What We’re Reading: Oklahoma Supreme Court Opioid Ruling; Psilocybin as Depression Treatment; Bedtime and Heart Disease Risk

Johnson & Johnson Found Not Liable for Oklahoma Opioid Crisis

In a 5-to-1 decision, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma found Johnson & Johnson cannot be held liable for the state’s opioid crisis, NPR reported. This tosses out a 2019 ruling that the company created a “public nuisance” through its marketing of prescription pain pills, as it was called in a legal argument. According to a Johnson & Johnson statement sent to NPR, “the Oklahoma State Supreme Court...rejected the misguided and unprecedented expansion of the public nuisance law as a means to regulate the manufacture, marketing, and sale of products, including the Company's prescription opioid medications.” This ruling comes weeks after other drug companies were found not liable and drug overdoses and deaths continue to increase.

Study Finds Psilocybin Highly Efficacious as Depression Therapy

The psychedelic drug psilocybin was found to be highly efficacious as a therapy for treatment-resistant depression, STAT News reported. According to a news release from Compass Pathways, the “groundbreaking” clinical trial of COMP360 psilocybin therapy found that a 25-mg dose of the drug showed a highly statistically significant and clinically relevant reduction in depressive symptom severity after 3 weeks. The study enrolled 233 participants and found that 29.1% of patients in the highest-dose group were in remission 3 weeks after treatment, whereas only 7.6% of participants who were given a 1-mg dose were in remission at that time. More than a quarter of those who received the 25-mg dose were still in remission 3 months after treatment.

Falling Asleep Between 10 and 11 PM Linked with Lower Cardiovascular Risk, Study Shows

A report published in European Heart Journal Digital Health found that cardiovascular events incidents were lowest in people who fell asleep between 10 and 11 PM, NBC News reported. The report further explained that falling asleep before 10 PM and after 11 PM was linked with a 24% and 12% increased risk of cardiovascular disease, respectively. Those who went to bed at midnight or later had the greatest risk at 25%. The study followed up with more than 88,000 adults for nearly 6 years, with 3.6% of participants having experienced cardiovascular events. Experts said these findings should be taken with a grain of salt, as the research shows a correlation and not a causation.