Current Events

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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Covid-19 shots could find their way into a decades-old injury compensation program intended mostly for children’s vaccines under bipartisan legislation announced by House lawmakers Thursday.

Adding new vaccines to the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) requires either an act of Congress, or a notice and rulemaking process—which can often be lengthy. A bill by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.
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After losing out on an entire summer to the pandemic last year, Americans are eager to lather up with sunscreen and head to their nearest beaches now that vaccines have stifled coronavirus transmission in the U.S.

But a recent report found dozens of popular sunscreen products have been contaminated with a chemical, called benzene, that is known to cause cancer.

Valisure, a Connecticut-based online pharmacy and laboratory, tested and analyzed 294 unique batches from 69 different companies and found 78 sunscreen and after-sun care products contained the chemical.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators warned surgeons Thursday to stop implanting a heart pump made by Medtronic due to power failures recently tied to cases of stroke and more than a dozen deaths.

Medtronic said earlier in the day it would stop selling its Heartware assist device, which is intended to boost blood circulation in patients with heart failure.

Recent company data showed the device can unexpectedly stop working and sometimes fail to restart, the Food and Drug Administration said.
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Jeannie Wells had hoped that regular visits would resume at her elderly mother’s New York nursing home once all the residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Around Easter, her wish finally came true, and she was able to hold the 93-year-old’s hand more than a year after bringing her mother to the facility for rehabilitation for a fractured hip and knee.

But that reunion was short-lived. Visits were quickly stopped for about six weeks after an employee tested positive for COVID, and Wells said visits are still far from normal even when there haven’t been outbreaks.

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