{"id":291735,"date":"2025-11-14T19:46:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/291735\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T19:46:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:46:08","slug":"ozempic-texas-polio-infant-formula-morning-rounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/291735\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozempic, Texas, polio, infant formula: Morning Rounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Get your daily dose of health and medicine every weekday with STAT\u2019s free newsletter Morning Rounds.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Ig Nobel awards just happened, but I\u2019d like to pitch this study<\/a> \u2014 which found that a man\u2019s shouts will scare gulls away from food \u2014 for next year\u2019s consideration.<\/p>\n

A baby formula maker\u2019s \u2018bizarre\u2019 response to the infant botulism outbreak<\/p>\n

ByHeart recalled all of its products across the U.S. this week after 15 infants were hospitalized with botulism after consuming the company\u2019s formula. But despite the established link, ByHeart initially pushed back against the regulators\u2019 findings in their response to the recall \u2014 leading customers to say the company has \u201cdownplayed, buried information, and misled parents at every step.\u201d<\/p>\n

Backed by $908 million in venture capital, ByHeart exploded onto the scene in 2016 with a formula rich with \u201cclean ingredients\u201d marketed to health-conscious, crunchy moms. The formula has also become popular with the Make America Healthy Again movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the company has a worrisome history: a previous recall in 2022 and a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration after an inspection the following year. What did they say during this week\u2019s nationwide recall? Read more<\/a> from STAT\u2019s Sarah Todd.<\/p>\n

More Americans use weight loss drugs like Ozempic than live in Texas<\/p>\n

Weight loss drugs have skyrocketed in prevalence in recent years, according to a new KFF poll<\/a> on GLP-1 drugs and drug prices. Nearly 13% of adults say they take a GLP-1 such as Ozempic or Wegovy to treat a chronic disease, lose weight, or both \u2014 more than double the poll\u2019s finding from last year.<\/p>\n

The drugs\u2019 cost hasn\u2019t hindered their soaring popularity. Nearly 30% of users with health insurance had to eat the entire bill \u2014 potentially hundreds of dollars a month. The poll arrives just a week after Trump\u2019s deal<\/a> to make the popular drugs more affordable to everyday Americans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Want to learn more about GLP-1\u2019s, the wonder drug prescribed for diabetes, obesity, addiction, and more? Start here<\/a>. And if you missed STAT\u2019s Alex Hogan\u2019s explanation for why Ozempic\u2019s widespread name recognition could make it susceptible to \u201cgenericide\u201d \u2014 all while grinding rails \u2014 watch this video<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wild polio, continued<\/p>\n

More information has emerged about the discovery of wild poliovirus in wastewater in Germany. Authorities in Hamburg<\/a> revealed that Type 1 virus was found in sewage there. And the German public health agency, the Robert Koch Institute, reported that the genetic sequence of the virus was \u201cvery similar\u201d to viruses that have circulated in Afghanistan, one of only two remaining countries where wild polioviruses are still endemic. (Pakistan is the other; the two countries have recorded 39 cases of paralytic polio<\/a> so far this year.)<\/p>\n

In its update<\/a>, the Koch Institute said the most likely scenario is that at least one person who was infected excreted poliovirus in their stools while in Hamburg. No symptomatic cases have been reported. But most people infected with polio do not become ill; paralysis occurs only in about one out of every 200 infections. Others do shed the virus, though, contributing to its transmission. Polio vaccination rates in Germany are high, and health officials assess the risk of onward spread resulting in cases as \u201cvery low.\u201d \u2014 Helen Branswell\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former FDA commissioner talks new drug director, building trust<\/p>\n

Robert Califf, FDA commissioner during the Biden and Obama administrations, joined STAT\u2019s Matthew Herper for a conversation about trust and medical ethics on Thursday night. Califf weighed in on the\u00a0recent appointment<\/a> of longtime cancer therapy chief Richard Pazdur as top drug regulator at the FDA, calling it a sign that FDA leaders are trying to stabilize the agency amid\u00a0declining morale<\/a>\u00a0and staff departures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I really admire about Rick is that he has fidelity between his beliefs and his actions,\u201d Califf said at the Greenwall Foundation lecture<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s an honest person and deeply driven to try to do what\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Califf also expressed\u00a0concern that\u00a0politics are increasingly influencing science<\/a>\u00a0within U.S. health agencies, and noted that the medical establishment has a long way to go in restoring trust with the American people. He said health care professionals might learn a lesson or two from Mr. Beast \u2014 the most-followed YouTuber \u2014 about how to capture people\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandkids all follow Mr. Beast carefully, and whatever he says, a few million people are likely to try to do it,\u201d Califf said. \u201cNow we can say, \u2018That\u2019s ridiculous,\u2019 or we can say, \u2018wait a minute, this is affecting what people do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Precision medicine \u2014 but for psychiatry<\/p>\n

The pharmaceutical industry\u2019s approach to mental health treatments has been conservative, resulting in a market saturated with slight variations on existing antidepressants and antipsychotics with similarly modest returns. But that playbook is being thrown out, writes Khutaija Noor, a corresponding member of the scientific committee at the American Psychiatric Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Older drugs cast a wide net over brain chemistry, but the new drugs being developed today are\u00a0like \u201cprecision tools,\u201d targeting novel pathways such as muscarinic receptors in conditions like schizophrenia. And updated FDA guidelines have altered the cost, timeline, and strategic planning for drug development. Read more<\/a> to learn about the changes that signal the end of safe bets in psychiatric medicine and how it could lead to \u201cprofound implications for investors, insurers, and the entire health care economy,\u201d writes Noor, the clinical trial lead for studies at Amicis Clinical Trials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What we\u2019re reading<\/p>\n

Life in beige, The Cut<\/a><\/p>\n

US bishops officially ban gender-affirming care at Catholic hospitals, AP<\/a><\/p>\n

Going against the gut: Q&A with Kevin Mitchell on the autism-microbiome theory, The Transmitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Republicans want to replace enhanced ACA tax credits with direct payments. Their think tank allies aren\u2019t so sure, STAT<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get your daily dose of health and medicine every weekday with STAT\u2019s free newsletter Morning Rounds.\u00a0Sign up here.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[97,252,243],"class_list":{"0":"post-291735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}