Morning Rounds: The ‘risky business’ of buying weight loss drugs online

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Vice President Kamala Harris has been interviewing running mates this week, but there’s no word on who she’ll pick. If you’re the gambling type, you probably want to read about the top people’s opinions on health care.

The best tool we have to treat meth addiction is caught up in politics

When it comes to drugs like methamphetamines and cocaine, there are no drugs as effective as opioids. But the moral incentive to treat meth addiction is scientifically resolved, and offering financial rewards such as gift cards to people who can demonstrate that they have reduced or stopped their meth use is highly effective, STAT’s Lev Facher reports. So is the US still pursuing this type of high-quality treatment?

Not really. The Biden administration has expressed support for these types of payments, known officially as emergency management. But there is a long $75 annual limit on how much money can be given to patients in programs funded by select federal programs, and the Biden administration has refused to raise it. Read more about the current policy structure.

45%

That’s the percentage of uninsured, working-age adults who said they received a bill or were billed for a medical service in the past year that they thought would have been exempt or covered by insurance, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund. . Less than half of those people said they challenged the debt. But nearly two in five who challenged their bill said it was ultimately reduced or eliminated by insurance.

The ‘risky business’ of buying weight loss drugs online

As the shortage of blockbuster obesity and diabetes drugs continues, people have discovered “appear in the west” of online pharmacies that offer combined types of drugs, which are not approved by the FDA and have not been tested for safety or effectiveness. Illegal online pharmacies also offer to send drugs without a prescription at all. But how safe are the products they ship?

In a new study, published in JAMA Network Open, researchers found that semaglutide ordered from illegal sites contained more of the drug than was prescribed, and one sample even had signs of possible contamination. which may be present during production.

“It’s a very risky business, going online and buying this product,” co-author Tim Mackey told STAT’s Katie Palmer. “Just because it’s available online, and can be sold without a prescription, doesn’t mean it’s real. Read more.

Giving patients “fully informed consent” about mental health issues and the police

As a psychiatrist and someone who has been hospitalized during a mental health crisis, Rupinder Legha knows the dangers police can bring to situations and how emergency room situations can be. how heavy they are. However, calling 911 or going to your nearest emergency room is common advice that any doctor will give to someone in a mental health crisis.

In light of the death of Sonya Massey and many others who have been killed when what they needed was mental health support, Legha is proposing new clinical standards for responding to cases of mental health emergency – “fully informed consent” that gives patients a clear picture. of the potential risks of police involvement and going to the emergency room. Writing in the PLOS Mental Health article, he also recommends exploring other options when possible so that vulnerable people can stay at home with their families watching over them and with the support of a provider.

“As health care providers, we can no longer stand idly by while another disease moves in and out of the news cycle,” Legha writes. “We owe people more than this.”

WHO director on whether mpox is a public health emergency

Last Monday, we learned that researchers are planning a clinical trial to see if getting the mpox vaccine can protect people exposed to the infection from getting sick or reduce the severity of the disease. The stakes are high, as hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo have died from the disease this year. Now, sequencing of the virus shows that the deadly strain has also spread to Uganda and Kenya, according to a report from ScienceInsider published Saturday.

“I am considering calling on the International Public Health Emergency Committee to advise me on whether the mpox outbreak should be declared an international public health emergency,” the director-general said. WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his statement.

This is the first time the agency has made a statement about a possible PHEIC related to the mpox outbreak, STAT’s Helen Branswell told me. Read STAT’s mpox news to get up to speed.

How a lab leak destroys science

How did covid start? The theory of a lab leak – which asserts that the coronavirus was modified or even created in a laboratory in Wuhan, and somehow escaped – has gained a lot of power among politicians and the general public. But many scientists, especially entomologists, believe that the virus spread from animals to humans.

In a First Opinion essay, microbiologist John P. Moore argues that the lab leak hypothesis is turning public opinion against virus research at a time when it has an important role to play. it does not face epidemic threats. He writes: “Viruses are the real threat to people, not virologists. Read more from Moore about how the lab leak theory threatens real science.

What we read

• Most of Gaza’s medical workers have been imprisoned or killed, New York Times

• Since ‘Roe’ fell, abortions on the rise, KFF Health News

• Performance-enhancing drugs or placebos? The myth at the heart of anti-doping, STAT
• The future of junk food could be healthy food, Bloomberg
• Letters on Sonya Massey’s death, vaccine risks, and more, STAT