Login
The Supreme Court Rejects a Nationwide Opioid Settlement With OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would have shielded members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids but also would have provided billions of dollars to combat the opioid epidemic.
After deliberating more than six months, the justices in a 5-4 vote blocked an agreement hammered out with state and local governments and victims. The Sacklers would have contributed up to $6 billion and given up ownership of the company but retained billions more. The agreement provided that the company would emerge from bankruptcy as a different entity, with its profits used for treatment and prevention.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said “nothing in present law authorizes the Sackler discharge.” Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor dissented. “Opioid victims and other future victims of mass torts will suffer greatly in the wake of today’s unfortunate and destabilizing decision,” Kavanaugh wrote.
It’s unclear what happens next, though people involved in the case said they expect talks to resume. The members of the Sackler family branches who own Purdue suggested they’ll return to negotiations.
Startup’s ‘Fentanyl Vaccine’ Aims to Block Drug’s Highs, Overdoses
A new startup called Ovax Inc. has raised $10 million to develop a vaccine to prevent fentanyl deaths, aiming to commercialize academic research that prevents the drug from reaching the brain.
The startup has licensed intellectual property from researchers at the University of Houston who have successfully tested a fentanyl vaccine in rats. Ovax, which officially launches this week, plans to begin the first human trials of the vaccine early next year. If successful, the vaccine will block users of fentanyl from getting high or overdosing on the drug.
CDC Immunization Advisers Vote to Shrink Recommendations for RSV Vaccination
The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine showdown already saw a shake-up last month with a new competitor in Moderna’s mRESVIA. Now, all three vaccine offerings face a potentially shrunken market.
In an unconventional move, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) revised recommendations for RSV vaccinations in what could be viewed as a smaller population.
For what will be only the second RSV season with available vaccines, the panel unanimously voted to recommend that adults aged 75 years and older and those aged 60 to 74 with a higher risk of severe disease due to underlying medical conditions receive a single lifetime dose.
With a recent potential link identified between the shots and the rare neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), the committee changed its tune on the lower-risk RSV population.
Moderna Dives 11% After RSV Vaccine Proves Less Effective Than Pfizer, GSK Shots
Investor’s Business Daily reported:
Moderna (MRNA) stock tumbled Wednesday after the company said its newly approved RSV vaccine was only about 50% effective after 18 months — paling in comparison to rivals from Pfizer (PFE) and GSK (GSK).
After 18 months, Moderna’s RSV vaccine proved 49.9% to 50.3% effective against multiple symptoms of lower respiratory tract disease. In comparison, GSK said its vaccine, Arexvy, was 78.6% effective against severe RSV after two years. Similarly, Pfizer’s Abrysvo was 77.8% effective midway through a second season on the market.
Moderna stock toppled 11% to 122.45 on today’s stock market. Pfizer stock also fell more than 2% to 27.42, while GSK stock skidded 3.6% to 38.87.
Pfizer and GSK use older technology in their vaccines, while Moderna’s is based on the same mRNA technology behind its COVID vaccine, Spikevax. Pfizer’s Abrysvo is also approved for pregnant women, while GSK’s Arexvy can be used in people aged 50 to 59 who are at high risk of severe RSV.
To Get Basic Standard Addiction Treatment, Americans Should Move to Canada
As a Canadian-born physician who has treated people with opioid use disorder on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border, I know that if I ever needed addiction treatment I’d head to the Great White North.
Deaths from drug overdoses are twice as high in the U.S. as in Canada. Some of that difference stems from how people with opioid use disorder are treated in the two countries.
Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. surpassed 100,000 people per year in each of the last two years, an ignominious marker that has rightfully spurred policy changes. They include the Biden administration publishing new rules to make it easier for people to access lifesaving methadone at opioid treatment programs. In Congress, legislators are weighing a measure to expand which care providers can prescribe methadone, and they reauthorized state grants for overdose data collection.
Side Effects of GLP-1 Medications, Like Ozempic and Mounjaro, Could Result in Bone Density Loss: Study
A new study warns that the side effects of Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and similar diabetes and weight loss medication can result in a loss of bone density; the latest in a growing number of concerns linked to the drugs, which are rising in popularity.
Although advertisements promote the drugs as safe and effective, with few long-term side effects, GLP1 RAs have been linked to a number of potentially serious health risks, including a form of stomach paralysis, known as gastroparesis, in which food lingers in the stomach, leading to a number of different health complications.
In this latest study, a team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark point to another potential side effect of GLP1 use that is not fully described on the drug label, including potential bone density loss and the critical importance of combining exercise with use of the diet drugs.
House Panel Proposes New Strategy for Medicare to Cover Weight Loss Drugs Wegovy, Zepbound
As weight loss medications have exploded in popularity, a bill to allow Medicare to cover the drugs has languished virtually unchanged in Congress for a decade.
Until now.
House Ways & Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) unveiled a proposal on Wednesday to offer a limited pathway for seniors to get their weight loss drugs paid for by Medicare. Right now, Medicare is prohibited from covering medications used for weight loss, like Wegovy and Zepbound.
