Know about Juul e-cigarettes ban, Brand-name combo pills expensive phenomena

More retailers may be selling cigarettes to minors than government estimates have suggested, a new study finds.

Small effects from millions of genes may add up to new risk-screening tool

Subtle variations in millions of genes contribute to individual risk for common illnesses like heart disease and diabetes - and putting them all together into a "polygenic" risk profile can identify many more people with higher than average odds of getting sick, researchers say. There are millions of small variations in genes that have little effect alone, but together can raise a person's odds of developing a disease, the study team writes in Nature Genetics.

More U.S. stores likely sell cigarettes to minors than reported

More retailers may be selling cigarettes to minors than government estimates have suggested, a new study finds. Researchers determined that more than half of retail stores may be inadvertently, and illegally, selling cigarettes to underage buyers, according to the results published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Cervical cancer screening without Pap test OK for some women

(Reuters Health) - Not all women need Pap tests to look for cells in the cervix that might be malignant. Under new guidelines from U.S. physicians, some women can get a test that looks for the cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV). In both tests, doctors must scrape cells from the cervix for analysis. But the advice from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is designed to reduce "false alarms" that lead to invasive follow-up tests and unnecessary treatment.

Annual pap test a 'thing of the past?' The US Preventive Services Task Force has updated its 2012 recommendations for cervical cancer screening with one important addition. This is the first time they are recommending a method of cervical cancer screenin… https://t.co/OBTydNJ0WO

— Medical Web Times (@medicalwebtimes) August 22, 2018

FDA declines to approve Allergan's Esmya

Allergan Plc said on Tuesday U.S. health regulators had declined to approve Esmya, its treatment for abnormal uterine bleeding in women with uterine fibroids, requesting more information and citing safety issues outside the United States. The safety concerns raised could impact the company's plan to sell its women's health business.

U.S. health secretary says agency can eliminate drug rebates

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said it was within his agency's power to eliminate rebates on prescription drug purchases, a key element of the Trump administration's plan to lower prescription medicine costs. Such rebates are negotiated in the United States by pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) to lower the cost of medicines for their clients, including large employers and health plans that cover tens of millions of Americans.

Just because rebates are addressed doesn't mean that system is fixed. PBM/Insurers have shifted from rebates to fees which don't necessarily get passed back to the plan sponsor. Never mind the rebates. Maybe behind-the-scenes fees are boosting drug prices https://t.co/4KDmCD1EUD

— robert popovian (@PopovianPharmD) August 16, 2018

China's Changchun mayor resigns after vaccine scandal: state media

The mayor of the Chinese city of Changchun resigned on Tuesday, state media reported, after a safety scandal at Changchun-based vaccine maker Changsheng Biotechnology sparked widespread consumer anger. The company was accused in July of falsifying data for a rabies vaccine and manufacturing an ineffective vaccine for babies, triggering public outrage and multiple official investigations.

Consumer baby monitors may get vital signs wrong

Two popular monitors that promise to keep parents informed about their babies' vital signs scored poorly in a test comparing them with actual hospital quality monitors, researchers say. The commercially available monitors, which are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, promise to sound an alarm via parents' cell phones if the baby's heart rate or blood oxygen levels move into danger zones, according to the study in JAMA.

FDA extends EpiPen expiry date to combat shortage

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday extended the expiration date of specific lots of Mylan NV's EpiPen allergy injectors by four months to mitigate the shortage of the life-saving treatment. The decision comes at a time when the shortage has come under focus at the start of the back-to-school season and applies to specific lots of 0.3 milligram EpiPen products after the regulator reviewed data provided by Mylan.

Israel bans Juul e-cigarettes citing 'grave' public health risk

Israel on Tuesday outlawed the import and sale of e-cigarettes made by Silicon Valley startup Juul Labs, citing public health concerns given their nicotine content. A statement by Israel's Health Ministry said the Juul device was banned because it contains nicotine at a concentration higher than 20 milligrams per milliliter and poses "a grave risk to public health."

Brand-name combo pills may cost more than getting drugs separately

Brand-name medicines that combine multiple drugs into a single pill may be more expensive than buying each drug separately, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers examined data collected from 2011 to 2016 on 1,500 medicines that accounted for the highest total spending for Medicare Part D drug plans in 2015. This included 29 brand-name combination pills with generic alternatives available.