Needle alternative sucks

This alternative sucks, literally — it uses suction to stick to the inside of the cheek, where it “allows for the painless administration of medications that previously could only be injected.”

The technology, developed by Swiss bioengineers, is designed for people who need meds that can’t be taken by pill but who also don’t like injections.

Patients press the suction cup — which measures around ten millimetres in diameter and six millimetres in height — onto the lining of their cheek with two fingers. This produces a vacuum that stretches the lining, making it more permeable to the drug contained within the cup’s dome-shaped hollow.

It takes a few minutes for the drug, which has been treated with “an endogenous agent that fluidises the cell membranes” to make its way into the bloodstream.

Congrats to Valerie!

GPhA member Valerie NeeSmith, pharmacist at Kroger in Marietta (the fightin’ 479), was named one of SingleCare’s Best of the Best in its annual pharmacy awards list that “honors the exceptional work of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy teams nationwide.”

[insert fist-bump here]

Hot flashes and Alzheimer’s risk

Hot flashes during menopause or perimenopause are fairly common, but they might — stress on the word “might” — be an indication of Alzheimer’s. University of Pittsburgh researchers found there’s a connection, not necessarily a causation, between the two.

“The study indicates that women who have hot flashes, or vasomotor symptoms, particularly those that occur during sleep, may have a higher risk for Alzheimer’s.”

It’s possible — possible — that having those hot flashes during sleep could indicate an extreme response by the hypothalamus, but how that could translate to (or indicate) the higher risk of Alzheimer’s is unclear. As usual, more studies are needed.

 

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FDA wants to verify those tests

The FDA is planning to begin regulating laboratory tests for various diseases and conditions; it wants “to treat tests made in laboratories like medical devices.” (CMS currently regulates testing labs but not the validity of the tests themselves. Theranos is the most obvious example of selling an unregulated test.)

There was bi-partisan support in Congress for formally giving the FDA authority to do that — a bill called “VALID” — but … well, Congress. So the FDA is going ahead with its plan until someone tells it to stop.

The lab-testing industry, of course, opposes being regulated, but consumer groups like the idea that people will know the tests they take are accurate.

ICYMI #1: Judge allows drug-price negotiations to continue

A federal judge — one appointed by Donald Trump — refused to block Medicare’s ability to negotiate the prices of 10 high-price drugs. The process will now play out in court, and negotiations will begin.

Drug companies and the US Chamber of Commerce argued that it was unconstitutional to ‘force’ drugmakers to negotiate their prices. But U.S. District Judge Michael Newman pointed out that participation in Medicare is “completely voluntary.”

“As there is no constitutional right (or requirement) to engage in business with the government, the consequences of that participation cannot be considered a constitutional violation,” he wrote.

ICYMI #2

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman of the University of Pennsylvania who did the pioneering work^* allowing the development of mRNA vaccines … 15 years before the Covid pandemic.

^* They made it possible to create mRNA in the lab that the immune system didn’t attack, taking the technology from interesting to useful.

Wash behind your ears

When it comes to grandma’s advice, George Washington University researchers believe in “trust but verify.” Specifically, how important is it to wash behind your ears, between your toes, and in your belly button — the washing “hotspots”?

So they tested what they called “the Grandmother Hypothesis.”

There’s a reasonable view out there that washing less frequently preserves your skin microbiome (and we all know now how important our microbiomes are). But it seems grandma was right.

The researchers found that forearms and calves which are often cleaned more thoroughly at bath time had a greater diversity and thus potentially a healthier collection of microbes compared to the samples taken in the hotspots.

Healthy microbes, in this case, can mean less chance of eczema or acne.

Your sort-of medical-ish story of the day: