AP: Ohio Voters Enshrine Abortion Access In Constitution In Latest Statewide Win For Reproductive Rights
Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that ensures access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care, the latest victory for abortion rights supporters since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Ohio became the seventh state where voters decided to protect abortion access after the landmark ruling and was the only state to consider a statewide abortion rights question this year. “The future is bright, and tonight we can celebrate this win for bodily autonomy and reproductive rights,” Lauren Blauvelt, co-chair of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, which led support for the amendment, told a jubilant crowd of supporters. (Smyth, 11/7)

The Hill: Biden Touts Passage Of Ohio Abortion Measure: ‘Democracy Won’ 
President Biden released a statement following Ohio voters passing a ballot measure enshrining abortion protection in the state constitution. “Tonight, Americans once again voted to protect their fundamental freedoms – and democracy won,” Biden’s statement said. “Ohioans and voters across the country rejected attempts by MAGA Republican elected officials to impose extreme abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors and nurses for providing the health care that their patients need and that they are trained to provide,” Biden’s statement said. (Irwin, 11/7)

The Washington Post: Exit Poll Results From Ohio Issue 1 Ballot Measure On Abortion Rights 
Age was a major dividing line, with young voters overwhelmingly voting yes on Issue 1 while middle-aged and older voters were more divided. A 77 percent majority of voters under age 30 voted yes on Issue 1, along with 68 percent of voters ages 30 to 44. A slim 53 percent majority of voters ages 45 to 64 voted yes, while a similar share of those 65 and older voted against it. (Zakharenko, Guskin and Clement, 11/7)

WDTN: Issue 1 Passed. Now What?
Some laws will become invalidated. These include the Heartbeat Act which restricted abortions at the detection of a heartbeat, usually around six weeks. It also includes the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which bans abortions after 20 weeks post-fertilization. ... The 24-hour waiting period and informed consent will now be waived. Previously, doctors were to meet with a pregnant woman a day before the abortion to explain the procedure and deliver social services information. Ohio law previously regulated methods of abortion, barring dilation and evacuation, outlined in Ohio laws as “dismemberment abortions” as well as dilation and extraction abortions, which Ohio law calls “partial-birth feticide.” Limits against funding abortions or providers may be challenged. Ohio law currently bars taxpayer money from being used to pay for abortions. Limits against funding for elective fertility treatments may also be challenged. Currently, Ohio’s Medicaid program does not cover artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization. Under Isse 1, it is possible this could be considered a form of discrimination. (Pearson, 11/7)

Politico: Abortion Rights Backers Extend Post-Dobbs Winning Streak In Ohio
With the amendment approved, conservatives fear that Ohio will follow Michigan, which is now debating rolling back some abortion restrictions following passage of its own referendum in 2022. But the balance of power in Ohio is vastly different from Michigan, and the odds of stripping away abortion restrictions are slim even in the wake of the measure’s passage. The Ohio state legislature is likely to keep its Republican supermajority for the foreseeable future after maps favoring GOP lawmakers were approved earlier this year. The state’s supreme court is also dominated by conservatives. And even in Michigan, where Democrats control the legislature and governor’s mansion, the party was unable to advance some of its top abortion rights priorities — including abolishing the state’s waiting period and banning Medicaid coverage of the procedure. (Ollstein, 11/7)

KFF Health News: Ohio Voted On Abortion. Next Year, 11 More States Might, Too. 
As activists parse the results of Tuesday’s vote to protect abortion rights in Ohio, Jamie Corley is already well on her way to putting a similar measure in front of Missouri voters next year. Corley, a former Republican congressional staffer, filed not one, but six potential ballot measures in August to roll back her state’s near-total ban on abortion, triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision to end federal protections for terminating pregnancies. (Sable-Smith, 11/8)

Ohio voters also voted to legalize recreational marijuana —

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Ohio Becomes 24th State To Legalize Marijuana For Recreational, Adult Use 
Ohioans voted to legalize recreational marijuana Tuesday, potentially setting up cannabis sales in dispensaries for adult use by late 2024. The Associated Press declared that the proposal, state Issue 2, passed just after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday as the proposed state law was winning with more than 55% of the vote. With its passage, Ohio is now the 24th state to legalize recreational marijuana. (Hancock, Pelzer and Zuckerman, 11/7)

10tv.Com: Ohio Issue 2, Legalizing Recreational Marijuana Use, Has Passed. What Happens Next?
Under the new law, adults 21 and over may buy and possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and grow plants at home. A 10% tax on purchases will go toward administrative costs, addiction treatment, municipalities with dispensaries, and social equity and jobs programs. ... The measure will take effect 30 days after Election Day. It also goes into a rule-making and planning phase. (11/7)

The Washington Post: Virginia Democrats’ Wins Thwart Youngkin On Abortion, Taxes, Climate 
Democrats flipped the Virginia House of Delegates and held on to the state Senate in elections Tuesday, dashing Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s hopes for curbing abortion rights in Virginia, the only Southern state that has not restricted or banned the procedure since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. By giving control of those two chambers to Democrats, voters denied Youngkin (R) the political allies he needed to ban most abortions after 15 weeks. The governor also lost his chance for turning Virginia sharply to the right in other areas, including public education, tax policy, LGBTQ+ rights, criminal justice, the environment and voting access. (Vozzella and Armus, 11/8)

