Public health
fromwww.dw.com
1 day agoWHO approves first Malaria drug for babies
A new malaria drug specifically for infants offers hope to reduce deaths among children under five, who account for two-thirds of malaria fatalities.
FDA commissioner Marty Makary stated that psychedelics 'have the potential to address the nation's mental health crisis, including conditions like treatment resistant depression, alcoholism and other serious mental health and substance abuse conditions.'
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said the measures are intended to ensure fair distribution while supply issues are addressed, with pharmacies instructed to follow the temporary dispensing limits.
I was devastated. I had been able to get Zepbound for a $30 monthly copay and had lost 50 pounds in a year. The drug helped me focus on being a new mom and gaining strength at the gym, not just counting calories burned.
Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to three federal criminal charges in November 2020, admitting it lacked an effective program to prevent its prescription painkillers from being diverted to the black market.
We've created a small molecule chemical which gets in your body very well. It can mimic the effects of the peptide and can be taken more conveniently any time of day without any food or water restrictions.
The inquest concluded that Robinson's prescription for medicinal cannabis had probably contributed to his death, with the coroner stating that it acted as an obstacle to appropriate care.
Now, researchers have created an artificial-intelligence system that vastly simplifies and accelerates the process of chemical synthesis. The system, which is called MOSAIC and is described in a study published in Nature on 19 January, recommended conditions that researchers were able to use to generate 35 compounds with the potential to become products like pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals or cosmetics without needing to do any further trawling or tweaking.
Emma Dyer remembers the moment she clicked "buy now" on a set of weightloss jabs she found online. She had no medical consultation, no ID checks, and no questions about her history of anorexia and bulimia. "It was just so easy - too easy," she says. "They never asked for my medical history or what medication I was taking. It was like buying groceries."
Yes, there has been a shocking lack of progress in developing transformative psychiatric medicine (We need new drugs for mental ill-health, 5 February), but this may be because in mental health, drugs are not always the answer (see, for example, Richard P Bentall's Doctoring the Mind). Huge progress has been made in the effectiveness of talking therapies for example, free effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is available to all UK army veterans through the charity PTSD Resolution.
In 2021, amid the COVID‑19 pandemic, Kristin Wall became pregnant with her second child. Her physician told her that little was known about the COVID-19 vaccine's safety and effectiveness in pregnant people. Observational data - collected from those vaccinated before they knew that they were pregnant - suggested that the vaccine was safe, so she could have it. Still, she'd have to weigh up the risks and benefits herself.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reportedly mulling whether more prescription drugs should be sold over the counter (OTC) at pharmacies. In an interview on Wednesday, FDA commissioner Martin Makary told CNBC that everything should be over the counter except drugs that are deemed unsafe or addictive or that require clinical monitoring. Makary said the agency is reviewing how it decides which drugs can be sold with or without a prescription from a health care practitioner.
For years, Congress has signaled that it wants to crack down on Pharmacy Benefit Managers, the middle men that have come under fire for their vertical integration with insurers and their role in spiking drug costs. This week, it finally happened via the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, promptingemployer groups including the Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH) and the ERISA Industry Committee to cheer its passage.