Chair of the NCD Commission, Suleiman Bulbulia, told attendees that cooperation across various sectors is needed in order to combat the growing health issue among citizens. (SB)

Read full story in Wednesday’s epaper.

The post NCDs under scrutiny at national forum appeared first on Barbados Today.

So grab that cup of stimulation and get started. Our flavor today is crème brulée, for those tracking our habits. Now, though, the time has come to get busy. So please grab your own cup and dig in to the items of interest assembled below. We hope you have a wonderful day, and please do keep in touch. …

Novo Nordisk’s older weight-loss drug Saxenda helped children between the ages of 6 and under 12 reduce their body mass index by 7.4% in a 56-week trial, but the findings also raise questions about whether obesity medications, some of which are currently approved for teenagers, should also be given to children at such a young age, STAT notes. The Novo-sponsored study was the first to examine the safety and efficacy of once daily injections of Saxenda, known chemically as liraglutide, in young children. No medications are currently approved for the treatment of obesity in children under age 12, though Saxenda was approved for adolescents in 2020 and for adults in 2014. Novo said it has applied with U.S. and European regulators to expand the approval to include the ages involved in this study.

An experimental vaccine from GSK for combating herpes failed in an early-stage trial, halting an effort to bring the first shot for the condition to market, Bloomberg News tells us. While there were no safety concerns, the trial for a therapeutic vaccine to treat the herpes simplex virus failed to meet its efficacy objective. There are currently no approved vaccines for the virus, which causes genital herpes, although there is a shot for the herpes virus that causes chickenpox. The failure is not expected to impact the company’s outlook for the short to medium term as sales of the shot had not yet been baked into revenue projections. Still, this is a blow for GSK, which has zeroed in on vaccine development and been buoyed by its success with its vaccine for a common respiratory illness.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

JAMAICANS ARE being urged to make use of the mental health services in the public health system to reduce the risk of suicides. The call comes from Senior Clinical Psychologist at the Western Regional Health Authority, Dr Georgia Rose, as the...

PROSTATE CANCER develops in a man’s prostate, the walnut-sized gland just below the bladder that produces some of the fluid in semen. It is the most common cancer in men after skin cancer. Prostate cancer often grows very slowly and may not cause...

The motivations for entering the nursing profession vary, but one common goal is clear: to improve Grenada’s healthcare system, which is plagued by a nurse shortage and ongoing criticism

View the full post Nursing students answer call to serve  on NOW Grenada.

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill by 306 to 81 votes to make drug companies stop doing business with some Chinese biotechs within eight years if they want to remain in good standing with the federal government, STAT reports. The BIOSECURE Act would prohibit the U.S. government from contracting with, or providing grants to, companies that do business with a “biotechnology company of concern.” It specifically names five Chinese companies: BGI Genomics, MGI Tech, Complete Genomics, WuXi AppTec, and Wuxi Biologics. The bill would likely need to hitch a ride with a larger legislative vehicle, such as the annual defense bill or government funding legislation, during the lame duck session between the elections and when newly elected officials take office.

Amid calls to expand access to medicines in low- and middle-income countries, a new analysis finds that most of the world’s 20 largest pharmaceutical companies have taken steps to reach patients, but many efforts are yielding decidedly mixed results, STAT tells us. On the one hand, 19 companies have established methods for providing treatments to these countries — but only nine of the drugmakers created comprehensive plans. Moreover, there is no consensus on how to calculate the number of patients being reached, so the approach taken varies widely among products and countries. In addition, most of the companies rely on sales volume to measure access goals, but this can be an imperfect benchmark because it does not ensure that medicines actually reached patients.

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