LOS ANGELES — One of two doctors charged in the investigation of the death of Matthew Perry is expected to plead guilty Wednesday in a federal court in Los Angeles to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine. Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, signed a plea agreement with prosecutors in August and would … Read more
A network of illegal drug sellers based in the U.S., the Dominican Republic and India packaged potentially deadly synthetic opioids into pills disguised as common prescription drugs and sold millions of them through fake online drugstores, federal prosecutors said Monday. At least nine people died of narcotics poisoning between August 2023 and June 2024 after … Read more
BATON ROUGE, La. — On Tuesday, Louisiana will become the first state in the U.S. to categorize two widely used abortion pills as “controlled dangerous substances.” Opponents argue the classification could have catastrophic impacts in a state that already has a near-total abortion ban and one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation. … Read more
Kigali, RWANDA — Rwanda says eight people have died so far from the Ebola-like and highly contagious Marburg virus, just days after the country declared an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has no authorized vaccine or treatment. Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact … Read more
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky’s attorney general has sued Express Scripts, claiming the big pharmacy benefit manager was at the center of an opioid dispensing chain that fueled a deadly addiction crisis still haunting his state. The lawsuit Attorney General Russell Coleman filed this week in state court claims St. Louis-based Express Scripts and its affiliated … Read more
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s new drug czar has a very personal reason for wanting to end the state’s opioid crisis: He was once addicted to prescription painkillers himself. Dr. Stephen Loyd, who has been treating patients with substance use disorder since he got sober two decades ago, says combating opioid addiction in the state … Read more
A National Institutes of Health investigation has found research misconduct by one of its top neuroscientists, the agency said Thursday. In a statement, the NIH said the findings involve images in two studies co-authored by Dr. Eliezer Masliah, who in 2016 joined the agency’s National Institute on Aging as its neuroscience division director. NIH said … Read more
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For decades, Jeff Card’s family company was known for manufacturing the once ubiquitous tin boxes where people could buy newspapers on the street. Today, reach into one of his containers and you may find something entirely different and free of charge: Naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug. Naloxone distribution containers have been … Read more
WASHINGTON — Americans can once again order COVID-19 tests, without being charged, sent straight to their homes. The U.S. government reopened the program on Thursday, allowing any household to order up to four at-home COVID nasal swab kits through the website, covidtests.gov. The tests will begin shipping, via the United States Postal Service, as soon … Read more
WASHINGTON — Fall means it’s time for just about everybody to get up to date on their flu and COVID-19 vaccines – and a lot of older adults also need protection against another risky winter virus, RSV. Yes, you can get your flu and COVID-19 shots at the same time. Don’t call them boosters — … Read more
