Current Events

WASHINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) - Consumer Reports said Tuesday that Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) "Full Self-Driving" software lacks safeguards and raised concerns the system's use on public roads puts the public at risk citing reports from drivers.

The influential consumer publication cited videos posted on social media of drivers using it and raised concerns about issues, including "vehicles missing turns, scraping against bushes, and heading toward parked cars."

Consumer Reports said it plans to independently test the software update known as FSD Beta 9, as soon as its Model Y receives the update.

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NEW YORK, July 20 (Reuters) - The three largest U.S. drug distributors agreed mid-trial to pay up to $1.18 billion to settle claims by New York state and two of its biggest counties over their role in the nationwide opioid epidemic, the state's attorney general said on Tuesday.

McKesson Corp (MCK.
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Ford on Friday announced several recalls affecting roughly 850,000 trucks, cars and SUVs.

The recalls include 34,939 Ford F-350 Super Duty vehicles for rear axle issues and 40,995 Lincoln Aviator vehicles for improperly secured battery cable wire harnesses. The largest recall is 774,696 2013-2017 Explorer vehicles following six allegations of injuries related to a seized cross-axis ball joint.

Drivers of the affected SUVs may notice “a clunk noise, unusual handling, or a misaligned rear wheel,” according to a Friday news release.

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Pfizer has announced a recall of varenicline, the anti-smoking drug sold under the brand name Chantix, for the second time in two weeks. Both recalls, the latest on Friday, concern the presence of N-nitroso-varenicline.

Pfizer says these lots have more than the company’s, not the FDA’s, acceptable daily Intake level.

“Long-term ingestion of N-nitroso-varenicline may be associated with a theoretical potential increased cancer risk in humans, but there is no immediate risk to patients taking this medication,” says the Pfizer-written, FDA-posted recall notice. “The health benefits of stopping smoking outweigh the theoretical potential cancer risk from the nitrosamine impurity in varenicline.
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The FDA’s approval of a new Alzheimer’s treatment — the first one in almost two decades — should have been a cause for celebration. Instead, it has become a scientific and financial mess.

Why it matters: Experts from all corners of the health care world fear the FDA’s decision will undermine medical standards, explode the federal budget and fill millions of desperate people with false hope.

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Jurors on New York’s Long Island are set to determine whether a group of opioid makers and drug distributors created a public health crisis and should pay for it, in a bellwether trial for lawsuits filed by communities across the U.S.

Endo International Plc, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and McKesson Corp. are among the companies that New York Attorney General Letitia James and Nassau and Suffolk counties say made billions of dollars selling the highly addictive pills while illegally marketing them or turning a blind eye to suspiciously large orders.
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June 24 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Thursday it is pausing distribution of its anti-smoking treatment, Chantix, after finding elevated levels of cancer-causing agents called nitrosamines in the pills.

The drugmaker is recalling a number of lots of the anti-smoking drug. The U.S.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Deaths among Medicare patients in nursing homes soared by 32% last year, with two devastating spikes eight months apart, a government watchdog reported Tuesday in the most comprehensive look yet at the ravages of COVID-19 among its most vulnerable victims.

The report from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services found that about 4 in 10 Medicare recipients in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020, and that deaths overall jumped by 169,291 from the previous year, before the coronavirus appeared.

“We knew this was going to be bad, but I don’t think even those of us who work in this area thought it was going to be this bad,” said Harvard health policy professor David Grabowski, a nationally recognized expert on long-term care, who reviewed the report for The Associated Press.

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AMSTERDAM, June 14 (Reuters) - Dutch medical equipment company Philips (PHG.AS) has recalled some breathing devices and ventilators because of a foam part that might degrade and become toxic, potentially causing cancer, it said on Monday.

Foam used to dampen the machines' sound can degrade and emit small particles that irritate airways, the group said as it announced the recall. Gases released by the degrading foam may also be toxic or carry cancer risks.

Philips Chief Executive Frans van Houten said the company was one of the largest makers of sleep apnea machines and ventilators.
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The latest recall of type 2 diabetes drug metformin was made Friday by Viola Pharmaceuticals, which pulled two lots of 750 mg tablets.

This is Viola’s first metformin recall. But, the cause is the same as the many previous metformin recalls over the last 13 months: too much NDMA (N-nitrosodimethylamine), a probable carcinogen (cancer-causing ingredient) in the tablets.

Another rerun from previous recalls is the companion advice to keep taking the recalled metformin until you come up with a replacement treatment in consultation with a doctor or pharmacist. The amount of NDMA in the drug doesn’t make it instantly lethal, but slightly increases the chance of getting cancer.
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New York’s powerful hospital groups have taken steps to get a federal COVID-19 lawsuit against a Long Island nursing home tossed — calling it a potentially precedent-setting case that could have damaging, “far-ranging consequences” for the industry.

The Greater New York Hospital Association and NYS Health Care Association filed papers in Brooklyn federal court on Friday challenging the suit brought by Vivian Zayas, whose mom died of coronavirus last year following her stay at Our Lady of Consolation.

Zayas, who sued last August, is seeking to hold the West Islip nursing home liable in her mom’s death, saying it failed to take adequate preventative measures to keep the killer bug from spreading.

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