Don’t put words in my mouth

A class action lawsuit against CVS claims that the company is contacting physicians without patients’ consent, falsely claiming the patients were interested in certain drugs… even for conditions they don’t have.

Plaintiff Charles Tashjian says that CVS sent letters to his physician without his knowledge or consent, and those letters…

…falsely stated that CVS spoke to him about diabetes care and that Tashjian requested CVS reach out to his doctor on his behalf to ask if it is appropriate to start a statin therapy.

The CVS class action claims Tashjian does not have diabetes and did not make these requests. He says that he never spoke with any employee, agent, or representative about statin therapy, contrary to the assertions made in the letters.

Swamp things

You’ve heard of “food deserts”? Now, with drugstore chains selling more food than grocers, the concern is “food swamps” of cheap, over-processed food … and the health concerns that go with it.

Measles update

981 total cases nationwide. Highest number since 1992 — that’s more than 25 years.

Circadian rhythm method

Early to bed and early to rise will probably only make you healthy, wealthy, and wise if you do it on a regular schedule. People with irregular sleep patterns are more likely to suffer from obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol. (They may still be wealthy and wise; the study doesn’t cover that.)

Insulin: One size doesn’t fit all

Young children with diabetes have much more variability in their insulin requirements than adults do, especially at night.

When compared with insulin delivery variance for adults, the measures for children aged 12 years or younger were 10.7 percentage points higher during the night and 6.4 percentage points higher during the day

Tastes like chicken, hurts like steak

Think eating chicken is better for your cholesterol than eating red meat? Think again (at least until the next study comes out).

We expected red meat to have a more adverse effect on blood cholesterol levels than white meat, but we were surprised that this was not the case — their effects on cholesterol are identical when saturated fat levels are equivalent.

Tide Pods update

In case you’re wondering, kids are still eating those delicious Tide Pods. The annual “number and rate of exposures” for kids under 6 (who make up 91 percent of Pods consumers) has gone down a bit — 18.0 percent since 2015 — but they’re still trying to eat ’em.

The long read: The business of drugs

“Pfizer had clues its blockbuster drug could prevent Alzheimer’s. Why didn’t it tell the world?“