The 19th: Virginia State Legislature Results: Voters Hand Democrats Control Of Both Chambers
With control of the legislature, Virginia Democrats will remain a “brick wall” against state Republicans’ conservative agenda. “It’s official: there will be absolutely no abortion ban legislation sent to Glenn Youngkin’s desk for the duration of his term in office, period,” said Sen. Mamie Locke, who leads the Democrats in the Senate. Locke and fellow Senate Democratic leaders raised bricks in the air while declaring victory to signify the wall that will block Republicans’ agenda. (Barclay, 11/7)

Slate: Virginia Election Results: The GOP Thought It Had Cracked The Abortion Code Here. Whoops.
Gov. Youngkin chose a riskier path, putting all his chips on new restrictions on abortion, and on Tuesday, he lost that bet. Democrats have won back control of the state House of Delegates and kept the state Senate, a resounding win that means they can not only block his attempts to limit abortion but begin the process of putting a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion access before voters—a move he can’t yet veto. (Beckwith, 11/8)

Politico: Why Democrats’ Big Virginia Win Is Also A Victory For Biden 
Democrats won by running a campaign that was intensely focused on abortion rights. Virginia is one of the last states in the South that has any access to the procedure, and Democrats argued that a unified Republican government would threaten that. Abortion was far and away the top issue in Democratic ads throughout the race, mentioned about 2.5 times more frequently than the party’s second most-talked about issue, education, according to the advertising tracking firm AdImpact. (Montellaro, 11/8)

Pro-choice voters also notched big wins in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey —

The 19th: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear Wins Second Term In Race Shaped By Abortion
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear will defeat Republican Daniel Cameron to win a second term in the highly watched race for Kentucky governor, Decision Desk HQ projects. Abortion and Cameron’s anti-abortion record became a key issue in the race between the two men — even though the governor’s office has little power over abortion policy. (Panetta, 11/7)

Huffpost: Democrats Hold Essential Pennsylvania Supreme Court Seat In Latest Abortion Campaign Test
Superior Court Judge Daniel McCaffery, a Democrat, defeated Republican Judge Carolyn Carluccio in a closely watched race to fill a vacant Pennsylvania Supreme Court seat on Tuesday. McCaffery’s win is the latest in a string of victories for Democrats running on an abortion rights platform following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and ending national abortion rights protections. His campaign was supported by state and national reproductive rights groups that spent millions on advertising and grassroots efforts in the highly competitive swing state. (Blumenthal, 11/7)

Politico: New Jersey Democrats Notch Big Legislative Wins After Bracing For Losses
Final counts could not be made late Tuesday night, but Democrats won or led in virtually every competitive district Republicans needed to have a chance at regaining control in either chamber. That included Democrats reclaiming the Senate seat won by Republican Ed Durr in a national upset in 2021, when he defeated then-Senate President Steve Sweeney on a shoestring budget. Democrats also capitalized on backlash from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, warning voters that New Jersey Republicans would chip away at abortion rights. (Racioppi, 11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: The Key Takeaways From The 2023 Election Results—And What They Mean For 2024 
They were disparate elections in different states—for governor, state Senate, a supreme court seat and on a constitutional amendment. But the results of off-year races on Tuesday pointed in one direction: Voters will come to the polls to defend abortion rights. In the Republican strongholds of Ohio and Kentucky, as well as politically purple Virginia and Pennsylvania, abortion-rights supporters spent millions of dollars to tell voters that GOP lawmakers couldn’t be trusted to set state abortion policy after the Supreme Court last year eliminated a right to the procedure under the U.S. Constitution. (Zitner and Kusisto, 11/8)

The New York Times: Abortion Rights Fuel Big Democratic Wins, And Hopes For 2024 
The results amounted to a resounding victory for abortion rights, proving once again that the issue can energize a broad coalition of Democrats, independents and even some moderate Republicans. As the country heads into the 2024 presidential election, the Republican Party continues to search for an answer to a topic that has vexed them since the fall of Roe. Democrats, meanwhile, face a daunting question of their own, in a year when President Biden’s record, personal brand and perceptions of his fitness to serve another term will be inescapable. Will abortion still pack enough of an electoral punch to overcome Mr. Biden’s political weaknesses? (Lerer and Goldmacher, 11/8)

The Washington Post: Abortion Rights Advocates Win Major Victories In Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia 
The results sent a stark signal about enduring demands across the political spectrum to protect access to abortion more than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, heralding potentially far-reaching implications for the 2024 election. They offered more evidence that the end of Roe and the patchwork of abortion bans that followed have given Democrats a powerful argument to turn out their base and sway moderates and some Republicans. And they reaffirmed that GOP candidates who support restrictions are still struggling to find an effective message, even as some have tried to soften their pitch. (Knowles and Kitchener, 11/8)

