FDA OKs Nitisinone for Ultra-Rare Black Urine Disease
The FDA approved nitisinone (Harliku) for the reduction of urine homogentisic acid (HGA) in adults with alkaptonuria, Cycle Pharmaceuticals announced on Thursday. Alkaptonuria is an ultra-rare hereditary disorder of tyrosine and phenylalanine catabolism, and is commonly known as black urine disease due to the noticeable buildup of HGA. A slow-progressing disease, alkaptonuria can cause tissue […]
Thalidomide Reduced Episodes of Recurrent GI Bleeding
Treatment with thalidomide led to a reduction in bleeding among patients with recurrent bleeding due to small-intestinal angiodysplasia (SIA), a randomized trial showed. In 150 patients, 68.6% of those who received 100-mg thalidomide daily for 4 months experienced a reduction of 50% or more in bleeding episodes in the year after treatment compared with 51% […]
Reduced Mortality Seen in Cancer Survivors Who Meet Exercise Guidelines
Exercise consistent with national guidelines was associated with a significant reduction in all-cause mortality in long-term cancer survivors, a pan-cancer analysis showed. In a study involving 11,480 survivors, guideline-concordant exercise was associated with a 25% reduced risk of all-cause mortality compared with no exercise (HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.70-0.80) at a median follow-up of 16 […]
Bariatric Surgery May Eliminate Obesity-Related Breast Cancer Risk
Bariatric surgery for women with obesity was associated with a reduction in breast cancer risk that reached levels seen among those with a normal body mass index (BMI), researchers have found. In their retrospective study of almost 70,000 women, an increased risk for incident breast cancer was observed in women who did not undergo bariatric […]
Police Attitudes on Naloxone Use for Overdose Improved With Pharmacists’ Help
LAS VEGAS — After pharmacists in one Tennessee county trained police officers on harm reduction and opioid overdose, police attitudes, such as concern and readiness to handle these situations, improved, a survey showed. Among 89 police officers who completed the survey, mean composite scores in attitude changes towards opioid overdose and use of naloxone (Narcan) […]
Bariatric Surgery Cuts All-Cause Mortality Rate Over Many Years
SAN DIEGO –Patients who underwent bariatric surgery saw a reduction in all-cause mortality that held strong over multiple years, researchers reported. In a retrospectives study, bariatric surgery patients were 16% less likely to die from any cause than their matched non-surgical counterparts over a median 13.2 follow-up period (hazard ratio 0.84, 95% CI 0.79-0.90, P<0.001), […]
More Harm Reduction, Less Abstinence-Only in COVID Messaging, Experts Say
More attention to harm reduction — rather than totally abstaining from risky behaviors — would improve messaging on the COVID-19 pandemic, Amesh Adalja, MD, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said Wednesday. “A lot of COVID-19 was abstinence-only” when it came to behavior, Adalja said during an online briefing sponsored […]
House Passes Bill Allowing Medicare Drug Price Negotiation
WASHINGTON — By a party-line vote of 220-207, the House passed the Inflation Reduction Act — a bill that among other provisions allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices — and sent it to President Biden for his signature. “The Inflation Reduction Act is also one of the most significant pieces of health care legislation to […]
Intravitreal Methotrexate Reduces Reoperation After Retinal Detachment Repair
NEW YORK CITY — Postoperative intravitreal methotrexate for retinal detachment led to a significant reduction in reoperation and improved visual acuity, a retrospective chart review showed. The absolute difference in reoperation rate was small, greater than 1% without methotrexate versus 0.4% with three to five postoperative injections of the antiproliferative agent, but the difference translated […]
Add-On Vraylar Tied to Easing of Recurrent Depressive Symptoms
NEW ORLEANS — Adjunctive cariprazine (Vraylar) was linked with a reduction in depressive symptoms for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), who had an inadequate response to current therapy, according to a phase III study. When added to a first-line antidepressant, 1.5 mg of once-daily cariprazine resulted in significantly greater average reductions in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression […]