- and candy-flavored vapes containing high levels of addictive nicotine. (Jewett, 6/10)

Gun suicides consistently outstrip gun homicides in the U.S., despite drawing less attention than other forms of gun violence. Suicide rates have increased in the U.S. over the past few decades and become a leading cause of death among young and middle-aged Americans. (Saric, 6/10)

On a typical day, Ali Mullen races from her job at the county health department in Helena, Mont. ... a big pack of gummy bears keeps her going, stashed in her handbag next to a different sort of lifesaver: a gun lock that she carries almost everywhere she goes. In a sparsely populated state where many people own firearms, the small metal contraptions, which fit around a trigger and cost less than $10 on Amazon, are one way Montanans are trying to reduce the high rate of people who kill themselves. (Corkery, 6/10)

Families of survivors of the Robb Elementary School shooting are suing the package shipping companies UPS and FedEx for allegedly violating state and federal law and their own corporate safety standards. The lawsuit was filed on the two-year mark of the shooting, which saw a gunman enter the school and murder 19 children and two teachers. The families said the shipping companies bear responsibility for the trauma and distress caused to the survivors of the massacre. (Padilla, 6/10)

The Summit High School auditorium is dark when these words crawl across the screen: “While you are watching this film, three people will be die by suicide in the U.S. alone. This film will help change that.” “Feel It All,” by professional skier Drew Petersen, aims big, with the goal of exposing the dark corners of mental illness that haunt mountain communities. (Blevins, 6/10)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says consumers should avoid eating shellfish from Oregon and Washington state as they may be contaminated with toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning. At least 31 people have been sickened in Oregon so far, according to state health officials. (Rush, 6/10)

At least eight people in four states have fallen ill after eating Diamond Shruumz-brand Microdosing Chocolate Bars, including several who had seizures or lost consciousness and needed to be placed on ventilators. People also developed high blood pressure and abnormal heart rates. The Food and Drug Administration has warned people against consuming the bars, which are sold online and in smoke shops across the country and come in flavors like birthday cake and cookies and cream. (Blum, 6/10)

In the first three months of 2024, there were 323 active drug shortages, the highest number since 2001, according to research by the University of Utah Drug Information Service. The drug shortage data, collected quarterly, is generated from reports from health-care professionals, most of them pharmacists at hospitals and health systems, said Erin Fox, the lead researcher and the Drug Information Service’s director. (McMahan, 6/10)

New surveillance data released today by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) shows dramatically rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) amid a substantial increase in gonorrhea infections. Of the 4,396 Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates submitted by 23 European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries to the European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme in 2022, 25.6% were resistant to azithromycin, compared with 14.2% in 2021. (Dall, 6/10)

If you have heard of titanium dioxide at all, you probably know it as an ingredient in sunscreen. But it is also used in lots of foods, from pizza and salsa to frosting and candy—and now, there is growing concern about the potential health risks of eating it. The ingredient helps block the sun’s rays when we slather it on our skin at the beach. Food makers use it to brighten up colors. ... Some research, mainly in animals, has suggested that eating it might be linked to immune system problems, inflammation and DNA damage that could lead to cancer. (Petersen, 6/10)

A large number of electric vehicles could worsen air quality in historically disadvantaged parts of Los Angeles, even though such broad adoption would have the opposite effect in other large U.S. cities, according to a new study. The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, examined how local air quality would change if the country’s most populous cities — New York, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles — adopted large numbers of EVs by 2035. (Ferris, 6/10)

For years, scientists on the hunt for microplastics have found them almost everywhere. First, they spotted tiny pieces of plastic in the ocean, in the bodies of fish and mussels. ... Now researchers are discovering that microplastics are floating around us. They are suspended in the air on city streets and inside homes. One study found that people inhale or ingest on average 74,000 to 121,000 microplastic particles per year through breathing, eating and drinking. (Ducroquet and Osaka, 6/10)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Bird Flu Tests Are Hard To Get. So How Will We Know When To Sound The Pandemic Alarm? 