NBC News: Election Results Point To Major GOP Liability On Abortion Heading Into 2024
Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson said it's not "a question of Republicans retooling their message or finding a new slogan or trying to sell people on something that people don’t want." “We now have the 2022 midterms, the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the other ballot measures, Kansas and tonight’s results,” Ferguson continued, rattling off the list of victories by abortion-rights supporters since Roe was overturned. “This is not some referendum on the status quo. This is people showing they’re worried about the consequences that come from extremism … in red states like Kentucky, purple states in Virginia and everything in between." (Edelman, 11/8)

Newsweek: Fox News Hosts Lament 'Losing Streak' On Abortion
On Fox News Tuesday night, Kayleigh McEnany said the vote continued "the losing streak in the pro-life movement." McEnany added: "Every ballot initiative has been lost post-Dobbs for the pro-life movement." The Republican Party, she said, needs to "not just be a pro-baby party.... We must be a pro-mother party." She added that the GOP needs a national strategy "to help vulnerable women because the results of next year's election could be determined by that." (Rahman, 11/7)

In other abortion updates —

The Texas Tribune: Appeals Court Considers Texas’ Challenge To Federal Abortion Guidance
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday about whether the federal government can require Texas hospitals to perform life-saving abortions, despite the state’s near-total ban on the procedure. After the overturn of Roe v. Wade, President Joe Biden issued guidance to federally funded hospitals, reminding them of their obligation to provide stabilizing health care to anyone who shows up at the emergency room, even if that care requires performing an abortion. (Klibanoff, 11/7)

The New York Times: Senate Confirms Monica Bertagnolli As NIH Director
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Dr. Monica M. Bertagnolli, a cancer surgeon who currently leads the National Cancer Institute, as the next director of the National Institutes of Health, overriding the objections of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the chairman of the Senate health committee. The vote was 62 to 36, with Mr. Sanders voting no. In a statement last month, he said that while Dr. Bertagnolli was an “intelligent and caring person,” he would vote against her because she “has not convinced me that she is prepared to take on the greed and power of the drug companies and health care industry.” (Stolberg, 11/7)

Stat: NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli Confirmed By Senate
Longtime cancer doctor Monica Bertagnolli is finally heading to the National Institutes of Health director’s office after a nearly two-year effort to install a permanent leader atop the $48 billion science agency. (Owermohle, 11/7)

The Washington Post: Bertagnolli Confirmed As New Head Of National Institutes Of Health 
Bertagnolli will be the second woman ever to lead the nearly $48 billion agency, which plays a central role in the U.S. scientific agenda by funding grants to hundreds of thousands of researchers, overseeing clinical trials on its Maryland campus, and supporting other endeavors to develop drugs and therapeutics. NIH has not had a permanent director since December 2021, with Lawrence A. Tabak, a longtime NIH official, serving as the agency’s acting leader. (Diamond, 11/7)

Axios: New NIH Director Faces Battles Over Virus And Drug Research
Newly confirmed National Institutes of Health director Monica Bertagnolli is taking the helm of the biomedical research agency at a critical moment, with budgets tightening and lingering questions about its stewardship of high-risk virus research and role in keeping drugs affordable. (Bettelheim and Millman, 11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: A Skeptical Supreme Court Considers Whether Domestic Abusers Have Gun Rights 
Supreme Court justices showed little sympathy Tuesday for a violent domestic abuser arguing he had a Second Amendment right to keep a semiautomatic rifle and a .45 caliber pistol at home, in arguments over the scope of a 2022 precedent holding gun regulations unconstitutional unless they are analogous to those in force in the founding era.   “You don’t have any doubt that your client’s a dangerous person, do you?” Chief Justice John Roberts asked Matthew Wright, a federal public defender representing Zackey Rahimi, who was sentenced to more than six years for violating a federal law prohibiting people under domestic-violence protective orders from possessing firearms. (Bravin, 11/7)

Politico: Supreme Court Looks Poised To Uphold Ban On Guns For Accused Domestic Abusers 
Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett — two conservatives who may provide key votes in the case — did not seem particularly troubled by the domestic-abuser restriction Congress adopted in 1994, even as they expressed concerns that some government efforts to deny guns to people deemed dangerous could run afoul of the Second Amendment or of due process rights. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, another potentially pivotal vote, was fairly quiet during the argument, though he did raise the prospect that striking down the law could imperil portions of a federal background-check system. (Gerstein, 11/7)

AP: Why One Survivor Of Domestic Violence Wants The Supreme Court To Uphold A Gun Control Law 
Ruth Glenn knows from harrowing personal experience the danger of putting a gun in the hands of a violent spouse or partner, the issue at the heart of a case before the Supreme Court. On a beautiful June evening in 1992, Glenn was shot three times, twice in the head, and left for dead outside a Denver car wash. The shooter was her estranged husband, Cedric, who was under a court order to stay away from Glenn. But there was no federal law on the books at the time that prohibited him from having a gun. (Sherman and Whitehurst, 11/6)

