Pharmacology News

Medication reduction in older patients treated with multiple antihypertensive medications was noninferior to usual care regarding the control of systolic BP at 12 weeks, according to data from the OPTIMISE trial published in JAMA.

Women who used oral fluconazole — a common treatment for vulvovaginal candidiasis — during the first trimester of pregnancy were more likely to give birth to an infant with musculoskeletal malformations, but not oral clefts or conotruncal malformations, which were previously linked to the medication, according to a study published in BMJ.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America and HIV Medicine Association released a joint statement calling on the federal government to be more transparent about the distribution of remdesivir, which Infectious Disease News Editorial Board Member Peter Chin-Hong, MD, said is the “best that we have right now” for COVID-19. It was the top story in infectious disease last week.

Current evidence does not support the use of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine — alone or in combination with azithromycin — to treat or prevent COVID-19 outside of clinical trials, according to practice points published by the ACP in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The year and generation that someone is born could impact their risk for overdose death, according to a recent study published in Nature Medicine.

More than two-thirds of headache medicine clinicians who were surveyed reported altering the standardized protocol for injecting Botox, or onabotulinumtoxinA, for chronic migraine prevention, which raises the question of whether more evidence-based recommendations are needed to help guide treatment decisions, researchers wrote in Headache.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that primary care clinicians provide interventions to prevent school-aged children and adolescents from using tobacco, such as offering education or brief counseling. However, the task force said there is insufficient evidence to support primary care interventions for the cessation of tobacco use among children who already smoke.

The FDA has recently approved MenQuadfi, a meningococcal conjugate vaccine that protects against serogroups A, C, Y and W. The approval is for patients aged 2 years and older, according to a press release from the manufacturer.

During a press briefing last week, President Donald J. Trump asked health experts whether they could investigate two potential treatments for COVID-19 that could cause serious harm to patients.

A 13-week phase 3 clinical trial showed sustained efficacy and safety among users of the sodium oxybate therapy FT218 for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy narcolepsy, a press release from its manufacturer stated.