05Feb 2023 by Janice Holland
Vraylar (Cariprazine) Is Approved as an Antidepressant ‘Add On’

Vraylar (Cariprazine) Is Approved as an Antidepressant ‘Add On’

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Many people with major depressive disorder don’t get enough relief from their symptoms despite antidepressant medication. To potentially rectify the problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Vraylar (cariprazine), a so-called “add-on” or adjunctive medication that might make an antidepressant work better.According to a press release from the pharmaceutical company AbbVie, the FDA has already approved cariprazine for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder, for the treatment of depressive episodes associated with bipolar I disorder (bipolar depression), and for the treatment of schizophrenia.Vraylar is part of a class of drugs known as second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) or atypical antipsychotics.About 1 in 5 U.S. Adults Will Experience Depression at Some Point in Their Life“As many as one in five U.S. adults will…
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04Feb 2023 by Janice Holland
FDA Approves Leqembi, New Treatment for Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease

FDA Approves Leqembi, New Treatment for Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease

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On Friday, January 6, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval of a new drug, Leqembi (lecanemab-irmb), for the treatment of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.Leqembi works by removing amyloid beta plaques, a protein that can accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s and that is believed to be a key factor in the disease.According to the FDA, Leqembi was evaluated for the accelerated approval in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that included 856 people with Alzheimer’s disease. The medication, given every two weeks as an intravenous infusion, was given to subjects with mild cognitive impairment who also had imaging scans to confirm amyloid plaques in their brains.Data submitted by Eisai — the company that makes Leqembi — to the FDA shows that patients who received Leqembi had significant…
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04Feb 2023 by Janice Holland
Expert Picks in Health Tech From CES 2023

Expert Picks in Health Tech From CES 2023

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If you’re into tech, then Las Vegas in January is the place to be.That’s where you’ll find tech innovators unveiling their latest offerings at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). And health is just one of the categories where tech is stepping in to help as more people seek to better understand how their bodies function and take charge of their own well-being.Each year, judges at CES give Innovation Awards to products for outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology, including health-related areas. Several doctors from Everyday Health’s health expert network shared thoughts on those they found most intriguing.Here’s what they highlighted:SmarTooth Dental Health MonitorSmarTooth is a handheld home device that uses an optical sensor to collect “decay data,” sending results to a mobile app. Its manufacturer claims the results…
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04Feb 2023 by Janice Holland
The Evie Ring Aims to Be the First Medical-Grade Health Tracker Designed for Women

The Evie Ring Aims to Be the First Medical-Grade Health Tracker Designed for Women

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Among the many health tech innovations unveiled at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada — such as a $700 pillow that may help you stop snoring and a smartwatch that can tell you when and how much coffee to drink to maximize productivity and wellness — was a new wearable specifically designed with women in mind.The Evie ring and its companion app can measure multiple key health metrics: activity level and calories burned, heart rate and variability, blood oxygen levels (sometimes called SpO2), sleep cycles and quality, and body temperature.The app also lets users track their menstrual cycle and ovulation, and over time can help predict how users will feel depending on the time of the month.The ring is water-resistant, so you can wear it even while…
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04Feb 2023 by Janice Holland
Age-Related Eye Disease Tied to Increased COVID-19 Risk

Age-Related Eye Disease Tied to Increased COVID-19 Risk

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Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors have cautioned people with certain chronic health issues, like type 2 diabetes and obesity, that they face a higher risk of developing severe coronavirus infections. But there’s a common age-related eye disorder that may be even more concerning: age-related macular degeneration (AMD).Some research has found that AMD is associated with a 25 percent higher risk for severe COVID-19 — higher than the increased risk seen with type 2 diabetes or obesity.Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss for Americans over 50, according to the National Eye Institute (NEI). It results from damage to a part of the retina called the macula. There are two types: dry AMD and wet AMD, a rarer and more advanced form of the condition…
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04Feb 2023 by Janice Holland
Frequent Antibiotic Use Tied to Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Frequent Antibiotic Use Tied to Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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People who receive multiple courses of antibiotics are at higher risk for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) — especially if they take these infection-fighting drugs to treat gastrointestinal pathogens.For the study, researchers examined data on 6.1 million people 10 years and older in Denmark, including 5.5 individuals who received at least one course of antibiotics between 2000 and 2018. During the study period almost 53,000 people were newly diagnosed with IBD, including both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.Compared with people who never used antibiotics, those who did were significantly more likely to develop IBD at all age groups in the study.With each additional course of antibiotics, the risk of IBD climbed by at least another 10 percent, impacting all ages and rising more for those over 40, according to research published in…
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04Feb 2023 by Janice Holland
Eating Almonds May Help Muscle Recovery After Starting a New Workout Routine

Eating Almonds May Help Muscle Recovery After Starting a New Workout Routine

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Regularly snacking on almonds may help ease pain and stiffness after an intense workout if your body isn’t used to such exertion, according to a small study published on January 9 in Frontiers in Nutrition.Researchers found that people who ate 2 ounces (oz) of almonds each day for one month had more of a recovery-boosting fat in their blood after a single session of hard exercise than a group who ate a cereal bar with the same number of calories.What’s more, “They also reported feeling less fatigue and tension, better leg [and] back strength, and decreased muscle damage after exercise than control volunteers,” said David C Nieman, DrPH, a coauthor of the study, a professor, and the director of the Appalachian State University Human Performance Laboratory at the North Carolina…
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03Feb 2023 by Janice Holland
A Diet High in Fast Food Raises Liver Disease Risk, Study Finds

A Diet High in Fast Food Raises Liver Disease Risk, Study Finds

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Health experts already know that fast food can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. Now research has found that regular consumption of fast-food burgers, fries, pizza, and the like may also contribute to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a potentially life-threatening condition in which fat builds up in the liver.Based on an analysis of health data from 4,000 adults whose fatty liver measurements were included in the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (from 2017–18), scientists discovered that people with obesity or diabetes who take in one-fifth or more of their daily calories from fast food have severely elevated levels of fat in their liver compared with those who eat less or no fast food.A diet consisting of at least 20 percent fast food was also…
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03Feb 2023 by Janice Holland
FDA Approves Long-Acting Medication for People With Multidrug-Resistant HIV

FDA Approves Long-Acting Medication for People With Multidrug-Resistant HIV

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Sunlenca (lenacapavir), a new type of medication for the most common variant of HIV, HIV-1 (human immunodeficiency virus type 1).Lenacapavir is designed for heavily treatment-experienced adults with multidrug-resistant HIV who are not able to adequately manage the virus with their current treatment regimen. It is an injectable medication administered under the skin (subcutaneously) once every six months.Developed by Gilead Sciences, lenacapavir is the first of a new class of HIV medications called capsid inhibitors, which work by blocking the virus’s protein shell (the capsid), thereby interfering with essential steps of the virus’s life cycle.In a clinical trial, lenacapavir was able to lower the viral load in patients who were not responding adequately to other therapies.“Today’s approval ushers in a new class…
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