He’s not rubber (you’re not glue)

The federal judge expected to sign off on the CVS/Aetna merger says he doesn’t like being treated as a “rubber stamp,” nor like a fungus.

“I was reviewing your motion, which, of course is not opposed. And I kind of got this uneasy feeling that I was being kept in the dark, kind of like a mushroom,” Leon told lawyers for the Justice Department and the two companies.

When an old med gets a new approval

What happens when the FDA approves a brand-name drug that is identical to a compounded one? Patients who were paying little for treatment might be looking at a huge price hike.

With an FDA approval in hand, however, Florida-based Catalyst Pharmaceuticals now has the ability to charge what could be hundreds of thousands of dollars — for a medicine that costs almost nothing to make. What’s more: Catalyst could block older forms of the drugs from being given to patients, even though they didn’t invent the formulation in the first place.

World AIDS Day: December 1

What a difference a few decades makes. (But we still have a ways to go.)

U.S. life expectancy continues to decline

…for the third straight year, unlike the rest of the world. What’s happening? Suicide and overdoses. Yikes.

340B rules go into effect

After eight years, HHS was finally sued into implementing 340B price ceilings for hospitals that treat low-income people.

FDA moving to Amsterdam

Its European office, that is. It’s currently in London, but with Brexit on the horizon it made more sense to be in Holland* with its friends at the European Medicines Agency. Besides, the food’s better there.

* Technically North Holland† , which is part of the Netherlands, which is one of the Low Countries… yeah, yeah, we know .
† There is no such place as “Holland” just like there’s no such state as “Dakota” — just North Holland and South Holland.

Shocking medical revelations

French fries “are no substitute for green leafy vegetables, nutritionists say.”

“Eating unhealthy food, or not having enough food … contribute to widespread malnutrition.”

“Measles cases spiked 30 percent in 2017, due entirely to poor vaccination rates.”