While fears of a potential coronavirus or flu pandemic continue to grow across the globe, the White House is calling for a 16% cut to the budget of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as well as a 10% cut to the Department of Health and Human Services.
San Diego-based Sorrento Therapeutics rejected a non-binding acquisition proposal from a private equity firm, saying that the offer “significantly undervalues Sorrento and is not in the best interest of the company’s stockholders.”
The rate of first-time opioid prescriptions declined 54 percent between 2012 and 2017 in the U.S., largely because many doctors stopped prescribing the painkillers, according to a study of more than 86 million people covered by private insurance.
An estimated 69,000 to 84,000 Americans were hospitalized due to the flu in the last three months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
Thirty more people were reported sick after eating Kellogg Co.’s Honey Smacks cereal contaminated with Salmonella, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, bringing the total to 130 cases in 36 states.
Seasonal flu has been widespread in 2018, impacting millions of people across the country. It has been an especially challenging season, with high rates of hospitalization for both influenza and its complications, which include pneumonia and the exacerbation of chronic conditions such as asthma and congestive heart failure. Many schools have closed in an attempt to control the spread of the illness and doctor’s offices are packed with patients seeking diagnosis and antiviral treatment.
CDC Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald urged Americans to get flu shots amid one of the most severe flu seasons in years.
Prescriptions for nerve pain medicines like Neurontin and Lyrica more than tripled in recent years, driven by increased use among chronically ill older adults and patients already taking opioids, a U.S. study suggests.
The U.S. FDA approved Merck’s and Pfizer’s Steglatro (ertugliflozin), a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2)- inhibitor, which will square off against established drugs in the market.
Life expectancy in the United States dipped in 2016 as the number of deaths due to opioid drug overdoses surged and total drug overdose deaths rose 21 percent to 63,600, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
