Pharmacology News

According to results from the ongoing Tsepamo study in Botswana, infants born to women who took the integrase inhibitor dolutegravir for HIV infection from conception remained at an elevated risk for neural tube defects, with three in 1,000 born with these conditions. However, the findings, which were presented at the International AIDS Society Conference in Mexico City and published in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the risk is significantly lower than previously estimated.

Zantac manufacturer Novartis has stopped the distribution of its heartburn medication across all available markets, including the United States and Canada, Reuters reported.

Among a U.S. population of socioeconomically disadvantaged adults, a polypill-based strategy was associated with greater reductions in systolic BP and LDL compared with the usual care, according to findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Ponesimod, an investigational selective S1P1 receptor modulator, was more effective at treating adults with relapsing multiple sclerosis than Aubagio, according a study presented at the Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis.

Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue Pharma recently reached a tentative agreement with many of the thousands of plaintiffs involved in a multidistrict lawsuit that alleges the company and some other opioid makers and distributors played a role in creating in the opioid crisis, Reuters reported.

The rate of postoperative opioid prescriptions filled was seven times higher in the United States and Canada than in Sweden, according to a study recently published in JAMA Network Open.

A CDC spokesperson said provisional data and other reports signify that “progress is being made” in the opioid epidemic.

State mandates that require both prescribers and dispensers to enter and use prescription drug monitoring programs led to greater reductions in opioid prescriptions and opioid-related hospital use compared with states that had less strict or no mandates, according to a study published in Health Affairs.

Xarelto monotherapy was noninferior to Xarelto plus an antiplatelet agent in regards to CV events and death from any cause in patients with atrial fibrillation and stable coronary artery disease, according to open-label trial data presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.

For women who had a hysterectomy and their ovaries removed, estrogen therapy was associated with long-term benefits if the therapy began before the age of 60 years, but it led to adverse events in those aged 70 years or older, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.