Bloomberg (4/30, Cortez) reports the Food and Drug Administration will now require a boxed warning on certain prescription sleeping medications, including Ambien (zolpidem), Lunesta (eszopiclone), and Sonata (zaleplon), advising patients about the risk of serious side effects that can lead to death. The article explains that the agency “said it had found 66 examples of patients who took the drugs and engaged in dangerous activities such as sleepwalking or driving while not fully awake, including 20 deaths linked to carbon monoxide poisoning, drowning, fatal falls, hypothermia, car crashes and apparent suicide.”

CNN (4/30, Scutti) reports the boxed warning will notify “patients to possible serious or life-threatening behaviors that may result from taking these drugs.”

Related Links:

— “Sleeping-Pill Deaths Prompt FDA to Add Strict Warning for Drugs, “Michelle Cortez, Bloomberg, April 30, 2019

Psychiatric News (4/30) reports, “Suicide deaths increased in the 30-day period following the suicide of Robin Williams on August 11, 2014,” researchers concluded. For the study, investigators analyzed “data from the National Center for Health Statistics” and “compared U.S. daily suicides in the 30 days before and after August 11, 2014, as well as for the same periods in 2012 and 2013.” The study revealed that “suicide deaths were between 113 and 117 a day for the 30 days before Williams’ death but increased to 142 a day in the 30-day period beginning August 12.” The findings were published online April 30 in Psychiatric Services.

Related Links:

— “Suicide Deaths, Calls to Hotlines Increased Dramatically Following Robin Williams’ 2014 Suicide, Psychiatric News , April 30, 2019

The AP (4/30, Neergaard) reports that “some people told they have Alzheimer’s may instead have a newly identified mimic of the disease.” It is unclear “how many people have this particular type” of dementia, “which an international team of scientists defined Tuesday in the journal Brain.”

CNN (4/30, Nedelman) reports, “The disease, called LATE, may often mirror the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, though it affects the brain differently and develops more slowly than Alzheimer’s.” According to CNN, “The acronym LATE stands for limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy.” This “full name refers to the area in the brain most likely to be affected, as well as the protein at the center of it all.”

HealthDay (4/30, Norton) reports that “LATE mainly affects people older than 80, the experts explained.” HealthDay adds that “it may account for about 17% of all cases of dementia.”

Also covering the story are The Guardian (UK) (4/30, Devlin), BBC News Online (UK) (4/30, Roberts), the Telegraph (UK) (4/30, Knapton), MedPage Today (4/30, George), and Science News (4/30, Sanders).

Related Links:

— “It seems like Alzheimer’s but peek into brain shows a mimic, “LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP, April 30, 2019

The Wall Street Journal (4/29, Subscription Publication) reports the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is considering a rule which would mandate that drug companies show the list prices of prescription medications while advertising the drugs on television. Although the proposed rule is largely supported by consumers, the pharmaceutical industry opposes it, partly because list prices often do not reflect what consumers typically pay for the drugs after rebates and insurance.

Related Links:

— “Should Drug Prices Be Disclosed in Ads Targeted Directly to Consumers?,, April 29, 2019

CNN (4/29, Howard) reports findings from a study of 1,300 toddlers “suggest that autism detection and diagnosis can start as young as 14 months old with high accuracy, which could lead to children with autism having the option to start therapies early.” The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.

HealthDay (4/29, Gordon) reports “the study found that 84% of those diagnosed early still met the criteria for having an autism spectrum disorder when they were re-evaluated at 3 years of age,” while “the remaining 16% thought to have an autism spectrum disorder early in life, most were later found to have a language or other developmental delay.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune (4/29) reports “if results are confirmed by independent research, this would be the earliest age this has proven feasible.” The study was “funded in part, by the National Institute of Mental Health.”

Related Links:

— “When to screen for autism? New study suggests as young as 14 months, “Jacqueline Howard, CNN, April 29, 2019