Good news, bad news

Great news: States are doing well battling the opioid crisis. Oh, wait: The money to fund the programs might not be coming back.

Just good news

For the first time in almost 20 years, the number of overdose deaths in the U.S. has dropped.

About 68,500 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2018, compared with about 72,000 the year prior, a 5% decrease, according to the CDC’s provisional data.

For perspective, about 58,000 U.S. servicemen and -women died during the entire Vietnam War (1955 to 1975).

What’s that, neighbor?

For all the talk about buying drugs from Canada, it seems like no one, you know, asked the Canadians about that. And folks in the Great White North™ are not exactly thrilled.

Why Alzheimer’s drugs fail

Many promising treatments for dementia work in lab animals but not humans. It might be because of CHRFAM7A, a gene that two out of three people carry an active version of.

Because three of four Alzheimer’s drugs stimulate acetylcholine receptors, those drugs will not work well for people with the active gene.

That’s not dementia — it’s drugs

Specifically anticholinergic meds, which, in seniors, can present as dementia.

Seniors are more susceptible to adverse effects from these medications for several reasons: Their brains process acetylcholine less efficiently. The medications are more likely to cross the blood-brain barrier. And their bodies take longer to break down these drugs.

This is actually a story — and that’s both satisfying and depressing

“Women now seen as equally as or more competent than men”

Women have come a long way in the United States over the last 70 years, to the point where they are now seen as being as competent as men, if not more so, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

There is no headline we can type with a straight face

Once again the FDA has to warn people about an over-the-counter “enhancement” product that contains undisclosed prescription meds. (Sildenafil, as usual.)

Elsewhere: Buckeye State edition

Ohio is poised to rein in PBMs in its own way. A new state budget would remove managed care plans entirely and have the state’s Department of Medicaid contract directly with a single PBM.

That PBM would be required to report regularly to the state how much it pays for drugs, how much it pays pharmacies to dispense medications, and other financial details.

It would also set aside $100 million for “supplemental dispensing fees for pharmacies” over the next two years. Per our friends at the Ohio Pharmacists Association: “The fees shall be distributed in a weighted fashion with higher fees going to pharmacies with a high percentage of Medicaid claims and pharmacies in low-access parts of the state.”