Vyvanse is coming back (a bit)

The DEA is increasing the production limit for brand-name Vyvanse and generic lisdexamfetamine by 24%. That’s good news for a lot of people who’ve been having trouble getting their ADHD drugs.

The new production limit is also good news for the 11 companies that make lisdexamfetamine, which has been in shortage since October 2022.

Wegovy vs. Covid

For reasons unknown, people taking Wegovy didn’t die from Covid complications as often as the rest of us according to a big international study led by Harvard Med.

People on Wegovy still got Covid, and at the same rate as people randomly assigned to take a placebo. But their chances of dying from the infection plunged by 33 percent, the study found.

In fact, the study found that treating obesity reduced death from all causes, suggesting “that lower life expectancy among people with obesity is actually caused by the disease itself.” Still, Wegovy had a much bigger effect on Covid deaths — “It’s something more than just losing weight,” said one cardiologist.

Neffy: What you need to know

Like the headline says, as neffy hits the shelves as an alternative to EpiPens, what do you need to know? Glad you asked; a pediatric allergy and immunology specialist has your answers.

Time to take your BP med

When’s the right time to take hypertension meds? That depends on who you asked and which study you read last. Now Canadian researchers say they have the answer: It doesn’t matter.

The Canucks ran a two-part trial, one with 3,400 adults out in the wild, and one with 776 older patients in nursing homes, all of whom were taking BP meds. Result: No difference in major cardiovascular events. There did seem to be an advantage in older folks taking their meds at bedtime — a 26% lower rate of “all-cause unplanned hospitalisation/ED visits.”

Despite that last bit, the lead researcher said that timing isn’t important. “We can now dismiss the treatment timing as being important and advise patients to take their BP medication when they are least likely to forget.” (Why he would say that, considering the lower all-cause hospitalizations, isn’t clear. Maybe he doesn’t like old people.)

Rite Aid returns

Quietly, so as not to disturb predators, Rite Aid is emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, naming former exec VP and CFO Matt Schroeder as its new CEO.

“I am honored to lead Rite Aid on its journey as we continue serving our customers and communities,” Schroeder said, reading from a boilerplate press release prepared by the marketing team.

It don’t make my brown eyes blue

How can you tell when an idea is probably deeply stupid? When it starts with, “I saw on TikTok….”

In this case, the American Academy of Ophthalmology is warning people not to believe claims that there are drops that can change your eye color. In short, there’s no evidence that they work (before-and-after photos of strangers don’t count) and plenty of reason to think they “could potentially harm the eye, causing light sensitivity, eye inflammation, and eventually vision loss.”

As Forbes’s Bruce “No Relation” Lee points out, destroying melanin is a bad idea anyway:

Melanin can help protect your eye cells against light. Plus, other parts of your eye like your retina can use melanin to function properly. Eye drops typically won’t stay in only one part of eye even if you tell them to do so.

Previously, the AAO has warned people not to put food coloring or castor oil in their eyes, rub their eyelids with menthol lip balm, or use a hairdryer as an eyelash curler. Seriously.

Call me, maybe (but really, you can)

Remember way back when, when there was a fear that keeping a mobile phone glued to your ear could cause cancer? According to a review of 63 studies by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, you don’t have to worry^*. “We concluded the evidence does not show a link between mobile phones and brain cancer or other head and neck cancers.”

The review found no overall association between mobile phone use and cancer, no association with prolonged use (if people use their mobile phones for 10 years or more), and no association with the amount of mobile phone use (the number of calls made or the time spent on the phone).

^* Even though a lot of folks either text or hold their phones in front of them to make sure everyone in the restaurant can hear both sides of the conversation.