Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: More Research Needed On Psilocybin's Benefits; Tricks For Talking To Teens About Fentanyl
Bloomberg: Psilocybin Study: Magic Mushroom Research Risks Being Warped By Hype
A recently published study on psilocybin suggests it may have an immediate and profound effect on depression. It’s important research. But magic mushrooms aren’t the magic bullet that some purport. (Lisa Jarvis, 11/3)
The New York Times: How To Talk To Kids About Drugs In The Age Of Fentanyl
In the age of fentanyl and other illegally manufactured synthetics, the danger associated with trying drugs is greater than ever. If these girls had each swallowed a single Percocet — what they thought they were buying — even the highest-dose pill is unlikely to have been fatal. (Maia Szalavitz, 11/8)
Undark: The Public Shouldn’t Pay For Drugs Twice
When covid-19 vaccines arrived in the winter of 2020, the much-heralded shots put a spotlight on the big pharmaceutical companies that had brought them to market — especially Pfizer and Moderna. It could be easy to miss one important detail: Those vaccines, like many of those companies’ flagship products, would not have been possible without public funding. (James Stout, 11/3)
The Star Tribune: Call Someone You Know At Risk Of An Overdose. Do It Now
Fentanyl is killing our kids, our neighbors, even your friends. Lots of them. Every day and every night. It doesn't care if you are a doctor or a lawyer or a candlestick maker. It doesn't care which side of the tracks you live on. (Mark Stratman, 11/3)
New England Journal of Medicine: The Fibrates Story — A Tepid End To A PROMINENT Drug
In this trial, 10,497 patients with type 2 diabetes, a triglyceride level between 200 and 499 mg per deciliter, and an HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter or less were randomly assigned to receive 0.2-mg tablets of pemafibrate twice daily or placebo.In the PROMINENT trial, two cohorts of patients with diabetes underwent randomization. (Salim S. Virani, M.D., Ph.D., 11/5)
New England Journal of Medicine: A Modern Therapy For An Ancient Disease
Treatment for chronic HBV infection now rests on the use of entecavir or tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, two orally available nucleoside or nucleotide analogues (NAs) with potent activity against HBV, a high barrier to antiviral resistance, and an acceptable side-effect profile. (Jay H. Hoofnagle, M.D., 11/8)
