Author: healthadmin

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a drug to treat a rare brain disease similar to autism, but retracted previous statements from top health officials that “hundreds of thousands” of children with autism could benefit from taking the drug. The drug leucovorin will be available for children and adults with cerebral folate deficiency, which limits the delivery of folic acid, a B vitamin, to the brain. This approval was given to GSK, the original manufacturer of Welcovorin, a branded version of Leucovorin, but the company discontinued production in 1997. The company does not intend to manufacture or sell…

Amid the company’s efforts to resolve issues raised during an FDA inspection early last year, Novo Nordisk’s Plainsboro, N.J., operations, which had already received an updated Form 483, was hit with the more serious consequences of a warning letter. Novo acknowledged the letter, available on the FDA’s website, in its own communiqué on Tuesday, emphasizing confidence that the letter would address the U.S. regulator’s concerns. The Plainsboro tangle began when the FDA first inspected Novo’s site, which serves as its U.S. headquarters, from Jan. 13 to Feb. 7, 2025, as part of a review of the company’s compliance with post-marketing…

Zaire-Calvin’s insurance check to rebuild his family’s fortune was just under $300,000, far less than the value of the property, which was about $2.1 million. His family had spread five homes across two lots in the leafy suburb of Altadena, California, until the Eaton Fire unleashed its fury, destroying both his and his mother’s homes and turning the tight-knit black homeownership enclave into a prime location for speculators. Even more tragically, this hell also took away his sister, Evelyn McClendon. Calvin, 48, said the past 15 months had been like a “war”, especially with his insurance company. She is also…

New research published in scientific report suggest that the relationship between young people’s cognitive ability and future socio-economic status is primarily driven by genes. The findings provide evidence that genetic factors play a greater role in educational and occupational success than environmental conditions. This underlying biology may help explain why some social interventions aimed at reducing inequality tend to be insufficient in the long term. Social scientists have spent decades understanding the psychological mechanisms that produce socioeconomic status. Obtaining an education and securing a job are the main ways young people earn a living and begin to establish themselves in…

Healthcare mergers and acquisitions continue as healthcare providers, medical technology companies, payers, and other industry players look to expand their businesses and gain a competitive edge. Here’s a roundup of new deals that were revealed, completed, rumored, or canceled during February. providerCommonSpirit Health sold 23.8% of its shares. Tenet Healthcare’s revenue cycle management subsidiary, Conifer, for $540 million, but that funding has already been depleted to offset the first of a series of payments totaling $1.9 billion agreed to terminate ongoing revenue cycle management agreements. Executives say closing the 20-year agreement early, before it closes in 2032, will allow CommonSpirit…

After hinting at expanding plasma-based manufacturing in the U.S. late last year, CSL is moving forward, finalizing details of the $1.5 billion project. On Monday, the Australian biopharmaceutical company broke ground on an expansion of its facility in Kankakee, Illinois, aimed at significantly increasing production capacity for CSL’s plasma-derived therapeutics. CSL said in a March 9 press release that the expansion, expected to be operational by 2031, will create at least 300 new direct jobs at the facility, adding to the facility’s more than 1,200 current employees. CSL described the project as a “cornerstone of the company’s global manufacturing growth…

LAS VEGAS—Epic is further enhancing its artificial intelligence capabilities and capabilities, touting how its AI tools deliver measurable results beyond just reducing documentation time. The company reports that health systems are seeing earlier diagnoses, fewer denials, and an improved patient experience. At the 2026 Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Global Health Conference & Exhibition, which opened on Monday, Epic previewed its future AI roadmap with new capabilities across clinical, patient-facing and operational workflows. The electronic medical records giant announced Tuesday that it plans to release a fully integrated platform for creating and monitoring AI agents that reason and operate…

New research published in nature communications report that iron sulfate, a previously unknown mineral, may have been detected on Mars. Sulfur is abundant on Mars and usually combines with other elements to form sulfate minerals. On Earth, most sulfates dissolve easily in rainwater. However, because Mars is extremely dry, these minerals have persisted for billions of years, preserving evidence of ancient environmental conditions. Each mineral has its own crystal structure and physical properties. Familiar examples include gypsum and hematite. Scientists will analyze data from orbiting spacecraft to identify minerals on Mars’ surface and reconstruct the environmental conditions that produced them.…

Viral infections often leave a lasting imprint on a person’s memory and thinking abilities by changing the balance of the immune system. A comprehensive review of recent medical data reveals that certain inflammatory immune responses slow mental processing and impair memory in a variety of viral diseases. These findings were published in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. When a virus enters the body, the immune system activates a defense mechanism that includes a series of cells and chemical messengers. Some of these messengers are known as pro-inflammatory cytokines. These are small proteins that sound an alert and promote inflammation…

Imagine removing everything from the deepest regions of the cosmic void. Removes normal matter, neutrinos, dark matter, cosmic rays, and radiation. It looks like all that’s left is empty space. It may sound contradictory, but these gigantic cavities are filled with the vacuum of space-time. And importantly, that vacuum isn’t really empty. Vacuum spacetime contains something fundamental. Although difficult to explain precisely in everyday language, physicists call these fundamental components quantum fields. In quantum field theory, the particles that make up our world, such as electrons, top quarks, neutrinos, and even dark matter, are not independent objects in the usual…