Jun 22 White House proposes a reduction of the FDA’s mission By Ike Swetlitz, STAT The idea of changing a key mission of the FDA comes amid a turf war between the FDA and the USDA over the regulation of genetically engineered animals. Continue reading
Jun 16 Controversial NIH study of ‘moderate drinking’ will be terminated after scathing report By Sharon Begley, Andrew Joseph, STAT The National Institutes of Health will shut down a controversial industry-funded study of moderate drinking and heart disease after a task force found severe ethical and scientific lapses in the study’s planning and execution, the agency’s director said Friday. Continue reading
May 19 More patients are taking home recordings of their doctor visits. But who else could listen? By Casey Ross, STAT Tech giants have developed speech recognition and machine learning technologies that allow doctors to automatically transcribe audio recordings. Continue reading
Apr 28 He was a champion of public health — but played a role in the horrors of Tuskegee. Should a college expunge his name? By Megha Satyanarayana, STAT Dr. Thomas Parran Jr. has been called an architect of the syphilis experiments on black men and women in Tuskegee, Alabama. Continue reading
Apr 27 The Golden State Killer case was cracked with a genealogy website. What does that mean for your DNA’s privacy? By Rebecca Robbins, STAT The unusual manner in which the Golden State Killer case was cracked has sparked wonderment — as well as privacy concerns about genetic information. Continue reading
Apr 04 Places with legal marijuana issue fewer opioid prescriptions, large studies find By Kate Sheridan, STAT An analysis of more than five years of Medicare Part D and Medicaid prescription data found that after states legalized weed, the number of opioid prescriptions and the daily dose of opioids went way down. Continue reading
Mar 17 Hospitals are confronting a new opioid crisis: an alarming shortage of pain meds By Casey Ross, STAT Production of injectable opioids has nearly ground to a halt due to manufacturing problems, creating a shortage of staple medications used to treat a wide array of patients. Continue reading
Mar 10 Flu vaccine grown without eggs provided measurably better protection this season, FDA says By Helen Branswell, STAT The sole influenza vaccine made in cell culture in the United States may have worked about 20 percent better this flu season than the standard vaccines made in eggs, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Thursday. Continue reading
Feb 24 CDC requests funds to build new maximum-security laboratory By Helen Branswell, STAT The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking Congress for money for a new building to house the laboratories that work on the deadliest pathogens known to humankind. Continue reading
Feb 17 This year’s awful flu season may have just hit a plateau By Helen Branswell, STAT It’s too soon to say the flu season has peaked, but it’s at least possible it may have plateaued. Continue reading