In related news about the gun violence epidemic —

AP: Mother Whose Daughter Was Killed In Uvalde School Shooting Loses Bid For Mayor
In Uvalde’s first mayoral race since the Robb Elementary School shooting, former mayor Cody Smith won back the job Tuesday over Kimberly Mata-Rubio, a mother who has led calls for tougher gun laws since her daughter was among the 19 children killed in the 2022 attack. The race tested the mood of the South Texas town more than a year after one of America’s deadliest mass shootings and a botched police response that remains under criminal investigation. Two teachers were also killed in the attack, which was carried out by a teenage gunman with an AR-style rifle. (11/7)

AP: Syphilis Cases In US Newborns Skyrocketed In 2022. Health Officials Suggest More Testing
Alarmed by yet another jump in syphilis cases in newborns, U.S. health officials are calling for stepped-up prevention measures, including encouraging millions of women of childbearing age and their partners to get tested for the sexually transmitted disease. More than 3,700 babies were born with congenital syphilis in 2022 — 10 times more than a decade ago and a 32% increase from 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. Syphilis caused 282 stillbirth and infant deaths, nearly 16 times more than the 2012 deaths. (Stobbe and Hunter, 11/7)

NPR: Congenital Syphilis Is Still Rising. Better Treatment In Pregnancy Urged
"The situation is very serious," says Dr. Laura Bachmann, chief medical officer for the CDC's Division of STD Prevention. "We need to do things differently." "We have a perfect storm in the United States of funding cutbacks, not enough testing and treatments and a lack of awareness of this out-of-control syphilis epidemic," he says, "And babies are paying the price." (Stone, 11/7)

On RSV, tuberculosis, smallpox, and antimicrobial-resistant infections —

CIDRAP: RSV-Preventing Injection In Shortage As Respiratory Virus Season Begins 
Respiratory virus season is only starting, and demand has already outstripped supply for the newly approved and potentially lifesaving monoclonal antibody injection for preventing respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children. David Margraf, PharmD, PhD, pharmaceutical research scientist at the Resilient Drug Supply Project (RDSP), said the nirsevimab-alip (Beyfortus) shortage is reminiscent of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. RDSP is part of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), publisher of CIDRAP News. (Van Beusekom, 11/7)

NPR: Antibiotics For Babies Are Stymied By Antimicrobial Resistant Infections
The drugs aren't working as well as they used to. That's the sobering takeaway from new research published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia last week: The most commonly prescribed antibiotics in Southeast Asia are now only 50% effective at treating sepsis and meningitis in newborns. And that's a serious setback. Sepsis kills 1 in 5 patients. Meningitis is responsible for a quarter of million deaths a year – half among children under the age of 5. (Barnhart and Barber, 11/7)

CIDRAP: WHO Sees Some Signs Of Progress In Fight Against Tuberculosis 
In its latest Global Tuberculosis Report, released today, the WHO reported that 7.5 million people were newly diagnosed with TB in 2022, the highest number since the WHO began recording TB statistics in 1995. That number is significant because it means more people with TB are being officially diagnosed and getting the treatment and services they need. (Dall, 11/7)

KFF Health News: What I Learned From The World’s Last Smallpox Patient 
Rahima Banu, a toddler in rural Bangladesh, was the last person in the world known to contract variola major, the deadly form of smallpox, through natural infection. In October 1975, after World Health Organization epidemiologists learned of her infection, health workers vaccinated those around her, putting an end to variola major transmission around the world. The WHO officially declared smallpox eradicated in 1980, and it remains the only human infectious disease ever to have been eradicated. Among infectious-disease doctors like me, Banu is famous as a symbol of the power of science and modern medicine. (Gounder, 11/8)

On the covid-19 pandemic —

The Washington Post: D.C. Students Will No Longer Be Required To Vaccinate Against Covid 
The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to repeal its coronavirus vaccine mandate for the city’s schoolchildren, a measure that was controversial when it passed in 2021 and was never enforced. The vote ends a long-running debate over whether D.C. should require students over the age of 12 to get vaccinated against the coronavirus as a condition for attendance. Lawmakers added a coronavirus vaccination to the city’s list of required immunizations in hopes of curbing the virus in schools, but thousands of families failed to meet deadlines. (Lumpkin, 11/7)

CIDRAP: New Pandemic-Era Stress Scale Aims To Help Identify At-Risk Adults, Kids
A new study from researchers at Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Program (ECHO) at the National Institutes of Health shows how a stress scale developed to identify who was most at-risk of needing mental health support during the pandemic has the potential to evaluate traumatic stress reactions to ongoing large-scale threats. The study, which describes the Pandemic-Related Traumatic Stress Scale (PTSS), is published in the journal Psychological Assessment. Researchers conducted the study at 47 ECHO cohort study cites across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Washington D.C. The study included 17,839 adults and children. (Soucheray, 11/7)

Stat: Remote Patient Monitoring Helped Manage Hypertension Better, But At A Higher Cost 
During the pandemic, in search of tools to keep patients healthy and virus-free, doctors turned to a new technology for help: remote patient monitoring. In 2020, home use of tools like connected blood pressure cuffs, continuous glucose monitors, and weight scales shot up, with billing for the devices and their associated care more than quadrupling. (Palmer, 11/7)

