Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Suicides In Military Fell 11% In 2024
AP: Military Suicides Fell In 2024, Pentagon Says
Fewer American service members died by suicide in 2024, with the number of deaths falling by 11% to 471 from a year earlier, according to a Pentagon report released Tuesday. The rate of suicides per 100,000 service members also dropped that year compared to 2023, the report said. The decrease emerged under Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Biden administration and followed a rise in the number of military suicides in 2023. (Finley, 4/1)
On the use of psychedelics and kratom —
The Texas Tribune: Texas To Conduct Its Own Ibogaine Clinical Trials
Texas is launching its own research program into a psychedelic called ibogaine after state officials couldn’t find a company to help develop it into a drug for FDA approval. (Simpson, 3/31)
The Colorado Sun: Poison And Drug Center Receives Funding To Study Psychedelic Use
Since Colorado decriminalized psilocybin, use of the drug appears to have increased in the state, though that’s uncertain because the jump — 1.8 percentage points to 4.3% of the adult population — is not statistically significant. (Ingold, 3/31)
Stat: Can A Psychedelic 'Coach' Make Ketamine Therapy More Effective?
Ketamine treatment clinics have proliferated following the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug as a remedy for acute depression in 2019, leading to a Wild West of infusion clinics that have expanded treatment access for many Americans without much regulation. (Broaderick, 4/1)
St. Louis Public Radio: Hanaway Sues Missouri Company Over ‘Highly Addictive’ Kratom 7-OH
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is suing a Kansas City company over its manufacture and sale of a kratom product that she said is similar to opioids. The suit against CBD American Shaman, the leading supplier of a product called 7-OH in Missouri, and several related companies was jointly filed with the state Department of Health and Senior Services. It alleges the company failed to properly disclose the effects of the drug. (Halloran, 4/1)
A human trial has begun on an anti-fentanyl vaccine —
Bloomberg: New Study Tests Vaccine’s Potential To Block Fentanyl’s Deadly Effects
Biotech startup ARMR Sciences Inc. said it has begun a human trial of its anti-fentanyl vaccine in an early study that could one day lead to a inoculation offering months-long protection from the deadly respiratory effects of the powerful synthetic opioid. The trial is the culmination of years of research. It aims to show that a vaccine, unlike existing emergency remedies, could prevent a fentanyl overdose from ever happening. (Langreth, 3/31)
