Health

F.D.A. Nominee to Face Grilling Over Cutbacks and Policy Shifts

F.D.A. Nominee to Face Grilling Over Cutbacks and Policy Shifts

Dr. Marty Makary may face sharp questions from senators about whether he will defend the Food and Drug Administration against staff cutbacks and industry pressure on Thursday, although he is still expected to sail through his confirmation hearing to become the agency’s commissioner. Dr. Makary built his reputation as a contrarian in the medical field, gaining widespread notice by speaking …

Read More »

Digging Out of a Therapy Rut

Digging Out of a Therapy Rut

Therapy has been a part of Katerina Kelly’s weekly routine since elementary school, when a teacher suggested counseling for the 8-year-old. At the time, Katerina’s autism was affecting their ability to manage time, make decisions and socialize. And for many years, the therapist seemed helpful. But once college rolled around, things changed. “I always left counseling feeling either worse than …

Read More »

Shropshire patients thank blood donors for life-saving plasma

Shropshire patients thank blood donors for life-saving plasma

A patient from Telford who needed a lifesaving treatment developed from blood plasma has thanked donors. Over the past three years, thousands of litres of blood from donors across England has been stored and now it has been turned into immunoglobulin, which helps the body’s immune response. It marks the first time in 25 years the NHS is able to …

Read More »

Cod Liver Oil? Vaccines? A G.O.P. Skeptic Confronts Kennedy’s Fine Line on Measles

Cod Liver Oil? Vaccines? A G.O.P. Skeptic Confronts Kennedy’s Fine Line on Measles

Perhaps no vote was as agonizing for Senator Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican and medical doctor, than his vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Trump’s health secretary. Mr. Cassidy wondered aloud for days how Mr. Kennedy, the nation’s most vocal and powerful critic of vaccinations, might handle an infectious disease crisis. Now, as a measles outbreak rages …

Read More »

Scientists discover new part of the immune system

Scientists discover new part of the immune system

Getty Images Woman sneezing into a tissue A new part of the immune system has been discovered and it is a goldmine of potential antibiotics, scientists have said. They’ve shown a part of the body known to recycle proteins has a secret mode that can spew out an arsenal of bacteria-killing chemicals. The researchers in Israel say it transforms our …

Read More »

Assisted dying debate: The UK’s real problem with palliative care

Assisted dying debate: The UK’s real problem with palliative care

BBC The UK was once ranked the best country in the world for end-of-life care – but that’s not the case any longer. And according to experts, the problem runs far deeper than money The people closest to Terry Leader remember him as a man who was always laughing. He emigrated to the UK from the Caribbean island of St …

Read More »

Aging Women’s Brain Mysteries Are Tested in Trio of Studies

Aging Women’s Brain Mysteries Are Tested in Trio of Studies

Women’s brains are superior to men’s in at least in one respect — they age more slowly. And now, a group of researchers reports that they have found a gene in mice that rejuvenates female brains. Humans have the same gene. The discovery suggests a possible way to help both women and men avoid cognitive declines in advanced age. The …

Read More »

Weight Loss Drug Will Be Offered for $499 a Month for Some Patients

Weight Loss Drug Will Be Offered for 9 a Month for Some Patients

Novo Nordisk will cut the price of its blockbuster weight loss medication Wegovy to $499 per month for certain patients who pay using their own money instead of going through insurance, the drug maker said on Wednesday. The move could cause more patients to start taking the drug. But the impact stands to be limited, because the decision does not …

Read More »

Florida Seeks Drug Prescription Data With Names of Patients and Doctors

Florida Seeks Drug Prescription Data With Names of Patients and Doctors

Florida’s insurance regulator has demanded an unusually intrusive trove of data on millions of prescription drugs filled in the state last year, including the names of patients taking the medications, their dates of birth and doctors they’ve seen. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in January sought this information from pharmacy benefit managers like UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx and CVS Health’s …

Read More »