Stat: Experts Highlight Biotech, Pharma Issues In Wake Of Covid-19
Current and former government officials proffered a clear-eyed, and often depressing, take Tuesday on the state of clinical trials, the pharmaceutical industry, and biotech investors coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic. The officials, including the Food and Drug Administration’s second-in-command Janet Woodcock, acknowledged the drug industry’s persistent lack of interest in collaborating on clinical trials, the ways hypercompetition pervades academic research and slows progress, and biotech investors taking the wrong lessons from pandemic. (Florko, 11/7)

Stat: FTC Challenges Drugmakers Over Inaccurate, Improper Patent Listings
Making good on a recent threat, the Federal Trade Commission is challenging more than 100 patents on brand-name medicines that were improperly or inaccurately listed by some of the world’s biggest drug companies in a key government registry. (Silverman, 11/7)

In news about cancer —

Reuters: Accord Resumes Production Of Cancer Drug Methotrexate Amid Supply Shortage
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported on Tuesday Accord Healthcare has resumed manufacturing of methotrexate, one of the most commonly used cancer drugs, amid ongoing shortages for some cancer drugs in the United States. Methotrexate is an injected drug used to treat cancers ranging from acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children, breast cancer, lung cancer, bone cancers and certain types of head and neck cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute. (11/7)

CBS News: FDA Moves To Pull Carbadox, Drug Used By Pork Industry, Citing Human Cancer Risk
A common veterinary drug used by American pork farms could soon be pulled from the market, the Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday, due to concerns that it could pose a cancer risk in humans who eat hot dogs, sausages and other foods made from animals given the drug. The FDA's move comes nearly a decade after the agency first began a renewed probe into safety concerns over the drug, carbadox, which is added to feed given to pigs to combat infections and help fatten them up. (Tin, 11/7)

Reuters: Bayer Says Judge Gave Roundup Jury Secret Message Before $175 Mln Verdict 
Bayer is seeking to overturn a recent $175 million verdict in favor of a man who alleged that the company's Roundup weed killer caused his cancer, saying that the trial judge gave the jury a secret instruction that may have swayed their verdict. (Pierson, 11/7)

Stat: In The Fight Against Cancer, It’s Boom Times For Radiopharmaceuticals
When Ken Song was getting ready to leave his job as the CEO of a small biotech in 2020, he wasn’t sure what was next. But he knew one thing. “I deliberately said I’m not going to do oncology. Oncology is so crowded. Everybody thinks they have the solution, but the reality is, it’s all noise,” he said. That was until late March 2020, when he received two phone calls from two different investors, both pondering about the same thing: Was it possible to make more effective and widely applicable treatments that drop toxic radiation specifically to cancer cells, decimating them on site? (DeAngelis, 11/8)

In other pharmaceutical developments —

Reuters: Biogen-Sage Therapeutics Postpartum Depression Pill Priced At $15,900
Sage Therapeutics has priced the oral postpartum depression (PPD) pill it developed with partner Biogen at $15,900 for a full 14-day course of treatment, the company said on Tuesday, months after the drug was approved by the U.S. health regulator. The companies had sought U.S. approval for Zurzuvae to treat clinical depression, a much larger market, and postpartum depression, but the Food and Drug Administration in August approved it only for PPD. (Mandowara, 11/7)

CBS News: FDA Investigating Reports Of Hospitalizations After Fake Ozempic
At least three Americans have been reported hospitalized after using suspected counterfeits of semaglutide drugs, which include Novo Nordisk's diabetes medication Ozempic, according to records released by the Food and Drug Administration. The hospitalizations are among 42 reports to the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System that mention use of counterfeit semaglutide from around the world. The agency last updated its database at the end of last month to include reports tallied through the end of September. (Tin, 11/7)

AP: Drugs Aren't Required To Be Tested In People Who Are Obese. Here's Why That's A Problem 
More than 40% of American adults are considered obese, yet the medications many take are rarely tested in bigger bodies. That’s because they are not required to be included in drug studies. And often, they’re explicitly excluded. “Clinical trials and dosing instructions don’t always ensure that drugs will be safe and effective for people with obesity,” said Christina Chow, a drug researcher who’s reported on the challenges of considering obesity in drug development. “There’s no real emphasis for them to be studied at all.” (Aleccia, 11/7)

Reuters: Bayer Weighs Break-Up Options As Management Job Cuts Loom
Bayer is considering spinning off its consumer health or crop science divisions, it said on Wednesday, as new CEO Bill Anderson gave his initial thoughts on how to revive the diversified German company's battered share price. Management is looking into separating either the non-prescription medicines business or the agriculture business from the rest of the group which includes pharmaceuticals, but not at the same time, Bayer said in a statement. (Burger, 11/8)

