The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced earlier this month that the agency is launching a contest to create the best app designed to reduce the number of people who die every year from overdosing on opioid painkillers.
A leading group of pediatricians said in a statement published September 19 that codeine is not safe for children and should not be used to relieve pain or coughs. [1]
The guidance nearly mirrors a January 2016 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning that codeine should not be given to children and most teens.
Insys Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company that sells fentanyl, an opioid painkiller 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin, is fighting pot legalization in Arizona with the most powerful weapon in business and politics: money. [1]
A new study in the journal Annals of the American Thoracic Society shows that tighter air pollution standards would save the lives of thousands of Americans. [1]
(MEE) Iran and Saudi Arabia have between them executed more than 350 people in the first half of 2016, according to statistics released by rights groups this week.
Iran is second globally only to China in executing their own citizens, and is far ahead of Saudi Arabia which occupies third place.
Iran executed at least 250 people in the first six months of the year, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights.
(MEE) More than 3,000 migrants and refugees have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, while nearly 250,000 have made the journey to Europe, the International Organisation for Migration has said.
Until a couple of days ago, I’d never heard of Pokemon Go. Now I can’t get away from the smartphone game, released July 6, but I haven’t played it, and I’m still trying to figure out exactly what it is. I feel old admitting it, but I had to look it up online for an explanation. Though if you have kids, you probably know more than I do.
(sigh)
U.S. regulators in July of 2016 halted a trial of Juno Therapeutics Inc.’s experimental cancer therapy, known as JCAR015, after three patients died.
JCAR015 uses genetically engineered cells as a treatment for cancer. However, one of the pursuits in oncology was temporarily halted by the FDA when some of the participants developed fatal swelling in the brain.
Hans Bishop, Juno’s chief executive, said in a conference call with securities analysts that the deaths were “difficult and humbling for everyone involved.”
Cancer rates are increasing, and the World Health Organization (WHO) said in 2014 that cancer cases were expected to surge 57% worldwide over the next 20 years. It’s a health crisis in the making, but scientists are warning there could be an even bigger threat to human health: antimicrobial resistance.
The list of states that have decriminalized marijuana for medical use is growing, but there are still many rules and stipulations which make it incredibly expensive and difficult for patients to actually get their hands on cannabis. Marijuana’s classification as a Schedule I drug has been a major hurdle for drug researchers seeking to understand the full benefits of the herb, but that might change in a few short months.
