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RFK Jr. Finally Got a Confirmation Hearing. What Comes Next?
After weeks of watching his fellow nominees advance to hearings and votes, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will finally get his moment in the Capitol spotlight as he faces his long-awaited Senate confirmation hearing.
Kennedy’s hearing to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is scheduled for Jan. 29 at 10 a.m. He will face questions from members of the Senate Finance Committee, which directly oversees the department. The scion of the Democratic political dynastic family and namesake of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who ran against Trump in an independent — and notoriously eventful — bid for president, was nominated back in November.
But despite being selected just weeks after President Donald Trump won the election, Kennedy’s nomination languished for almost two months, with The Washington Post reporting the delay was likely due to the Office of Government Ethics still reviewing his financial disclosure forms and assessing whether they presented any conflicts of interest.
Why a Common Asthma Drug Will Now Carry Extra Safety Warnings About Depression
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) recently issued a safety alert requiring extra warnings to be included with the asthma and hay fever drug montelukast. The warnings are for users and their families to look for signs of serious behaviour and mood-related changes, such as suicidal thoughts and depression.
The new warnings need to be printed at the start of information leaflets given to both patients and health-care providers (sometimes called a “boxed” warning). So why did the TGA issue this warning? And is there cause for concern if you or a family member uses montelukast? Here’s what you need to know.
The possibility that this drug may cause behavioural changes is not new information. Manufacturers knew this as early as 2007 and issued warnings for possible side-effects including depression, suicidality and anxiousness. Montelukast is known to potentially induce a number of behaviour and mood changes, including agitation, anxiety, depression, irritability, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and suicidal thoughts and actions.
Bird Flu: Vaccines May Drive Virus Evolution
Vaccinating birds against bird flu reduces the spread of the disease, but may have unintended consequences. This is the warning of a new paper in the journal Science Advances, which concluded that vaccinating against the highly pathogenic H5 subtype of avian influenza virus may drive viral evolution.
One such H5 bird flu is the H5N1 virus currently causing an outbreak of bird flu across the U.S. — killing which has killed one person to date — and the H5N6 bird flu currently spreading around birds in China. 67 cases of H5N1 bird flu have been recorded in humans since the beginning of 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 38 of which were in California, 10 in Colorado, 11 in Washington, and the rest scattered around Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin. Louisiana reported the first H5 bird flu death in the U.S. on Jan. 6 this year.
In the paper, the researchers describe how they analyzed changes in the hemagglutinin sequences from worldwide viral samples between 1996 and 2023 across the world, to determine how fast the virus was evolving in different parts of the world.
They found that transmission of the virus from wild birds to unvaccinated poultry was more common than transmission to vaccinated poultry, indicating that vaccination does help stem the spread of the disease.
However, the researchers also found that countries where poultry are vaccinated against H5 bird flu — specifically China — saw a faster rate of viral evolution compared to those where poultry is not vaccinated.
Sacklers Reach New $7.4 Billion Settlement Over Opioid Crisis
Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family that own the company have agreed to a $7.4 billion settlement in principle with 15 states to resolve thousands of lawsuits filed over the role they allegedly played in fomenting the long-running opioid crisis in the U.S.
The tentative agreement in a federal bankruptcy court adds $1.4 billion to a previous deal that had been scuttled last year by the U.S. Supreme Court over the insistence of some Sackler family members who sought immunity from future lawsuits. That demand prompted objections because — unlike Purdue, which marketed OxyContin — none of the Sacklers themselves had filed for bankruptcy protection.
Under the new terms, the Sacklers would not receive immunity, but will pay $6.5 billion, which is $500 million more than their initial $6 billion offer. However, the states, municipalities, Native American tribes, and individuals who filed suit will now have to set aside hundreds of millions of dollars in an account that the Sackler family members could use to defend against any cases.
Researchers Track Sharp Increase in Diagnoses for Sedative, Hypnotic and Anxiety Use Disorder in Young Adults
The prevalence of diagnosed disorders from recurrent use of sedative, hypnotic and antianxiety medications in adolescents and young adults has increased sharply since 2001, according to Rutgers Health researchers. Their study, published in Addiction, examined diagnoses of these disorders in adolescents and young adults between 2001 to 2019.
Sedative, hypnotic and antianxiety medications are used to treat a variety of conditions, including sleep and anxiety disorders. According to Harvard Health, consistent use of these drugs can lead to a higher tolerance for their effects, meaning patients require higher doses to achieve the intended effects.
For some, a problematic pattern of use of these medications can lead to significant impairment and distress. When this happens, patients may be diagnosed with sedative, hypnotic or anxiolytic use disorders, which are estimated to impact 2.2 million Americans, according to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Research Indicates Recreational Ketamine Use Is on the Rise
Recreational ketamine use has increased in the U.S. in recent years, outpacing its rise as a treatment for depression, a new analysis suggests. The hallucinogenic drug — a controlled substance designed for use as an anesthetic — has been touted for its potential as a therapy for depression.
The recent study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, used data from the 2015-2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to gauge ketamine use among U.S. adults.
In 2015, 0.11% of 214,500 survey respondents reported using ketamine; by 2019, the percentage had risen to 0.20%, an 81.8% increase. Recreational ketamine use rose to 0.28% of respondents between 2021 and 2022.
