- Some colleges and work places have reinstituted mask mandates.
- Two speech paralyzed patients are able to speak at a rate of 70 words per minute, (slightly less than half the rate of a normal conversation) using a computer that picks up electrical signals in the brain.
- One way to fight prior authorization obstacles: Shaming the insurer.
- A surprising consequence of a higher minimum wage: more homelessness.
- How the FDA silences speech – not false speech, but true speech.
- Biden’s FDA is opposing the DeSantis plan to import drugs from Canada. (gated)
- Did you know doctors can specialize in obesity medicine? There are about 100 of them in the US. (gated)
Category: Drug Prices & Regulations
Wednesday Links
- Why patients don’t get enough pain medicine: doctor indifference and drug thieves.
- The annual retail value of goods Americans buy and then return approaches a trillion dollars. HT: Tyler
- Main drug killer of 35 to 44-year-old adults by far is synthetic opioids.
- Should we care about “forever chemicals” that lurk in so much of what we eat, drink and use? Studies show they are bad for rats. (NYT)
- Man believes pediatric doctor reported him to Child Protective Services in retaliation over a bad Google review.
- Richard Hanania with a commonsense review of the risks and benefits of the Covid vaccine.
Monday Links
- Oregon hospital threatens to refuse Medicare Advantage patients.
- Ten drugs, mostly used to treat rare diseases cost over $700,000 annually.
- How Big Pharma makes its money: AbbVie blanketed Humira, the best-selling drug in history, with 165 peripheral patents, to deter any possible competition.
- Medicine without doctors: The past several years have seen hundreds of laws proposing to expand non doctor medical professionals’ work, the AMA has spent millions of dollars fighting back. (Washington Post)
The FDA Hinders the Progress of Regenerative Medicine
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sometimes gets lost in a bureaucratic maze of confusion and red tape that deprives patients of beneficial therapies. Innovative products sometimes fall within a gray area and become overly regulated. One of the FDA’s latest targets is regenerative medicine.
An article titled, An MBA in Regulatory Confusion, talks about Florida-based Regenative Labs. The firm manufactures products made from umbilical cords (donated by mothers after a C-section, according to the company website). English physician and anatomist Thomas Wharton first described his namesake umbilical cord jelly in 1656, although he had no way of knowing it is rich in stem cells and regenerative healing properties.