Stanford University infectious disease doctor Abraar Karan has seen a lot of patients with runny noses, fevers, and irritated eyes lately. Such symptoms could signal allergies, covid, or a cold. This year, there’s another suspect, bird flu — but there’s no way for most doctors to know. If the government doesn’t prepare to ramp up H5N1 bird flu testing, he and other researchers warn, the United States could be caught off guard again by a pandemic. (Maxmen and Allen, 6/11)

Abbott Laboratories said on Monday the U.S. health regulator had cleared the company's two new over-the-counter glucose monitoring devices, expanding its presence in a fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar market. The devices, one for the health-conscious and another for those with diabetes, follow the company's FreeStyle Libre, which generates over $1 billion every quarter and is sold under prescription for patients with diabetes. (Jain and Roy, 6/10)

The soaring popularity of weight-loss drugs are likely to spur demand for dietary supplements and healthier food formulations, creating growth opportunities for dsm-firmenich, the CEO of the flavours to nutrition company told Reuters. Drugs such as Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO) Wegovy and Ozempic have taken the health industry by storm, offering the prospect of significant weight loss for obese people when combined with lifestyle changes such as healthier eating and exercise. (Rhodes and Allievi, 6/10)

Addus HomeCare extended its reach into the personal care space Monday, announcing a $350 million deal to acquire Gentiva’s home care business. The acquisition will help the Frisco, Texas-based company expand its footprint in Arizona, Arkansas, California and Tennessee and provide personal care services in three new states: Missouri, Texas and North Carolina. Addus already provides hospice services in Texas. (Eastabrook, 6/10)

Oscar Health is committed to the individual insurance market and in it for the long haul, executives said Friday. At the company's annual investor conference, senior leaders shared plans to shift Oscar Health's focus from traditional Affordable Care Act coverage to serving the individual market — including small and mid-sized employers — through individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements or ICHRAs. (Berryman, 6/10)

Health systems are planning more construction projects focused on long-term growth and outpatient care, often renovating and repurposing existing facilities to support new services. About 60% of respondents to Modern Healthcare's 2024 Construction and Design Survey said the healthcare construction industry is growing, though inflation, high material costs and labor shortages continue to present challenges. (DeSilva, 6/10)

Major retailers are abandoning or scaling back their ambitions to become health care providers — but don't look for them to pull out of the market entirely. Retailers hoping to grab a bigger piece of the $4.5 trillion health care market are likely to lean into their core strengths: consumer products, alongside some health services that don't require major investments, experts said. (Reed, 6/11)

Ascension is pushing to restore all electronic health records this week, and many of the affected states in its footprint are back online. Ascension has restored access to health records in Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Wisconsin and part of Texas, according to the nonprofit health system's website. That leaves facilities in four states and Washington, D.C., waiting to come back online. (Hudson and Broderick, 6/10)

Less than one month after Ascension confirmed a data breach, the health system is staring down six class action lawsuits. Filed in courts from Texas to Tennessee, the separate complaints allege that Ascension failed to properly safeguard patients' personal health information. The plaintiffs—all patients of the 140-hospital system, which operates in 19 states and the District of Columbia—seek monetary damages and injunctive and declaratory relief. (Kayser, 6/10)

Healthcare payments company Waystar on Friday became the first digital health and healthcare technology-focused company to go public since 2022. The response was tepid. On the first day of trading, shares closed at $20.70 a share, down 3.72% from the $21.50 per share offering price. Still, the 45 million shares in its initial public offering meant Waystar raised raised $967.5 million. (Turner, 6/10)

Teladoc ended a two-month search for a new CEO on Monday by tapping a former health insurance executive as its new leader. The Purchase, New York-based telehealth said it hired Charles "Chuck" Divita III as its CEO effective immediately. Divita previously served as an executive vice president focused on commercial markets for GuideWell, the parent company to health insurer Florida Blue. Divita also joined Teladoc's board of directors. (Turner, 6/10)

OSF HealthCare President Sister Diane Marie McGrew died Sunday. McGrew was 57, a spokesperson for the organization said. She had faced ovarian and uterine cancer over the past five years, according to a Monday news release. (DeSilva, 6/10)

A small longitudinal household study suggests sharing of Clostridioides difficile strains is a common event in families caring for an infant, US researchers reported today in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. ... Although they were unable to demonstrate the directionality of C difficile transmission with certainty, the study authors say the data from the study support adding asymptomatically excreting infants and their families to the list of potential sources of community-associated CDI. (Dall, 6/10)

It’s a familiar scene for patients during a routine primary care visit. The doctor scans blood test results, notes high cholesterol flagged by a standard calculator to assess risk of heart attack or stroke, then decides — and ideally discusses — whether to recommend taking a statin to cut the risk over time. (Cooney, 6/10)

When temperatures soar, so do heart attacks. Now, a lab experiment explains just how temperatures climbing into Fahrenheit’s three-digits can cause ischemia and potential heart attacks, all while international efforts to limit long-term warming seem like they’re running out of time. (Cooney, 6/10)

Women have always been underrepresented in medical research. A new study reveals that not much has changed, especially when it comes to tests of cardiovascular devices. (Lawrence, 6/10)

Evidence that weight-loss drugs like Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO) Wegovy and Eli Lilly's (LLY.N) Zepbound can cut heart disease risk, treat sleep apnea and address other health issues may help convince more men to use them, five doctors who prescribe the medicines regularly told Reuters. Men prefer to shed extra pounds with diet and exercise changes before reaching for drugs, if they address their weight at all, doctors and three healthcare industry analysts said in interviews. (Satija and Roy, 6/10)

Want to reduce your risk of developing chronic disease and live longer while also helping the planet? Eat a plant-based diet, experts say. Does that mean you can fill your plate with boxed macaroni and cheese, deep-dish frozen veggie pizza or fast-food French fries and have a doughnut or three for dessert? While all of those ultraprocessed choices may be meat-free, they are not without risk, said Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and senior teaching fellow at Aston Medical School in Birmingham, United Kingdom. (LaMotte, 6/10)

A U.S. biotech company received Food and Drug Administration approval recently to run a clinical trial in America for Heberprot-P, a drug developed in Cuba nearly two decades ago that helps heal diabetes foot ulcers that could otherwise lead to amputation. About 1 in 3 people with diabetes develop a foot ulcer during their lives, according to an article last year in JAMA. In the U.S., 1.6 million people are affected. About half of diabetic foot ulcers become infected, and 1 in 5 of those lead to amputation. (Paun, Payne, Odejimi, Schumaker and Reader, 6/10)

Nearly half of people with upper-limb prosthetics abandon them. They’re often uncomfortable, dysfunctional or just don’t feel like a part of someone’s body. But in a recent study in iScience, researchers made an unusual choice. They used virtual reality to try out bionic tools like tweezers or wrenches as hand prosthetics. The participants felt as or even more embodied with these tools compared with a “natural” hand. (Broderick, 6/11)

Ray Hart’s vocabulary consisted of just one word after his August 2022 stroke. “Yep” was all he could say, said Pamela Jenkins, his caregiver and partner of 24 years. Like many survivors, Hart, 62, can understand what’s said to him almost as well as he could before the stroke, but it’s still hard for him to form complete sentences. Now, though, a year after adding music therapy to his rehabilitation schedule, he can sing them. (Dix, 6/10)

New findings from a US survey from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) scientists concludes that 6.9% of US adults—or almost 18 million adults—have ever had long COVID as of early 2023, confirming the results of previous surveys. AHRQ fielded the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to a sample of 17,418 adults, which extrapolates to 259 million adults. The research was published late last week in JAMA. (Van Beusekom, 6/10)

Treatment with the antiviral drug nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) was linked to a 34% lower risk of all-cause hospitalization among COVID-19 patients aged 12 to 17 years, University of Hong Kong researchers report in Nature Communications. The investigators conducted an observational study that incorporated design characteristics from a hypothetical, randomized controlled trial among 49,378 non-hospitalized pediatric COVID-19 patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. (Van Beusekom, 6/10)

Moderna’s combined coronavirus-influenza shot produced a higher immune response in older adults than separate vaccines for those viruses administered together, according to data the company released Monday. The promising results from clinical trials, which have yet to be peer reviewed and published in a medical journal, could offer a new option to boost paltry uptake of updated coronavirus vaccines. Moderna officials say the earliest that the combined vaccine could hit the market is fall 2025, pending regulatory approval. (Nirappil, 6/10)

Moderna (MRNA.O) said on Monday its combination vaccine to protect against both COVID-19 and influenza generated a stronger immune response in adults aged 50 and over when compared to separate shots against the viruses in a late-stage trial. In the study, the combination using messenger RNA technology generated greater antibodies than currently marketed traditional flu vaccines and Moderna's Spikevax mRNA COVID shot, the company said. (Wingrove, 6/10)

GSK said that a plaintiff in an Illinois lawsuit against the company voluntarily dismissed her case, one of many legal disputes alleging its discontinued drug Zantac caused cancer. The British pharmaceutical giant said late Monday that the trial was scheduled to start yesterday in Illinois, adding that it didn’t reach a settlement nor made any payments in exchange for the voluntary case dismissal. (Smolak, 6/11)

GSK and other drugmakers on Monday asked a Delaware court for permission to appeal a ruling allowing more than 70,000 lawsuits claiming that heartburn drug Zantac causes cancer to go forward. If Judge Vivian Medinilla of Delaware Superior Court grants the petition, which is also joined by Pfizer, Sanofi, and Boehringer Ingelheim, the appeal will go directly to the Delaware Supreme Court. If she denies it, GSK said, the companies will ask the Supreme Court directly to hear the case. (Pierson, 6/11)

