ICYMI: nasal spray epinephrine

The FDA has approved the first nasal spray alternative to EpiPens: ARS Pharmaceuticals’ neffy. One spritz into a nostril works like an epinephrine injection, but sans needle.

ARS expects neffy to hit shelves in the next couple of months. It’ll cost $199 for two doses for uninsured patients, and $25 for two doses for people with insurance (via a co-pay program).

The X for Y files: Ezetimibe for dementia

Before there were statins, there was ezetimibe. And ezetimibe seems to have an unexpected benefit: It might prevent Alzheimer’s protein tangles.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences looked at the ‘glue’ holding those protein clumps together. Using computer modeling, they tested 1,800 FDA-approved medications against that glue. And bingo — ezetimibe was able to disrupt that aggregation.

“We focused on ezetimibe and found that it prevented a key aggregate interaction found only in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s and in lab models of Alzheimer’s-like aggregation.”

But computers aren’t people (yet), so they next went to clinical data. And what d’ya know, out of 950,000 people, “patients taking ezetimibe had a much lower incidence of Alzheimer’s and related forms of dementia than those in the control group.”

But you know the drill, though: More research is needed.

Irony, irony, all is irony

Purdue “Trust us, these opioids aren’t addictive” Pharma has won FDA approval for its opioid overdose-reversing injection, Zurnai (nalmefene).

Which antibiotics are riskiest?

A new study out of the University of Toronto looked at which antibiotics were most likely to cause severe drug rashes. These “serious cutaneous adverse drug reactions” can be dangerous, especially when they spread to internal organs — “Some of these reactions carry mortality rates from 20 to 40 per cent.” Yikes.

The answer, they found, was that sulfonamides and cephalosporins had the highest risk, while macrolides had the lowest. (Penicillins, fluoroquinolones, and nitrofurantoin were in the middle.)

The sky didn’t fall after all

Biden administration: “Welcome to capitalism, pharma companies. We’re going to negotiate the prices of 10 out of the hundreds of drugs you sell to Medicare, like every other country on Earth.”

Pharma companies: “The world will end! The sky will fall! Dogs and cats, living together!”

CMS: [makes rude gesture]

Pharma companies: “We’ll sue! Suckling off the government teat is our God-given right!”

Courts: [rolls eyes]

—NEGOTIATIONS ENSUE—

Public: “So how bad was it, pharma?”

Pharma companies: “Meh. It’s not really going to impact our bottom line after all. But, um, research may suffer or something.”

Brad from finance: “Actually, if we cut dividends, reduce C-suite bonuses a bit, or just focus on late-stage research, it would more than make up fo—”

Pharma companies: “Shut up, Brad.”

(sigh)

There’s another weight-loss hack spreading on TikTok. This one— oh, sheesh, who cares?

(It’s rice water, aka “ricezempic.”)

The Long(ish) Read: Smart Insulin edition

Several groups of researchers have developed versions of insulin that can stay in the bloodstream and by [insert science here] only release when blood sugar is too high. Called glucose-responsive insulins, if they pan out they would mean patients’ injections might be weekly, rather than daily … or more often.