KFF Health News: US To Cover HIV Prevention Drugs For Older Americans To Stem Spread Of The Virus
A proposed federal policy aims to protect older Americans from contracting HIV by offering free preventive medication, the latest effort to catch up to much of Europe and Africa in stemming the spread of the virus. Under the plan from the Biden administration, Medicare would cover patients’ full cost of preexposure prophylaxis drugs, which prevent HIV transmission. The drugs, known by the shorthand “PrEP,” would be free in pill form and — for the first time — as long-acting injectables through the government insurance program designed for those 65 and older. Those 50 and over make up half of all people in the U.S. already living with HIV. (Scaturro, 11/8)

News Service of Florida: Nursing Home Association Warns Feds That Staffing Proposal Is Unattainable 
Objecting to a “one size fits all” model, Florida’s largest nursing home industry group is opposing a federal proposal that would set staffing standards. Emmett Reed, chief executive officer of the Florida Health Care Association, sent a letter last week to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that warned most nursing homes could not meet the proposed standards. (11/7)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Physicians Weigh Possible Strike
Physicians and dentists who work for hospitals and clinics run by Los Angeles County and who care for patients in its jails and juvenile facilities are weighing a possible strike over what union officials argue are inadequate benefits that have hampered employee retention and led to alarming levels of vacancies. The Union of American Physicians and Dentists said its members will begin voting Tuesday on whether to authorize a strike after more than two years of negotiations with the county failed to address their concerns. (Alpert Reyes, 11/7)

On the opioid crisis —

The Washington Post: D.C. Council Urges Mayor Muriel Bowser To Declare Emergency On Opioids 
The D.C. Council passed a measure Tuesday urging Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) to declare a public health emergency over the escalating opioid crisis, which is on pace to kill more than 400 D.C. residents for the fourth year in a row. The resolution comes at a time when advocates are pushing for the D.C. government to combat substance use disorder with the same vigor officials have shown in addressing the crime wave, which is the subject of new legislation. (Portnoy and Flynn, 11/7)

The Boston Globe: Momentum Builds For Safe Consumption Sites In Massachusetts
“How many more people need to die before we take action?” said McGovern, a city councilor and former mayor. “Every one of those people was a 10-year-old kid once, who dreamed of playing second base for the Red Sox or becoming a doctor or a lawyer.” Frustrated by the opioid crisis, McGovern is among a growing number of public officials in Massachusetts embracing the creation of supervised consumption sites, which a multitude of studies have shown to save lives, reduce the spread of infectious diseases, and improve access to treatment. (Serres, 11/7)

New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Aims To Reimburse Jails' Drug Treatment Costs With Latest Opioid Settlement Money 
The commission deciding how New Hampshire will spend millions of dollars received from a settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors plans to use $9.4 million to reimburse six county corrections departments and one local police department for past expenses related to the drug crisis. The bulk of that money will go to county jails, to offset some of what they spent on addiction treatment for incarcerated people between July 2020 and May 2023. (Cuno-Booth, 11/7)

Military.com: VA Suspends Debt Collection From Veterans Whom It Mistakenly Overpaid Due To Data Errors 
The Department of Veterans Affairs has suspended debt collections related to overpayments of pensions to low-income veterans or their survivors after the agency found it had mistakenly paid too much, in some cases, over a period of many years, department officials announced Friday. The VA provides pensions to some veterans or survivors based on self-reported income that is later verified by the department, using data reported from outside sources such as the Social Security Administration and other federal agencies. (Kime, 11/7)

Military Times: Some Tricare, Dental Plans May Cost More In 2024. Here’s What To Know.
Health care open season is about to get underway for military beneficiaries who are eligible for Tricare or the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program, known as FEDVIP. And there’s a new benefit for military families this year, the Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account, which allows families to set aside money before taxes for dependent care expenses. Families sign up for this new benefit during the federal benefits open season. (Jowers, 11/7)

Military Times: Troops’ Health Data Can Be Purchased For Pennies, Researchers Find
Funded by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, researchers spent a year exploring the kinds of data on service members and veterans that brokers are collecting and selling, and whether foreign adversaries could exploit any of that information. ... “It is not difficult to obtain sensitive data about active duty members of the military, their families, and veterans, including non-public, individually identified and sensitive data, such as health data, financial data and information about religious practices,” according to the report. (Myers, 11/7)

CBS News: VA Says It's Open To Exploring The Use Of Psychedelics To Treat PTSD
Like other psychedelics, psilocybin is illegal under federal law and classified as a Schedule I drug, which the Drug Enforcement Administration says have a "high potential for abuse and no recognized medical value." As a result, there are roadblocks to research its effectiveness in treating PTSD and the VA is prohibited from prescribing or administering it. But local Congressman and Naval vet Chris Deluzio is supporting legislation to change that.  "I say let the science and medicine lead us here and if there are safe therapies that are helping veterans and helping people, we should be making those available to folks," Deluzio said. (Sheehan, 11/7)

