Latest California Healthline Stories
Patients With Epilepsy Navigate Murky Unregulated CBD Industry
The FDA has approved a cannabis-derived drug, Epidiolex, to treat some forms of epilepsy. Now people who have other forms of the condition are using over-the-counter CBD products in hopes of taming their seizures. But doctors and patients worry about the unregulated world of CBD, in which product ingredients can be a mystery.
‘Free’ Screening? Know Your Rights to Get No-Cost Care
Even a decade in, the Affordable Care Act’s recommendations to simply cover preventive screening and care without cost sharing remain confusing and complex.
How Pfizer Won the Pandemic, Reaping Outsize Profit and Influence
The drugmaker has the best-selling vaccine to prevent covid and the most effective drug to treat it. Its success has overshadowed the government’s covid-fighting strategy.
Cómo Pfizer le ganó a la pandemia, alcanzando influencia y ganancias descomunales
Su éxito en el desarrollo de medicamentos contra covid le ha dado a la farmacéutica un peso inusual en la determinación de la política de salud de Estados Unidos. Algo que preocupa a expertos.
Readers and Tweeters Weigh In on Medical Debt, the Obesity Epidemic, and Opioid Battles
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The FDA Goes After Nicotine
The FDA is using its power to regulate tobacco products — ordering the vaping device Juul off the market and announcing its intention to lower the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and other products. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rules on Medicare and kidney dialysis, and Congress makes progress on legislation surrounding guns and mental health. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Noam N. Levey about the new KHN-NPR project on the growing impact of medical debt.
New Weight Loss Treatment Is Marked by Heavy Marketing and Modest Results
Approved as a device, not a drug, Plenity contains a plant-based gel that swells to fill 25% of a person’s stomach, to help people eat less. Results vary widely but are modest on average.
Nuevo tratamiento para adelgazar: mucho marketing y resultados discretos
Plenity está aprobado por la FDA como un dispositivo que contiene granos de un hidrogel absorbente de origen vegetal. Cada grano se “infla” hasta 100 veces su tamaño, llenando una cuarta parte del estómago de una persona.
A Proposal to Import Drugs from Other Countries Creates an Unusual Alliance in the Senate
As a Senate committee considered legislation to reauthorize the FDA’s user fee program, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul agreed on a proposed amendment related to importing drugs from Canada, the U.K., and other nations.
At a Bay Area ‘Test-to-Treat’ Site, Few Takers for Free Antivirals
In carrying out the federal covid-19 “test-to-treat” initiative, California is targeting the uninsured by outfitting 138 testing sites with screenings for free antiviral drugs. But as of mid-June, fewer than 800 people had been prescribed the medicines. And two-thirds of those undergoing screenings are insured.