The F.D.A. Warned an Asthma Drug Could Induce Despair. Many Were Never Told. (NYT)
BY Christina Jewett and Benjamin Mueller
Singulair, now a generic, is still used by millions of people in the United States even after thousands of patients and dozens of studies have described harm.
In early 2020, the Food and Drug Administration responded to decades of escalating concerns about a commonly prescribed drug for asthma and allergies by deploying one of its most potent tools: a stark warning on the drug’s label that it could cause aggression, agitation and even suicidal thoughts.
The agency’s label, which was primarily aimed at doctors, was supposed to sound an alert about the 25-year-old medication, Singulair, also known by its generic name, montelukast. But it barely dented use: The drug was still prescribed to 12 million people in the United States in 2022.
US verges on vaccination tipping point, faces thousands of needless deaths: FDA (Ars Technica)
BY BETH MOLE
Top regulatory officials call for clinicians to speak up and drown out misinformation.
“Regrettably, pediatric vaccine hesitancy now has been responsible for several measles outbreaks in the US, including a recent one in central Ohio involving local-acquired cases in 85 children, 36 of whom (42 percent) had to be hospitalized for complications,” Califf and Marks write.
A measles outbreak is ongoing in Philadelphia, where an unvaccinated person who contracted the virus outside the US exposed other unvaccinated people at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an area daycare. So far, eight cases have been confirmed (one adult and seven children), six of which were hospitalized. Some of the cases occurred when an infected unvaccinated child broke quarantine and attended the daycare.
‘The response defies belief’: Year of inaction leaves children at risk from bad cancer drugs (STAT News)
BY Rosa Furneaux and Laura Margottini
Last January, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), in partnership with STAT,revealed that at least a dozen brands of asparaginase, a key childhood chemotherapy drug, had failed quality tests. In some cases they fell well below the standard needed to treat cancer and many contained contaminants such as bacteria. It put an estimated 70,000 children — mostly in low- and middle-income countries — at risk.
One year on, neither national governments nor the WHO has taken meaningful action, with both sides claiming communication breakdowns and a lack of evidence. And doctors are frustrated that these brands are still for sale.
NSA official warns of hackers using AI to perfect their English in phishing schemes (NBC News)
BY KEVIN COLLIER
NSA Cybersecurity Director Rob Joyce said the language used in hacking and phishing schemes was becoming more sophisticated and convincing.
“One of the first things they’re doing is they’re just generating better English-language outreach to their victims, whether it’s phishing emails or something much more elaborative in the case of malign influence,” he said.
Joyce didn’t name any specific AI company, but he said the issue is widespread.
“They’re all subscribed to the big-name companies that we would expect, all of the generative AI models out there,” he said.
What’s the newest wave of Turkey VPN bans tell us about the country’s internet? (TechRadar)
BY CHIARA CASTRO
Around 16 VPN providers have been targeted by the recent blocks
According to Ali Safa Korkut, Project Coordinator at Free Web Turkey (a platform monitoring and fighting against online censorship in the country), the recent block on VPN services is perfectly in line with Erdoğan’s desire to control information spreading across the internet.
He told me: “While censoring alternative media, the government has also taken steps to silence international media, blocking the websites of the Turkish editions of Deutsche Welle and Voice of America in 2022. However, with censorship now a way of life, internet users in Turkey are very familiar with VPN services and use them frequently.”
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