Military.com: Military Hunger: New Study Shows 1 In 8 Military Families Turned To Food Banks During The Pandemic 
Around one military family out of eight turned to food banks during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new academic study led by a researcher at the University of Georgia has revealed. Researchers surveyed more than 8,000 military families who applied for child care subsidies from the National Military Family Association, a military-focused nonprofit, in the spring of 2021 and found that about 13% of those families had used a food pantry in the past year. (Toropin, 11/7)

In news about the Peace Corps —

The New York Times: Peace Corps, Criticized For Medical Care, Settles Wrongful-Death Suit For $750,000
The Peace Corps, which has repeatedly come under scrutiny for the medical care it provides to volunteers, has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a 24-year-old volunteer who died of undiagnosed malaria in the island nation of Comoros off the coast of East Africa. The federal government did not admit any guilt or liability in the death of the volunteer, Bernice Heiderman of Inverness, Ill., according to a legal filing on Tuesday in Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. (Stolberg, 11/7)

The Hill: Marijuana Use Increases Risk Of Heart Attacks, New Studies Suggest
Two new studies suggest that regular use of marijuana could be linked to a higher risk of heart failure or heart attack, especially among older people. The preliminary findings of the studies, which have yet to be published, will be presented next week at the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2023 in Philadelphia. (Fortinsky, 11/6)

In other health and wellness news —

The Washington Post: Nutrition Guidelines May Soon Warn Against Ultraprocessed Foods 
For decades, the federal government’s dietary guidelines have urged people to eat plenty of foods rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein — while warning us to steer clear of foods high in sodium, sugar, and saturated fat. But now, the scientific experts who shape the way we eat might start warning consumers against eating too many ultra-processed foods. (O'Connor, 11/7)

Axios: Walmart Sensory-Friendly Hours Start Friday At Stores Nationwide
Walmart stores nationwide will lower the lights, turn off the radio and change their TV walls to a static image for daily "sensory-friendly hours," the retailer announced Tuesday. Walmart's hours, which start Friday, appear to be the biggest shopping program yet for people with sensory processing issues, which include autism, ADHD and PTSD. (Tyko, 11/7)

CNN: Breast Implants Play A Crucial Role In Innovative Procedure To Save Life Of Man With Severe Lung Damage 
When 34-year-old Davey Bauer’s lungs stopped working, doctors turned to an unusual tool to help keep him alive: large breast implants. Experts say it was an innovative solution to give Bauer’s body time to fight off a nasty infection so it could accept a lifesaving double lung transplant. It may be the first instance of a potential transplant practice that could save people with infectious disease who probably would not have survived just years ago. (Christensen, 11/8)

Bloomberg: Gas Stoves Mean Dangerous Pollution In Most Homes, Study Finds
Households with gas stoves are regularly exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution that are above legal limits, a Europe-wide study found. “The severity of indoor air pollution that is found in homes with gas cooking equipment is significantly higher than what we're seeing in electric cooking homes,” said Nicole Kearney, director of CLASP Europe, the NGO that commissioned the study. “The levels of indoor air pollution are higher often than what we see outdoors.” (Rudgard, 11/7)

ProPublica: The EPA's Struggle To Limit Drinking Water Contaminants
As far as state and federal officials are concerned, the drinking water in Smithwick, Texas, is perfectly safe. Over the past two decades, the utility that provides water to much of the community has had little trouble complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act, which is intended to assure Americans that their tap water is clean. Yet, at least once a year since 2019, the Smithwick Mills water system, which serves about 200 residents in the area, has reported high levels of the synthetic chemical 1,2,3-trichloropropane, according to data provided by the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization that collects water testing results from states. (Philip, 11/7)

The Wall Street Journal: The Surprising Way To Eat Less Sugar This Holiday Season 
What if the best way to curb sugar cravings is just to eat as much as you want? That is the core of an idea gaining traction among dietitians, who say that letting ourselves graze unfettered on a cache of Halloween fun-size Snickers can reduce our sugar lust in the long run. (Dizik, 11/7)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute' 
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: Schools struggle to keep nurses on staff, and the Social Security Administration says it will review how it claws back money it says it wrongly paid to beneficiaries. (11/7)

The New York Times: Some Psychiatrists Prescribe Ozempic To Counter Weight Gain From Mental Health Drugs 
It was Joanna Acevedo’s psychiatrist who first raised the idea of a weight-loss drug. Since 2018, Ms. Acevedo has relied on antipsychotic medications to manage her bipolar disorder. The drugs kept her paranoia at bay — really, they kept her alive, she said. They also led her to gain 70 pounds. By age 26, she had become prediabetic. (Blum, 11/3)

CIDRAP: Study Suggests Mass Vaccination Programs Cut COVID Cases In Japan 65% 
The population benefit of COVID-19 vaccination via direct and indirect effects was substantial in Tokyo in early 2022 during Omicron, with an estimated 65% reduction in the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections, according to a new model that compared risks between unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals. (Soucheray, 11/6)

CIDRAP: Stewardship Program Linked To Reduced Antibiotic Use, Resistance In Kids With Severe Bacterial Pneumonia 
Implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) was associated with a significant reduction in antibiotic consumption and antimicrobial resistance in children with severe bacterial pneumonia at a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in China, researchers reported yesterday in the Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance. (Dall, 11/6)

