Botox on the cheap

If you’re the kind of person to treat your laugh or frown lines* with botulism toxin, good news: The FDA has approved a cheaper alternative to Botox.

* Or depression, or sweating, or incontinence, or migraines…

No punches pulled with that letter

Sanders to Catalyst Pharmaceuticals: “How many patients will suffer or die due to Catalyst’s decision” to raise the price of Firdapse from zero to $375,000? (Click here for the full text of the letter as a PDF.)

Aw, nuts

If you think you’re seeing more adult patients with food allergies, you’re not alone.

[A]necdotally, doctors say they are seeing more adult patients with food allergies and it is important to know the scope of the problem to better understand and manage it.

Laugh while you can

Because you have to be awake for brain surgery, neuroscientists at Emory University say electrically-stimulated laughter might be the best way to keep you calm.

Emory neurosurgeons see the technique as a “potentially transformative” way to calm some patients during awake brain surgery, even for people who are not especially anxious.

ICYMI: Aloha edition

Hawai’i is considering raising the legal age to buy cigarettes … to 100 years old.

All natural facepalm

Gweneth Paltrow’s fake-science “health” site, Goop, is coming to Netflix in video form. Now you can watch how to “detox” your body after a health crisis. Bonus: Delta Airlines is sponsoring the podcast version.

Elsewhere: Mile high* edition

The city of Denver is considering decriminalizing magic mushrooms. (Small amounts only, and it means you’d get a ticket for possession, not jail time.)

*We used the headline “Rocky Mountain high” once before, in case you’re wondering

The long read: One CVS to rule them all?

“CVS bought your local drugstore, mail-order pharmacy and health insurer. What’s next, your hospital?”