All the pros—and cons—of convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19
Convalescent plasma treatment has been around for over 100 years, but its still hasn’t been shown to be that effective.
Tag: pharmaceuticals
The verdict on hydroxychloroquine is in
The controversial drug hydroxychloroquine has more and more evidence piling up against it, but some are still trying to push for it to work.
COVID-19 testing problems are all too familiar to Lyme disease patients
If one good thing comes out of the pandemic, it’s that people start thinking more critically about any sort of laboratory test.
A study claiming hydroxychloroquine increased risk of death used dubious data
This wasn’t the first study to suggest hydroxychloroquine might actually be harmful for COVID-19 patients, but it was by far the largest.
PrEP can prevent HIV infection in teens—so why aren’t they using it?
A new paper, which reviewed current research on American adolescents and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), found that this high-risk demographic needs far more attention than it’s getting.
Don’t take chloroquine to prevent COVID-19
As COVID-19 sweeps across North America and hospitals prepare for an influx of patients, researchers are working to figure out if any drugs currently on the market can be used to combat the illness. They’ve identified a number of candidates, including chloroquine, but there’s nowhere near enough evidence yet to indicate any of these drugs work.
A popular autism drug for children isn’t as safe as its label indicates
It has been 11 years since the FDA approved aripiprazole for children with autism. The drug initially had a reputation of having fewer side effects than its competitor—but a decade’s worth of data suggest that is untrue.
Here’s how PrEP medications outsmart HIV
In October, the Food and Drug Administration approved Descovy as the second HIV-prevention medication available in the U.S., six years after approving Truvada for the same purpose. Both drugs, produced by Gilead Sciences, originally functioned as treatments for patients who had already contracted the virus. Now, they’re two of the safest and most effective measures to prevent the spread of HIV in at-risk populations like men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs. But how do these medicines work, and what’s the risk involved with taking them?
What it means to have ‘undetectable’ HIV—and why you need to know
Safe sex practices and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medications have prevented many further infections, and the evolution of antiretroviral (ART) treatments have stalled the virus from replicating in people who already have it. But in many communities, people living with undetectable HIV statuses still face stigma that marginalizes them as “dirty” and unsafe to have sex with. Here’s how the science disproves that.
The FDA is fast-tracking a second psilocybin drug to treat depression
Why the Food and Drug Administration is calling hallucinogenic mushrooms a “breakthrough” therapy for depression—again.