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OTC Birth Control Pills –Just What The Doctor Ordered
Jeffrey A. SingerLast week, at its annual meeting, the American Medical Associationvoted to join the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Academy of Family Physicians in calling on the Food and Drug Administration to make birth control pills available over the counter. As I have writtenhere, ACOG and AAFP have been calling for making hormonal contraception available over the counter for decades. While late to the game, the AMA ’s endorsement of OTC birth control is a welcome development.Two drug companies,HRA Pharma andCadence Health have been workingsince 2016 to develop new birth control pi...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 21, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs

The Macro View – Health, Economics, and Politics and the Big Picture. What I Am Watching Here And Abroad.
June 09, 2022 Edition-----The Russian war on Ukraine is now well over 100 days old. The destruction and deaths are just awful and the world is being seriously re-shaped. Where this ends is unknowable but unlikely to be good.In the US we are seeing almost daily mass shootings and no-one seems to know what to do. Just pathetic.In the UK the hangover is slowly lifting after the 4 day royal celebration.In OZ we are having an energy crisis which we hope we will find solutions for soon!-----Major Issues.------https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/economics/australias-labor-government-faces-a-whole-new-economic-ball-game/news...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - June 9, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs

Drug Paraphernalia Laws Undermine Harm Reduction
Jeffrey A. SingerWith overdose deaths from non ‐medical drug use skyrocketing to a horrifying108,000 in 2021,state andfederal policymakers are finally beginning to appreciateharm reduction strategies that can reduce the risk death and disease from using drugs obtained in the black market fueled by drug prohibition. These strategies include syringe services programs (also called SSPs or “needle‐exchange programs”), distributing drug testing devices such as fentanyl test strips, and distributing the overdose antidote naloxone (which is inexplicably still classified asprescription ‐only by the Foo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 7, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs

AI-enabled chatbot Wysa receives FDA Breakthrough Device designation for patients with chronic pain, depression and anxiety
AI Behavior Health Chatbot App Fast-Tracked by FDA (Psychology Today): Recently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted breakthrough device designation to Wysa’s AI-based digital mental health conversational agent that delivers cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) via a smartphone to adults suffering from depression, anxiety, and chronic musculoskeletal pain… Wysa’s admittance to the FDA Breakthrough Devices Program signifies a giant leap forward for artificial intelligence in the mental health industry. According to the FDA, the designation was supported by a clinical trial that “found Wysa to be more ef...
Source: SharpBrains - June 6, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation anxiety artificial intelligence CBT chronic musculoskeletal pain cognitive-behavioral-therapy depression digital mental health FDA Food and Drug Administration mental health industry sma Source Type: blogs

E ‑Cigarettes as Harm Reduction for Pregnant Tobacco Smokers
Jeffrey A. SingerLast week U.K. researchers published a study providing more evidence of the harm ‐reduction potential of nicotine containing e‑cigarettes—this time for pregnant women who smoke tobacco.The randomized controlled trial, begun in 2019, included 1,140 participants from 24 UK hospitals. Pregnant women who smoked were placed on either nicotine patches or refillable nicotine e ‑cigarettes to replace tobacco. The researchers found both replacement methods to have an equal safety profile. However, low birth weight was less frequent among the e‑cigarette arm of the study compared to the nicotine pa...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 25, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs

Rock ‐a‐Bye Trade Restrictions on Baby Formula
Gabriella Beaumont-SmithOver the last few months, a U.S. baby formula producer issued recallsbothvoluntarily and required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These recalls arerocking the U.S. baby formula market leaving parents facing higher prices andbare shelves. Stores like Walgreens,CVS Health, andTarget are limiting the number of formula products per purchase because of low inventory —just last month, national out‐of‐stock levels reached40 percent!One reason retailers are struggling to recover stock levels is the multifarious trade restrictions that limit infant formula imports. The United States ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 10, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Gabriella Beaumont-Smith Source Type: blogs

New National Drug Control Strategy Takes Some Positive Steps But Can Go Much Further
Jeffrey A. SingerIn the wake of a Marchreport from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that drug overdose deaths climbed to a record 106,000 for the 12 months ending November 2021 (last November the agency reported100,000 overdose deaths for the 12 months ending April 2021), the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy published a National Drug Control Strategy today.On the positive side is ONDCP ’s new appreciation for the benefits ofharm reduction for reducing the risk of death and disease from using drugs obtained in the dangerous black market. The strategy includes a&nbs...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 21, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs

Debate: Will digital therapeutics gain the required levels of awareness, adoption, reimbursement and fulfillment to become sustainable?
Can digital therapeutics become profitable? (MedTechDive): In 2020, the Food and Drug Administration cleared Akili Interactive’s video game to improve attention in kids with ADHD. It was the first time that a video game for treatment was cleared by the agency, and is one example of a digital therapeutic, a class of software-based treatments with FDA indications. Now, as the market is further developing, these companies have built up big ambitions. Corey McCann, the CEO of Pear Therapeutics, which has three FDA-cleared digital treatments, hopes to make them the standard of care and garner widespread insurance coverage. Af...
Source: SharpBrains - April 21, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation Akili Interactive digital therapeutic digital therapeutics Food and Drug Administration Pear Therapeutics Source Type: blogs

Flu Is Making Comeback. Here ’s What We Can Do About It
Jeffrey A. SingerAfter being nearly absent in 2020 and 2021, influenza cases are making a comeback. In fact, cases are up ‐tickingunusually late in the year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)reported on April 15 that the majority of cases are H3N2, “antigenically different from the vaccine reference viruses.” This explains why the latest flu vaccine is only16 percent effective in reducing the chances of a moderate to severe infection. As of April 15, the CDC reported at least 4.3 million flu illnesses, 42,000 hospitalizations, and 2,500 deaths from the flu.Public health experts attribu...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 18, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs

Hemostasis on Contact: Interview with Joe Landolina, CEO of Cresilon
Cresilon, a New York-based medtech company, specializes in developing hemostatic technology. Its co-founder and CEO, Joe Landolina, created a plant-based hemostatic gel that can stop bleeding very rapidly when applied to a wound. Landolin developed the gel when he was just seventeen, and has spent the years since building the company to bring it and similar technologies to market. At present, Cresilon’s technology is sold under the name Vetigel for use by veterinarians for bleeds that occur during surgery or dental work, or those caused by trauma. However, the company has recently submitted the technology to the F...
Source: Medgadget - April 12, 2022 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Dentistry Emergency Medicine Exclusive Military Medicine Surgery cresilon hemostasis vetigel Source Type: blogs

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Oregon is seeking authority to deny Medicaid coverage for certain new, high-cost prescription drugs that have won accelerated approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Source: The Commonwealth Fund: Blog)
Source: The Commonwealth Fund: Blog - April 5, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Edwin Park Source Type: blogs

John Oliver: You Had Me at Over ‐the‐Counter Naloxone
Jeffrey A. SingerJohn Oliver made an excellent case forshifting from a war on drugs to a war on drug related deaths on the March 27, 2022 edition ofLast Week Tonight on HBO. You can view ithere.In a little over 15 minutes, Oliver explained the rationale behind the harm reduction strategy: realism. Harm reduction advocates understand we will never attain a drug‐free society, and that it therefore makes sense to make illicit drug use safer.Oliver called for the Food and Drug Administration to make the opioid overdose antidote naloxone an over ‐the‐counter drug, as I have been sayingsince 2018. In 2019,...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 28, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, March 14th 2022
This study tests the feasibility of chronically elevating skeletal muscle NAD+ in mice and investigates the putative effects on mitochondrial respiratory capacity, insulin sensitivity, and gene expression. The metabolic effects of NR and PT treatment were modest. We conclude that the chronic elevation of skeletal muscle NAD+ by the intravenous injection of NR is possible but does not affect muscle respiratory capacity or insulin sensitivity in either sedentary or physically active mice. Our data have implications for NAD+ precursor supplementation regimens. Muscle Strengthening Activities in Later Life Correlate ...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 13, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

Many Mediocre Cancer Therapies Become Much Better When More Targeted to Cancerous Tissues
One of the important areas of cancer research and development that appears to receive a great deal of attention and funding, but in practice seems slow to make it from the laboratory to the clinic, is the targeting of therapeutics to cancerous cells. Reductio ad absurdum, near any of dozens of existing chemotherapeutics would do the job of completely clearing tumors, with minimal to no side-effects, if one could only find a way to delivery tiny amounts of the therapeutic to every cancer cell while avoiding every healthy cell. The inability to target treatments this effectively is exactly why cancer remains such a problem. ...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 9, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

AMA Statement on “Test to Treat” Does Not Align Well With Patients’ Interests
Jeffrey A. SingerDuring his State of the Union Address last week, President Biden announced a plan to make it easier for people to get access to the new antiviral drug Paxlovid. This drug, if taken during the first 3 to 5 days of a symptomatic COVID infection, is 89 percent effective in preventing the case from progressing to hospitalization or death. Under theplan, dubbed “test to treat,” people with symptoms may go to a designated pharmacy, community health center, nursing home, or supermarket, where a pharmacist can perform the test for COVID and, if it returns positive, prescribe the a...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 7, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs