Georgia’s getting clobbered

Covid-19 cases were up 14.5 percent in Georgia last week, as the post-Thanksgiving virus surge continued with more than 44,000 people testing positive. And no, it’s not about the number of tests — the percentage of positive results is going up.

Pfizer/Moderna cage match

Wondering how the two current Covid-19 vaccines stack up, side by side? Stat has the overview, from storage requirements to side effects to dosage.

CDC issues opioid-overdose health advisory

Opioid overdoses are on the rise again. Remember: Pharmacists have a role to play.

Stock and dispense naloxone to save lives. It can be that simple.

The CDC Official Health Advisory issued a warning about the increase in fatal drug overdoses across the United States driven by synthetic opioids before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What’s in the advisory?

The issue: Rapid increases in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids excluding methadone — especially illicitly manufactured fentanyl.

Why the advisory: “A concerning acceleration of the increase in drug overdose deaths,” especially from March to May 2020. Yes, that coincides with the first wave of the pandemic.

What’s changed:

• Geographic distribution of overdose deaths “with the largest percentage increases occurring in the western United States”
• Significant increases in overdose deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential, e.g., methamphetamine

Recommendations for communities, including pharmacists and other healthcare providers.

Oh no, it’s mutating! (Don’t panic)

The big news out of Europe is the emergence of a new strain of Covid-19 in Britain. It (seems to) spreads faster, but the vaccine (seems to) still work on it. Why the “seems to”? Because all the testing so far has been in a lab.

Short version: This isn’t unexpected, isn’t a huge deal, but it bears watching.

You want it perfectly balanced, as all things should be

It’s not just your blood pressure that can foretell a risk of heart attack or stroke — it’s the difference in blood pressure between your two arms. So found a global study out of the University of Exeter, using the records of almost 54,000 people.

“[T]he higher the difference in blood pressure between arms, the greater the cardiovascular risk, so it really is critical to measure both arms to establish which patients may be at significantly increased risk. Patients who require a blood pressure check should now expect that it’s checked in both arms, at least once.”

GoodRx expands

The company is making the leap from pharmacy discounts to … telemedicine? Yep.

As a means to augment its existing prescription medication savings offerings, the new Gold plan will provide members with the ability to: “See a doctor or healthcare provider online for as little as $10 per visit; Get treatments and prescriptions for conditions ranging from acne to high cholesterol;”

And, of course, the usual pharmacy savings stuff.

Saving you a click

“Sleep, Diet or Exercise? Here’s The Factor Most Linked to Better Mental Health“. It’s sleep.

[W]hile physical activity was the second clearest indicator of wellbeing, it was sleep quality that outranked them all as the strongest predictor of good mental health.

Building a better antibiotic

Aminoglycosides: powerful and common … but with a potential side effect of deafness. Now Stanford scientists have developed a new type, based on sisomicin, that works as well, but without the side effects.

The trick was to take into account how the ear’s sensory cells work: They open ion channels to get signals to the brain. Aminoglycosides can get into those channels and kill the cells, causing hearing loss. By tweaking the non-clinical side of the antibiotic’s molecule, they were able to make a version that didn’t enter those ion channels.

Bonus: The same tweaking also prevents aminoglycosides from affecting the kidneys — another common side effect.

Nobody expects a pandemic-nixed inspection

Novartis expected its new inclisiran cholesterol drug to be a blockbuster. But it didn’t expect a worldwide pandemic that would keep its factories from being inspected by the FDA. But that’s what happened.

The agency rejected approval for inclisiran not because there was anything wrong with the European factory, but because it couldn’t get to the plant because of Covid travel restrictions.

You’ll put your eye out!

At least one ophthalmologist is sounding the warning: Don’t get over-eager on New Year’s Eve and pop a champagne cork into someone’s eye.

“We want people to find some joy in these difficult times, but if you’re going to introduce a pressurized bottle with a potential flying projectile, an unguided little missile, do it with caution and be aware that there is a risk.”