Biden Administration Announces Actions to Strengthen the Drug Supply Chain
The U.S. must keep the supply chain for drugs and other commodities “stable and secure in the long term to keep preserving a little bit of breathing room for American families,” President Biden said Monday. Fortunately, the administration is making progress, the president noted in a press conference held in the Indian Treaty Room at […]
FDA Panel Supports Tofersen for Rare Genetic ALS
A panel of FDA advisors voted unanimously that plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL), a biomarker of neurodegeneration, is a reasonable surrogate endpoint in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) associated with a mutation in the SOD1 gene (SOD1-ALS). In a 9-0 vote on Wednesday, the agency’s Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee said the available […]
Sugar disrupts microbiome, eliminates protection against obesity and diabetes
A study of mice found that dietary sugar alters the gut microbiome, setting off a chain of events that leads to metabolic disease, pre-diabetes, and weight gain. The findings, published today in Cell, suggest that diet matters, but an optimal microbiome is equally important for the prevention of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and obesity. Diet alters […]
Increase in leptin levels in preeclampsia prompts cardiovascular cascade that puts mother and baby at risk
Before a baby is ever born, critical supply chain problems with nutrition and oxygen can result in premature birth or even death and increase the child and mother’s lifelong risk of cardiovascular disease. Scientists have found that a midgestation increase in the hormone leptin, which most of us associate with appetite suppression, produces problematic blood […]
PBMs Under Fire at Senate Hearing
The role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the drug supply chain and whether “anti-competitive” practices are driving up healthcare costs was scrutinized by the Senate on Thursday. PBMs are just one player in a “broken supply chain” explained Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), during a Thursday hearing of the Senate Subcommittee for the Committee on Commerce, […]
Paleontologists debunk fossil thought to be missing link between lizards and first snakes
Filling in the links of the evolutionary chain with a fossil record of a ”snake with four legs” connecting lizards and early snakes would be a dream come true for paleontologists. But a specimen formerly thought to fit the bill is not the missing piece of the puzzle, according to a new Journal of Systematic […]