
What We're Reading: Sickle Cell Drug Approval; Adding Psychiatric Beds; Drug Diversion Outbreak
FDA Approves First New Sickle Cell Treatment in Decades
The FDA has announced its approval of Endari (L-glutamine oral powder) for the treatment of sickle cell disease, a hereditary blood disorder that can result in pain, organ damage, and shortened lifespan. Endari’s approval makes it the first drug approved for patients with the chronic illness in nearly 20 years, according to the
Senate Health Bill Would Allow Psychiatric Facilities to Add More Beds
One of the components of the Senate’s proposed Better Care Reconciliation Act is designed to boost the number of available beds in psychiatric hospitals,
Nurse’s Drug Diversion Scheme Linked to Bacterial Outbreak
A nurse at the UW Health University Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, is accused of tampering with syringes in order to obtain the narcotics in the syringes for illicit use or sale, also known as drug diversion. When she replaced the opioids with saline, it likely introduced a strain of bacteria that then caused an outbreak of Serratia marcescens among 5 patients infected by the syringes,
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