A double lung transplant has given Michelle Knight, of Oak Forest, a new lease on life when she might have given up. Even with the sometimes grueling recovery period, which included being on a ventilator right after surgery, intense rehabilitation and taking 25 pills daily to ward off rejection and infection, Knight, 64, is upbeat about the entire experience. (Neumann, 6/10)

After 2-year-old Mateo died from drowning, his donated organs saved other people’s lives. His family found solace in knowing that his liver went to an infant and his kidneys to two adults. The heart, though, felt like the most powerful gift. Because they can hear it, still. (Brown, 6/10)

Louisiana lawmakers approved a bill to remove the state's total ban on raw milk sales, joining the majority of the country where the product is already available, if and when Gov. Jeff Landry signs the legislation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that consuming raw milk comes with big health risks, and that concern is growing as avian flu infects America's dairy cows. (Brasted, 6/10)

Missouri advocates for a federal program compensating people who became sick after exposure to radiation from World War II-era nuclear weapons programs are frustrated and outraged over a congressional stalemate. (Rosenbaum and Grumke, 6/10)

Planned Parenthood is asking a Missouri judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general alleging the clinic is transporting minors out of state for abortions. The lawsuit was filed based on an undercover video filmed by a man affiliated with a right-wing group pretending to be the uncle of a 13-year-old in need of an abortion whose parents couldn’t know. (Spoerre, 6/11)

When Faith Comas started wrestling in high school, she was one of just two girls on her team. The 18-year-old Cicero teen, who has dreams of wrestling in college, said that often meant everyone supporting her through her sport –– teammates, coaches and trainers –– was male. “When I got hurt a couple years ago, we had a male physical therapist, and he was really lax about it,” Comas said. “He just told me I’m ‘good to go.’ Having an environment for women would’ve been a lot more comfortable and better for healing the injury long term.” (Kalra, 6/11)

Baltimore City Council members said Monday they would hold a series of hearings on the city government’s response to its overdose epidemic, following an examination by The New York Times and The Baltimore Banner. The public safety and health committees announced they would meet at least four times on the topic in the coming months, starting in July. (Sullivan, Thieme, Zhu and Willis, 6/10)

Baltimore went its own way and has won part of a potentially billion-dollar lawsuit against opioid distributors. Pharmaceutical company Allergan will pay the city a $45 million settlement within 30 days for its role in the opioid epidemic, the mayor’s office said in a news release Monday. (Mullan, 6/10)

For nearly 40 years, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) has protected my patients' access to emergency medical care. The law guarantees that patients in critical condition, including those in active labor, cannot be turned away from emergency departments. However, the Supreme Court will soon hear a case brought by the state of Idaho—and will determine whether or not hospitals across the country are allowed to provide abortion care to women experiencing emergencies. (Juhi Varshney, 6/11)

By now, you would think Democrats’ warnings that Republicans are coming after reproductive rights, including contraception, would be heeded. But, predictably, Republicans cry foul and deny any thought of snatching away contraception access. Ah, but along came felon and former president Donald Trump who let slip he was “looking at” contraception restrictions; then he backpedaled once he realized too much candor was politically disastrous. (Jennifer Rubin, 6/10)

As a co-leader of the team at the National Institutes of Health that developed technologies powering a number of Covid-19 vaccines, I often speak publicly about vaccine science, even though I no longer work for the government. After my talks, people often approach me, almost always thanking me for my work. There is no denying the millions of lives that Covid-19 vaccines saved. Sometimes, though, they relate stories of vaccine injuries. (Kizzmekia S. Corbett-Helaire, 6/11)

Multi-cancer early detection tests (MCEDs), sometimes called liquid biopsy tests, are a new method of detecting cancer early. While the concept is promising, these untested tests currently pose significant problems. (Sanket S. Dhruva and Rita F. Redberg, 6/11)

You may have seen advertisements claiming to eliminate the need for eyeglasses through vision therapy or vision training — basically, eye exercises. These exercises include putting pressure on or palming the eye; eye movement exercises; or straining to read by using the wrong prescription glasses to “train” the eyes. As a professor of ophthalmology — and as an eye doctor who has seen thousands of patients — I can tell you that no study to date shows strong evidence that these exercises eliminate the need for glasses or offer any long-term significant benefits. The science simply isn’t there. (Benjamin Botsford, 6/10)