Insulin-Dependent Patients Scraping By As Demand For GLP-1 Drugs Soars
Diabetics who must have the medicine to survive fear drugmakers are neglecting their needs in favor of now-popular and profitable weight loss medications. Pharmaceutical companies maintain they are committed to supplying essential medications. Also in the news: duloxetine, retina implant, Eyebot, and more.
USA Today:
Insulin Shortages For Diabetes Patients, Weight Loss Drugs Surge
Janel Wright had just days left in her insulin supply in early January when a pharmacist told her there was none of the drug left to fill her prescription. Her neighborhood Fred Meyer pharmacy in Anchorage, Alaska hadn't called in weeks to offer an automatic refill, and Wright's supply of NovoLog insulin had dwindled to nearly nothing. The 62-year-old administrative law judge has Type 1 diabetes and needs the medication to live. (Alltucker, 10/24)
KFF Health News:
PBM Math: Big Chains Are Paid $23.55 To Fill A Blood Pressure Rx. Small Drugstores? $1.51
While customers at Adams Family Pharmacy picked up their prescriptions on a hot summer day, some stopped in for coffee, ice cream, homemade cake, or cookies. It wasn’t a bake sale, but the sweets bring extra revenue as pharmacist and co-owner Nikki Bryant works to achieve profitability at her business on the town square. Bryant said she is doing all she can to bolster it against a powerful force that threatens her and other independent pharmacists: the middlemen who manage virtually all prescriptions written in the U.S., called pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. (Miller, 10/24)
The Hill:
FDA Recalls Thousands Of Antidepressant Duloxetine Bottles
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Class II recall of more than 7,100 bottles of the antidepressant duloxetine due to the possible presence of a carcinogen. Duloxetine belongs to a group of drugs called selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors that are used to treat depression and anxiety, according to the Mayo Clinic. (O'Connell-Domenech, 10/23)
Also —
Stat:
'Milestone' Results: Vision Restored In Macular Degeneration Patients
Science Corporation published preliminary data Tuesday from a late stage, multi-center clinical trial of a retina implant that showed promising results. Using this prosthetic, scientists partially restored vision to people whose central visual field has holes or blurry spots. Trial participants could read text and recognize playing cards when using the implant, even though they were legally blind. (Broderick, 10/23)
CBS News:
Chicago Area Man With Movement Disorder Among First To Be Treated With New Procedure
Researchers are making strides in therapy for Parkinson's and essential tremor, an even more common movement disorder that affects as many as 10 million people in the U.S. CBS News Chicago spoke to a patient at Northwestern Medicine who became the first in the Chicago area to try one of their new procedures. "Miracle" is a word Chuck Wicks has used a lot recently, less than two months after a procedure that stopped the tremors in his right hand. (Machi, 10/23)
The Boston Globe:
Eyebot Provides Eye Exams In Automated Kiosk At The Mall
When you need new eyeglasses, getting an appointment for a vision test is usually the hard part. But a Boston company called Eyebot is launching a do-it-yourself electronic kiosk that’s designed to make eye tests almost as simple as buying soda from a vending machine. “You should just get glasses like you buy shoes,” said Matthias Hofmann, Eyebot’s cofounder and chief executive. (Bray, 10/23)
