Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Warns That Copycat Weight-Loss Drugs May Have Incorrect Doses
Bloomberg: Knockoff Weight-Loss Drug Dosing May Harm Patients, FDA Warns
US health regulators warned that patients may be injecting themselves with incorrect amounts of copycat weight-loss drugs, causing harm that has landed some in the hospital. Because of shortages of the brand-name medicines made by Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly & Co., the Food and Drug Administration allows compounding pharmacies to make copies of drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound. ... The compounded drugs often come in vials. That requires patients to measure the amount they get with each injection themselves. (Swetlitz, 7/26)
Bloomberg: Abbott Loses $500 Million Infant Formula Verdict, Lawyers Say
Abbott Laboratories was ordered by a jury to pay almost $500 million over allegations that it hid the risk that its premature-infant formula can cause a potentially fatal bowel disease, according to lawyers for the mother who won the first case against the company to go to trial. Jurors in state court in St. Louis on Friday awarded $95 million to compensate the family for its losses and $400 million in punitive damages, according to Tor Hoerman, the lead lawyer for the plaintiff. (Burnson and Feeley, 7/27)
Stat: Sarepta Demanded Duchenne Advocacy Group Censor Video Critical Of Company
Sarepta Therapeutics demanded a prominent patient advocacy organization censor a video that contained pointed criticism of the company’s recently approved gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, STAT has learned. The incident raises questions about the financial ties between Sarepta and the advocacy group, Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, and whether the drugmaker uses its money to influence, or even muzzle, debate over its Duchenne medicines. (Feuerstein, 7/29)
The Washington Post: DRESS Syndrome Is A Rare But Deadly Reaction To Prescription Drugs
Izzy McKinney was a healthy teenager who wrote poetry, played the mandolin and took pride in her flair with an eyeliner pencil. She also had acne. She tried topical medications and then antibiotics. Two weeks after starting a doctor-prescribed antibiotic — trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole — Izzy came down with a mild fever. Less than three months later, one month after her 16th birthday, Izzy’s heart failed, and she died. An autopsy revealed the cause was DRESS — drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms. (Ellison, 7/27)
