After False Advertising Accusation, EpicGenetics Halts 2 Blood Test Sales
Also in the news, gene-editing startup Tome Biosciences; insights into near-death experiences from psychedelics; the cost of Eisai and Biogen's Alzheimer's drug Leqembi; and more.
Stat:
EpicGenetics Agrees To Stop Selling Two Questionable Blood Tests
A diagnostics company has agreed to stop selling two questionable blood tests as part of a settlement with a consumer watchdog that accused the firm of using “false and misleading advertising” to promote the products. (Boodman, 8/23)
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Tome Biosciences, Once A High-Flying Gene-Editing Startup, Is Floundering
Buzzy gene-editing startup Tome Biosciences is floundering, just nine months after launching with $213 million in funding, according to several sources with direct knowledge of the matter. (Mast and DeAngelis, 8/22)
The New York Times:
Psychedelics May Give The Living A Glimpse Into Near-Death States
One person felt a sensation of “slowly floating into the air” as images flashed around. Another recalled “the most profound sense of love and peace,” unlike anything experienced before. Consciousness became a “foreign entity” to another whose “whole sense of reality disappeared.” These were some of the firsthand accounts shared in a small survey of people who belonged to an unusual cohort: They had all undergone a near-death experience and tried psychedelic drugs. (Nuwer, 8/22)
In global pharma news —
Reuters:
Indonesia Court Finds Drugmakers At Fault Over Toxic Cough Syrup, Awards Parents
An Indonesian court ordered two local companies to pay up to 60 million rupiah ($3,850) to each family whose children died of an acute kidney injury or were seriously injured after consuming toxic cough syrup. (Widianto, 8/23)
Reuters:
Deadly Indian Pharmaceutical Blast Blamed On Chemical Solvent Leak
The privately-held Escientia Advanced Sciences makes intermediate chemicals and active ingredients for export to the United States and other Western countries. (Sadam and Patel, 8/22)
Reuters:
New Alzheimer's Drug Deemed Too Costly For UK's State-Run Health Service
Alzheimer's patients in Britain's state-run health service are unlikely to get access to Eisai and Biogen's new Leqembi drug, after it was approved on Thursday by the country's regulator but deemed too expensive for wide use. (Fick, 8/22)
In tech updates —
Reuters:
Musk's Neuralink Says Second Trial Implant Went Well, No Thread Retraction Issue
Elon Musk's brain technology startup Neuralink said its implant, designed to allow paralyzed patients to use digital devices by thinking alone, is working well in a second trial patient. The company said the patient, identified as Alex, did not face issues of "thread retraction", unlike Noland Arbaugh, Neuralink's first patient who received the implant in January. (8/22)
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AI In Medicine: A National Registry Could Help Increase Transparency, Experts Say
The use of artificial intelligence in hospitals is ramping up so fast — and with such little transparency — that it is impossible to track how any given product is impacting the cost or quality of care. Whether AI is monitored at all is entirely up to individual health systems. (Ross, 8/23)
