Medical Brief News Updates

The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a safety alert linking possible Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) with two respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines – one from Pfizer (Abrysvo) and the other from GSK (Arexvy). The prescribing information for each jab has been revised to say that a post-marketing observational study… Read more »

Limpopo police have launched a massive manhunt after two nurses, on night duty at a local clinic, were abducted at gunpoint and then raped by a lone, heavily armed gunman. The intruder had entered the Chuene Clinic just after midnight on Friday where he had managed to overpower and then… Read more »

The SA Municipal Workers Union Medical Scheme (Samwumed) has dumped the Melomed Group from its list of approved hospitals, causing an outcry among members and forcing some Capetonians to travel up to 20km for healthcare. Samwumed had announced last month that it would drop Melomed facilities from its list after… Read more »

An internal probe by Karl Bremer Hospital into the circumstances surrounding a guard dragging a patient across the floor found that the security officer’s “lapse in judgment” was unacceptable. The video of the widely shared incident showed the guard telling the visibly distressed patient, who was lying on the floor,… Read more »

The North West provincial Health & Social Development Portfolio Committee has called for urgent action in response to teen pregnancies, and after recent revelations that a 16-year-old gave birth to her second child this month, fathered by a 35-year-old. Committee chairperson Karabo Magagane said the committee “is dismayed by the… Read more »

Britain is considering reclassifying the anaesthetic ketamine as a class A drug as illegal use skyrockets to record levels, officials say. Ketamine, taken by billionaire Elon Musk to control his moods, is currently a class B substance, but Ministers say they are seeking “expert advice” on reclassification after an estimated… Read more »

America’s three largest pharmacy benefit managers have been accused by the Federal Trade Commission of significantly marking up the prices of certain medicines, including for heart disease, cancer and HIV, at their affiliated pharmacies, by hundreds or thousands of percent, to boost profits. Between 2017 and 2022, the companies –… Read more »

The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has slammed a UK company for “adulterating” its products, sending it a warning letter for selling tampons containing unauthorised substances like CBD. Anne’s Daye Ltd, trading as Tampon Innovations – a UK firm with a manufacturing plant in Bulgaria – was marketing tampons… Read more »

Eli Lilly expects its experimental weight loss pill – orforglipron – to be approved as early next year, and plans to release key late-stage trial data on the drug by the middle of this year. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which dominate the market with their obesity injections Zepbound and… Read more »

A group of global experts is proposing a new way to define and diagnose obesity, reducing the emphasis on the controversial body mass index (BMI) and hoping to better identify people who need treatment for the disease caused by excess body fat. Under recommendations released this week, obesity would no… Read more »