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It’s Brittany subbing for Theresa this nice Monday. Thanks for the entire glorious tune suggestions over the weekend. If you wish to take a look at my highway journey playlist, you will discover it right here.
In immediately’s e-newsletter, we introduce you to neffy, the nasal spray various to the EpiPen. In my thoughts, it appears type of like Microsoft’s Clippy, however for allergy symptoms.
Meet neffy, the nasal spray model of the EpiPen
On Friday, the Meals and Drug Administration introduced it had accepted the primary epinephrine nasal spray for treating anaphylaxis, the generally life-threatening allergic response to issues like bee stings, crab, or peanuts.
The spray, known as neffy, was accepted for adults and youngsters over 30 kg, or 66 kilos. A nasal spray was beforehand onerous to attain as a result of the drug shouldn’t be effectively absorbed by the nostril, however neffy makes use of a compound, Intravail, that helps open up tight junctions in mucous membranes.
The nasal spray opens up a needle-free various to the EpiPen and should undercut it on value, too. The CEO of neffy’s producer, ARS Prescription drugs, advised STAT in September {that a} two-pack wouldn’t value greater than $199, and for folks with insurance coverage, coupons would drive copays all the way down to $25 per two-pack.
Learn extra concerning the approval from STAT’s Isa Cueto, and take a look at her earlier story on the alternatives neffy presents — together with its smaller measurement. (In case you’re on the fence, the story contains the quote “Who has the pockets for this factor? I’m not gonna put on a fanny pack, dude” re: the EpiPen.)
CDC ups hen flu alarm — however solely barely
From STAT’s Helen Branswell: The CDC issued a brand new danger evaluation of the H5N1 hen flu virus circulating in dairy cows Friday, growing barely its estimate of the possibility the virus poses of triggering a pandemic. However the brand new evaluation, developed utilizing the company’s influenza danger evaluation device or IRAT, nonetheless gauges the chance within the decrease half of the average fee. Earlier assessments of some swine influenza viruses and of the H7N9 hen flu virus have scored increased utilizing the IRAT danger evaluation.
Vivien Dugan, director of the CDC’s influenza division, advised STAT this device was designed to assist the federal authorities prioritize its pandemic preparedness efforts, and isn’t meant to forecast whether or not a given flu virus will go on to trigger a pandemic. The virus analyzed within the new evaluation was taken from the primary human H5N1 case within the U.S. this yr, a farmworker in Texas whose an infection was reported in the beginning of April. The earlier H5N1 danger evaluation was based mostly on a 2023 outbreak of H5N1 in mink in Spain. Learn extra from Helen right here, and sustain with STAT’s H5N1 protection right here.
Reducing the quantity of sweet within the checkout aisle
What’s your favourite sweet to eye within the checkout aisle? Or are you extra tempted by chips? In March 2021, Berkeley, Calif., grew to become the primary city on the earth to implement a “wholesome checkout coverage,” which set requirements for what objects are allowed to be displayed in that high-engagement-time space inside three ft of a checkout register.
The coverage permits solely drinks with out sweeteners (whether or not calorie-free or not) and meals with 5 or fewer grams of added sugars and 200 or fewer milligrams of sodium per serving within the following classes: sugar-free gum and mints, fruit, greens, nuts, seeds, legumes, yogurt or cheese, and complete grains.
A latest research in JAMA Community Open confirmed that after one yr, the rise in wholesome meals and beverage shows in comparison with cities with out the coverage went from 29% to 62%, suggesting that comparable insurance policies could be efficient in growing the healthfulness of retailer checkout areas.
Don’t miss a STAT First Opinion on this matter by Anne Thorndike, a Mass Gen major care doctor not concerned within the research.
The battle for higher alcohol danger labels
You is likely to be stunned to study that almost all alcohol merchandise are usually not regulated by a health-related company just like the FDA. As a substitute, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Commerce Bureau — a bit of the Division of the Treasury — is in command of labels on alcohol. Nevertheless it doesn’t have a public well being cost, equivalent to warning shoppers about well being dangers of alcohol or mandating vitamin details. Its predominant operate is as a tax assortment company.
As such, the TTB hasn’t taken an enormous curiosity in altering the fine-print warnings on alcohol bottles to one thing just like the colourful “Alcohol could cause most cancers” labels {that a} Canadian research confirmed had been efficient in altering shoppers’ alcohol shopping for habits. However that could be altering quickly.
STAT’s Isa Cueto takes us on a journey by client and public curiosity teams’ two-decade-long battle to get stronger warning labels on alcohol, the science supporting alcohol warning labels, and the way the alcohol business is combating again. Learn the story right here.
Pleased summer season — be careful for rabies
One other from STAT’s Helen Branswell: Campers waking up with bats of their tents. Cattle in Minnesota succumbing to rabies, doubtless transmitted by skunks. A neighborhood well being division warning of a rabies-infected raccoon. Seeing these sorts of tales at the moment of yr isn’t a shock; the chance of being uncovered to rabies will increase in the summertime, Ryan Wallace, rabies program lead on the CDC, advised STAT. That danger extends each to folks and pets, which underscores the significance of vaccinating canine and cats. Of greater than 7,000 rabid canine and cats detected within the U.S. over the previous 20 years, 99% had been unvaccinated, Wallace mentioned.
Some elements of the nation are seeing a rise in rabies detections this yr — skunks in Minnesota and Iowa, and grey foxes in Arizona, New Mexico, and California. Wallace mentioned that yearly about 60,000 folks within the U.S. are deemed to want post-exposure rabies vaccination. The nation’s effort to cut back rabies danger is very large and costly, however has actual affect. There hasn’t been a detected human case of rabies up to now 2.5 years, Wallace mentioned. “I’m knocking on wooden.”
Serving to stem cells come out of their bone houses
For anybody donating stem cells for a bone marrow transplant (or changing into their very own donor, as recipients of the brand new gene therapies for sickle cell illness and beta thalassemia do), it’s essential to bear stem cell assortment.
Nonetheless, convincing sufficient stem cells to exit their niches within the bone marrow and enter the bloodstream, the place they are often collected, is tough. New analysis in Science taking a look at mouse and human cells explains a method blood cells resist getting into the bloodstream. The research discovered that cells with sure macrophage markers on their floor had been higher at staying within the bone marrow and that cells may use a course of known as trogocytosis to connect these sticky markers to themselves. Nonetheless, medicine used to push stem cells out of the bone marrow assist flip off trogocytosis, and this new understanding provides a brand new goal for future medicine which may enhance stem cell assortment effectivity.
What we’re studying
Three MDMA remedy papers are retracted over information integrity issues — on the heels of the FDA’s rejection of the psychedelic remedy for PTSD, STAT
Choose orders CDC to cease deleting emails of departing workers, calling it ‘doubtless illegal’, Politico
This athlete’s favourite a part of the Olympics? Free well being care, The nineteenth
Why Trump’s mifepristone feedback had been a present to the Harris marketing campaign, STAT
In South Africa, lengthy Covid is an afterthought to tuberculosis, The Sick Instances
Is COVID endemic but? Yep, says the CDC. Right here’s what which means, NPR
