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Secukinumab gets EC approval for treating hidradenitis suppurativa
Cosentyx® (secukinumab) became the only new biologic approved in the last decade for this condition. It provided rapid symptom relief by week 4, with increasing response rates for up to a year. The safety profile of the drug was already established across other indications. The drug is also used fot treating plaque psoriasis, spondylitis, spondyloarthritis, and arthritis.
Novartis
Not taking COVID-19 vaccines tied to avoidable hospitalizations
COVID-19 patients who were eligible for vaccination but did not take them had a 10 times higher hospitalization risk than those who received two doses. They also had 21 times higher risk than those who took a booster or a third dose. The study estimated that costs of $101.46 million and $110.24 million could be avoided with full and booster vaccination, respectively.
Twitter @noelgibney
FDA warns against compounding semaglutide
The agency received reports of adverse events after some patients used compounded semaglutide. Thus, FDA warned against using compounded drugs when an approved drug is available. Patients and physicians are urged to understand that such products may contain salt forms and FDA does not review the safety and effectiveness of compounded versions of drugs.
FDA
Alzheimer's could raise the risk of epilepsy
Patients with Alzheimer's disease were found to be at a higher risk of focal epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis and generalized epilepsy, as per a study. This association was consistent and replicated in a genome-wide association study. These findings have clinical implications and highlight that amyloid pathology and Alzheimer's disease could give rise to seizures.
Drugs.com
Exercise could improve pain tolerance
Researchers studied self-reported physical activity levels and pain tolerance of people twice in eight years. They found that more active lifestyles were associated with more pain tolerance. Also, the pain endurance increased as more people reported exercising over the study period. These findings suggest exercise could become a non-pharmacological way to prevent chronic pain.
TIME
FDA approves a new PET agent for prostate cancer imaging
POSLUMA® (flotufolastat F18), developed by Blue Earth Diagnostics, is the prostate-specific membrane antigen with multiple indications in PET imaging for men with PSMA-positive lesions and suspected metastasis. It can also be used for men with suspected recurrence based on higher PSA levels. It demonstrated precision even at low PSA levels, with an 83% overall detection rate.
Diagnostic Imaging
Things to know about hand, foot and mouth disease
It starts with cold-like symptoms leading to mouth sores and skin rashes lasting almost 10 days. Patients are most contagious in the first few days, but the virus can pass through stools for weeks. Although it is common in kids aged under 5 years, even caregivers can get infected and sick. People can catch it multiple times as it is caused by multiple viruses.
Cleveland Clinic
New treatment for REM sleep behaviour disorder
This disorder is caused due to neurodegeneration from the accumulation of tau protein in the brain. A recent study found that dual orexin receptor antagonists can benefit patients with this condition. These drugs reduced the time to fall asleep and improved the duration and quality of sleep in mouse models, raising hopes for testing these FDA-approved drugs in humans.
Sciencenews.net
Paper that surveyed parents of kids with gender dysphoria retracted
The article will be retracted due to a lack of informed consent, as per the author. The paper has the findings from the survey involving parents who were contacted through a website. It reported that parents felt pressure from the clinicians to affirm the new gender and transition of their kids. It attracted criticism soon after its publication in Springer Nature.
Retraction Watch
APA launches an app to help diagnose eating disorders
AvoMD mobile app is an interactive screening and evaluation tool developed based on practice guidelines for treating eating disorders to guide clinicians in screening, diagnosing and treating bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, binge-eating disorders and related disorders. The app can save 50% of clinicians' time in decision-making and reduce costs.
American Psychiatric Association
