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It’s Brittany subbing for Theresa this superb Monday. Thanks for the entire glorious track suggestions over the weekend. If you wish to take a look at my highway journey playlist, you will discover it here.
In in the present day’s publication, we introduce you to neffy, the nasal spray different to the EpiPen. In my thoughts, it appears to be like type of like Microsoft’s Clippy, however for allergic reactions.
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 children over 30 kg, or 66 kilos. A nasal spray was beforehand onerous to realize as a result of the drug isn’t effectively absorbed by way of 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 different to the EpiPen and will undercut it on value, too. The CEO of neffy’s producer, ARS Prescribed drugs, advised STAT in September {that a} two-pack wouldn’t price greater than $199, and for individuals 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 the event you’re on the fence, the story consists of the quote “Who has the pockets for this factor? I’m not gonna put on a fanny pack, dude” re: the EpiPen.)
CDC ups chicken flu alarm — however solely barely
From STAT’s Helen Branswell: The CDC issued a brand new danger evaluation of the H5N1 chicken 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 danger within the decrease half of the average charge. Earlier assessments of some swine influenza viruses and of the H7N9 chicken flu virus have scored greater 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 12 months, a farmworker in Texas whose an infection was reported initially 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.
Lowering 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., turned the primary city on this planet to implement a “wholesome checkout coverage,” which set requirements for what gadgets are allowed to be displayed in that high-engagement-time space inside three toes 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 entire grains.
A latest study in JAMA Network Open confirmed that after one 12 months, the rise in wholesome meals and beverage shows in comparison with cities with out the coverage went from 29% to 62%, suggesting that related insurance policies could be efficient in growing the healthfulness of retailer checkout areas.
Don’t miss a STAT First Opinion on this subject 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 shocked to study that the majority alcohol merchandise aren’t regulated by a health-related company just like the FDA. As an alternative, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Commerce Bureau — a bit of the Division of the Treasury — is accountable for labels on alcohol. Nevertheless it doesn’t have a public well being cost, equivalent to warning customers about well being dangers of alcohol or mandating vitamin information. Its primary 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 may cause most cancers” labels {that a} Canadian research confirmed had been efficient in altering customers’ alcohol shopping for habits. However which may be altering quickly.
STAT’s Isa Cueto takes us on a journey by way of 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 trade 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, possible transmitted by skunks. A neighborhood well being division warning of a rabies-infected raccoon. Seeing these sorts of tales presently of 12 months isn’t a shock; the danger 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 individuals and pets, which underscores the significance of vaccinating canines and cats. Of greater than 7,000 rabid canines and cats detected within the U.S. over the previous 20 years, 99% had been unvaccinated, Wallace stated.
Some elements of the nation are seeing a rise in rabies detections this 12 months — skunks in Minnesota and Iowa, and grey foxes in Arizona, New Mexico, and California. Wallace stated that yearly about 60,000 individuals within the U.S. are deemed to wish post-exposure rabies vaccination. The nation’s effort to scale back rabies danger is huge and costly, however has actual influence. There hasn’t been a detected human case of rabies up to now 2.5 years, Wallace stated. “I’m knocking on wooden.”
Serving to stem cells come out of their bone properties
For anybody donating stem cells for a bone marrow transplant (or turning 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 endure 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 troublesome. New research in Science taking a look at mouse and human cells explains a technique 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 might use a course of known as trogocytosis to connect these sticky markers to themselves. Nonetheless, medication 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 medication which may enhance stem cell assortment effectivity.
What we’re studying
- Three MDMA remedy papers are retracted over information integrity considerations — on the heels of the FDA’s rejection of the psychedelic therapy for PTSD, STAT
- Decide orders CDC to cease deleting emails of departing workers, calling it ‘possible illegal’, Politico
- This athlete’s favourite a part of the Olympics? Free well being care, The 19th
- 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 Times
- Is COVID endemic but? Yep, says the CDC. Right here’s what which means, NPR
