CVS, Walmart sued over fake meds (and yes, it could affect you)

The DC Court of Appeals has ruled that a consumer-protection group’s lawsuit against CVS and Walmart “for selling FDA-approved, over-the-counter medications alongside homeopathic products” can continue. The group, the Center for Inquiry, is suing the retailers over a “continuing pattern of fraudulent, deceptive, and otherwise improper marketing practice […] regarding the marketing and sale of homeopathic products.”

The DC Court of Appeals agreed that the group had legal standing, and also that “the placement of [homeopathic] products on a store shelf does, in fact, communicate information to consumers that can potentially deceive them.”

The lawsuit will now continue with the discovery phase.

A tale of two GLP-1 agonists

Mounjaro: Eli Lilly is tightening its marketing — and its discount program — to ensure that only people with diabetes are getting rebates or other discounts. (The price difference for consumers is something like $975 per month.) The company realizes it might cut sales, but with the “robust demand” supplies are short anyway. “

Wegovy: Novo Nordisk said it’s increasing production to meet the demand of both Wegovy and its identical cousin, Ozempic.

No test needed for Paxlovid

The FDA has revised its emergency use authorization for both Paxlovid and molnupiravir, now saying that prescribers — including pharmacists — can order it for patients even without a positive Covid test.

The update was made to cover instances where a health care provider might deem it appropriate to prescribe oral antiviral treatment to an individual with a recent known exposure who develops signs and symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and is at high risk for progression, but tests negative for the virus.

Eye drop follow-up

Yesterday we told you that the CDC suspected that preservative-free EzriCare Artificial Tears was contaminated, and to pull it from your shelves. Today it’s official: The manufacturer, Global Pharma, has issued a voluntary recall of all lots of the drops.

Bird-based pain treatment

Everyone’s looking for an alternative to opioid painkillers. The latest candidate comes out of a simple observation: Birds aren’t bothered by capsaicin. Jimmy-Joe’s Atomic Sauce will keep squirrels out of birdseed, but it won’t bother the birds.

That’s thanks to a pain receptor called TRPV1. Birds have a variant of that receptor that’s resistant to pain, and pain researchers at Stanford Medicine found a (rare) analog in mammals.

So they did a little gene editing on mice, and they found that the edited mice were much less bothered by capsaicin. Next they created a drug that had the same effect — altering the function of TRPV1.

When they gave the drug, a peptide named V1-cal, to mice by injection or infusion, it reduced their sensitivity to capsaicin and lessened chronic pain from nerve injury.

Next up: Making the drug last longer before they even consider human trials.

Today’s non-pharma somewhat-disturbing science story

Researchers at the University of California (with help from Boston U) have transplanted human brain tissue into mice and seen that tissue respond to stimuli.