Tag Archives: drug

Essential Reads: SBIRT for Women with Alcohol and Drug Use During Pregnancy

Critical to the wellbeing of pregnant women and their infants is universal screening for drug and alcohol use. This is an essential first step in identifying women with harmful substance use and connecting them with appropriate services.  Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment or SBIRT has been shown to be a quick and effective… Read More »

Common cholesterol drug may reduce COVID-19 severity, study finds

Coronavirus patients taking statins prior to hospitalization substantially reduced their odds of in-hospital death and severe COVID-19, researchers found, confirming earlier findings. Statin drugs are frequently used to lower blood cholesterol levels and prevent cardiovascular disease. A team of scientists from University of California San Diego School of Medicine published findings in PLOS ONE last… Read More »

Supreme Court will hear case over Trump admin’s 340B drug program cuts to hospitals

Dive Brief: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving the Trump administration’s cuts of Medicare Part B reimbursement for drugs that hospitals obtain under the 340B program. The case pivots on whether CMS has the authority to make payment cuts under the outpatient prospective payment system. The justices are expected to hear… Read More »

Transparency by drug companies, scrutiny by journalists, vital in vaccine news

Pfizer’s chairman and CEO proclaimed in a Pfizer company news release: “Today is a great day for science and humanity.” In that PR news release – but only in that format – Pfizer announced early results of “a vaccine efficacy rate above 90%, at 7 days after the second dose.” That’s about all we know… Read More »

GlaxoSmithKline requests emergency authorization from FDA for Covid antibody drug

In this photo illustration the British multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) logo seen displayed on a smartphone with a computer model of the COVID-19 coronavirus on the background. Budrul Chukrut | SOPA Images | Getty Images GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology on Friday applied for an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for… Read More »

Drug being tested for at-home treatment in hopes of slowing virus

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are testing a new approach to fighting COVID-19, using a repurposed antiviral AIDS drug for at-home treatment during the first days of symptoms in hopes of slowing the virus early and heading off hospitalization, intensive care, and death. The nationwide clinical trial is being led by Nathan Shapiro,… Read More »