Low-income Medicare beneficiaries are more likely to die if they lose access to crucial medication coverage, a new study says. More than 14 million poor Medicare beneficiaries receive the Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS), which further reduces their drug costs, researchers said in background notes. People who lose LIS eligibility are 4% more likely…  read on >  read on >

Agencies say significant progress has already been made; input has been requested from the public  read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to review and possibly remove prescription fluoride supplements for children from the market. The FDA announced Tuesday that it intends to conduct the review by Oct. 31, 2025. The agency has not yet said if it will ban the products or ask companies to stop selling them,…  read on >  read on >

More U.S. teenagers are getting weight-loss surgery, despite the discovery of new drugs like Ozempic/Wegovy that help people drop pounds surgery-free, a new study says. Weight loss surgeries for teens increased 15% between 2021 and 2023, researchers reported earlier this month in The Journal of Pediatrics. Further, much of the increase in weight-loss surgery is…  read on >  read on >

Cutting-edge weight-loss drugs like Ozempic/Wegovy can cut alcohol intake dramatically in a short amount of time, a new study says. People taking semaglutide or liraglutide reduced their alcohol consumption by two-thirds within four months, according to results recently published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. These glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs mimic the GLP-1 hormone,…  read on >  read on >

Drugs that battle HIV and hepatitis B might be able to help people avoid Alzheimer’s disease, a new study says. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) are used to prevent HIV and hepatitis B from replicating and spreading inside a person’s body. Now, a new analysis shows that people taking NRTI pills have as much as…  read on >  read on >

A new study has found that people taking Eli Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound lost almost 50% more weight than those using Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy. The study — published May 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine — followed 751 people across the U.S. who were overweight or obese and had another weight-related health problem.…  read on >  read on >

Women now have a new way to check their risk for cervical cancer — from the comfort of their own home. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Teal Wand, an at-home test that screens for human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that causes nearly all cervical cancers, CBS News reported May 9. …  read on >  read on >

Why does sugar taste so good — and why do we want it so badly? Scientists may finally have the answer.  For the first time, researchers have figured out the structure of the sweet receptor — the tiny part of your tongue that tells your brain when something tastes sweet. The study, published May 7…  read on >  read on >