STAT news

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.