FDA warns about overusing monkeypox treatment

The only drug that sorta treats monkeybox is tecovirimat, aka TPOXX. It’s not officially approved, but it seems to help. The issue, the FDA says, is that most people don’t need it, and using it when unnecessary increases the risk of the virus “mutating and rendering the drug useless.”

“For most patients with intact immune systems, supportive care and pain control may be enough.” —FDA statement

So, say the feds, it shouldn’t be given willy-nilly; we’ve seen what happens when a worldwide virus mutates, haven’t we? Right now monkeypox is just an annoyance — we don’t need it to become a worry.

Help patients choose and use point-of-care testing

Have you seen how many point-of-care tests there are these days? When a customer asks, “Can you help me?” be ready to say, “You bet!”

Earn 20 hours of CPE with the NASPA Pharmacy-based Point-of-Care Testing Certificate Program program for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

It’s 16 hours of home study and 4 hours of live training, and it covers tests for flu, strep, HIV, hep C, and coronaviruses (but the knowledge applies to lots more).

The live training is at GPhA’s World Headquarters in Sandy Springs on Sunday, October 2.

Get more info and sign up today at GPhA.org/pointofcare.

Infants can stop scratching

An eczema treatment for adults has been tested in infants — and it works. (And it’s safe.)

A 16-week course of dupilumab, a medication that targets a key immune pathway in allergies, resulted in more than half the children having at least a 75 percent reduction in signs of eczema and highly significant reductions in itch with improved sleep.

This means, say the Northwestern researchers who led the multinational study, that “this medication is now available to infants and preschoolers as young as 6 months of age.” And even better, it’s also been shown to treat asthma and other allergy-related problems, including food allergies.

Stranger danger

Monkeypox has arrived on Chinese shores, and one senior health official there had a bit of advice: “Don’t touch foreigners.”

Wu also called for people to avoid “skin-to-skin contact” with people who have been abroad within the past three weeks as well as all “strangers.”

Meanwhile, Texans are complaining that telling people “Don’t touch foreigners” is cultural appropriation.

What were you thinking? (It matters)

Back in June, we told you about a Supreme Court ruling that said prescribers can only be held liable for illegal prescriptions — think opioids — if they knew it was not lawful.

And now that ruling is having its effects, as prescribers (including some who pled guilty) are saying that they weren’t thinking like pill mills, they were legitimately trying to help their patients. The “good faith” argument requires prosecutors to prove the docs’ state of mind.

[D]efendants who ran true pill mills would still be convicted […] But the Supreme Court has extended a “lifeline” to a narrow group of defendants who “dispensed with their heart, not their mind.”

And yes, this applies to pharmacists as well. One convicted of, um, over enthusiastically dispensing drugs might now be able to argue that it was done in good faith.

Disclaimer that still applies: This is a pharmacy newsletter, not a legal opinion. Talk to your attorney if you have questions.

Tea times two

Tea vs death

First, a study of UK drinkers by the US National Institutes of Health found that “higher tea intake was associated with a modestly lowered risk of death.” (What’s notable is that, unlike previous studies, this one focused on black tea, not green tea.)

[P]eople who consumed two or more cups of tea per day had a 9% to 13% lower risk of death from any cause than people who did not drink tea. Higher tea consumption was also associated with a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, and stroke.

Tea vs diabetes

A review out of Wuhan-yes-that-Wuhan University found that “Drinking four or more cups of black, green, or oolong tea daily was associated with a 17% lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.” It’s based on a lot of data — more than a million adults from eight countries.

The associations were observed regardless of the type of tea participants drank, whether they were male or female, or where they lived, suggesting that it may be the amount of tea consumed, rather than any other factor, that plays a major role.

This is not a story

Remember that whole thing about renaming “monkeypox” after 64 years because the name is apparently discriminatory and stigmatizing? So what’s happened?

Nothin’. They’re still discussing it.

[S]ome scientists would prefer that the monkeypox name be kept in order to retain the link to 50 years of published research. Others would like a totally different name.

No one has explained how it’s discriminatory. As for being stigmatizing, Anthony Fauci had the best rationale for changing the name: “The right name should sound dry, technical, boring, so people aren’t afraid to say that they have that problem, right?”

That said, no word on other ‘non-dry’ disease names, like Legionnaire’s; chickenpox; Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease; Asperger’s ….

The Long Read: It Takes One edition

Trigger warning: This is a story about pharmaceuticals and abortion. If it was any other medical use, sharing this would be a no-brainer — it’s a really interesting piece. But … well, you know. And it is an interesting story with significant pharmaceutical relevance.

“In the U.S. medication abortion usually consists of two drugs [mifepristone and misoprostol]. One of them has always mattered more.” From the Atlantic.