CIDRAP: South African TB Study Finds Evidence Of Bedaquiline-Resistance Transmission 
A study of tuberculosis (TB) patients in South Africa found that more than half receiving treatment with a bedaquiline-containing regimen had isolates with bedaquiline resistance, researchers reported last week in The Lancet Microbe. (Dall, 11/6)

The Washington Post: Getting A Gonorrhea Antibiotic To Regulators Is Remarkable 
Zoliflodacin is remarkable, but I don’t mean that for the obvious reasons. Yes, it is the first of a new kind of antibiotic. And it could soon become the first new antibiotic in decades to treat gonorrhea, working against all the strains of the bacteria that are resistant to the drugs we have. Plus zoliflodacin can be swallowed. And it takes just one dose to work. (Manica Balasegaram, 11/2)

New England Journal of Medicine: How Should The FDA Evaluate Psychedelic Medicine? 
Drug companies are spending millions of dollars to incorporate psychedelic agents into health care.1 Working with research institutions, patient organizations, and veterans groups, they have gained bipartisan support in Congress. Meanwhile, mounting clinical evidence is paving the way for the likely approval of new psychedelic medicines by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (Mason Marks, M.D., J.D., and I. Glenn Cohen, J.D., 11/4)

Newsweek: All Health Care Professionals Have A Role To Play In Combating The Opioid Epidemic 
The opioid epidemic is perhaps the most enduring and damaging public health crisis in American history, and one that has been perpetuated by systemic barriers, indifference, and a lack of awareness and education among the public. Drug overdoses are a leading cause of injury-related death in the United States and most involve opioids. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 80,411 Americans died from an opioid overdose in 2021. That's more than 220 lives lost every day. (Petros Levounis, 11/6)

Stat: There's A Real Risk That Harm Reduction Could Be A Fad
Harm reduction is having its moment in America. The doors of drug-related harm reduction have swung wide open after years of federal funding bans. Extensive opioid settlement payouts combined with an urgency to address the overdose crisis have allowed for harm reduction approaches to catch on like wildfire. (Alexandra Plante, 11/6)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Voters Pass Issue 1 Abortion Amendment. We Aren't As Red As Republicans Think
Statehouse Republicans put up a nasty fight, but at the end of the day, Ohio voters proved just how out of touch they are and have been. As polls predicted they would, Ohioans enshrined abortion and other reproductive rights into the state constitution and approved a measure that will allow those 21 and older to buy, possess and grow cannabis. (Ray Marcano, 11/7)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Mental Health One Of The Biggest Threats To Our Youth 
Today, adolescents and youth face "internal risks" at much higher rates than the physical "external risks" of a few decades ago. A 2019 report by the American Academy for Pediatrics noted that for the first time, "Mental health disorders have surpassed physical conditions as the most common reasons children have impairments and limitations." A survey of local high school students in 2021 found that nearly 25% report experiencing depression and 39% report anxiety.  (Kate Schroder, 11/6)

The Washington Post: Colorblindness Affects How Kids Learn. So Why Don’t We Screen For It? 
Studies suggest that 80 percent of classroom learning is visual, especially in elementary school, where colors play a large role. Using colors to denote specific information — such as a vivid pie chart, a color-coded map of the United States, or a wrong answer marked in red — can cause colorblind students to misunderstand. Teachers and parents can support these pupils by making easy modifications. However, they need to know there’s a vision deficiency in the first place. (Jessica Wozinsky Fleming, 11/7)

Newsweek: Is There A Price And Time Limit On Human Justice, Freedom, And Dignity? 
PEPFAR provided $100 billion over two decades to support HIV care globally, including antiretrovirals (ARVs) to 20.1 million people living with HIV (PLWH); 25 million lives were saved. As an infectious diseases physician and clinical trials investigator, I witnessed firsthand benefits of PEPFAR, which should have been reauthorized without provisions, expanding wide-reaching HIV care. (Jessica Tuan, 11/7)

Stat: The New Shift In Health Care Is Toward Less Care 
The opioid crisis rocked America, bringing addiction and overdose into the spotlight. But it also highlighted the overtreatment of pain: Medical and dental providers alike overprescribed opioids after procedures and for chronic conditions. Out of that overtreatment came an epidemic. In American health care, overtreatment is common. Recently though, there has been a subtle shift in the opposite direction. It’s possible that “less is more” is catching on. (Elsa Pearson Sites, 11/8)

CNN: Supreme Court Has A Huge Decision To Make 
On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court heard arguments on a pivotal gun case over a federal law that bars people subject to certain domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms. It seems like a pretty common-sense regulation: People who courts have deemed violent threats to their family members, significant others or exes shouldn’t be able to get their hands on deadly weapons. But the staunchly pro-gun-rights conservative justices of the Supreme Court, now in a majority, have the power to overturn this law and put women’s lives at even greater risk.  Abuse is always dangerous, but when an abuser has access to a gun, his victim is five times more likely to be murdered by him. (Jill Filipovic, 11/7)