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☆ iPod godfather says Apple 'jumped the shark' with its Vision Pro headset
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive known as the iPod godfather, just dunked on the company's new $3,499 Vision Pro headset. But he slammed the price, battery life, and other aspects. "It's has truly nothing to do with 2hr battery life," Fadell responded. "The apps & marketing pitch is awful even if it had 24 HR battery life…. "There's no dancing in the virtual world when people don't even have bodies.

Persons: Tony Fadell, Fadell, Jeff Lutz, Apple, It's, I'm Organizations: Wired, Apple, Tech

☆ An Appeals Court Gave the Sacklers Legal Immunity. Here’s What the Ruling Means.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In exchange, they have agreed to make payments of up to $6 billion to thousands of plaintiffs in now-suspended lawsuits. The ruling was part of a court review of a bankruptcy restructuring plan for Purdue, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in September 2019. Companies in bankruptcy customarily get protection from legal claims; owners who have not filed for personal bankruptcy usually do not. When the company filed for bankruptcy, the Sacklers faced about 400 lawsuits over their role in Purdue’s opioid business. Legal experts say that the ruling, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, has implications for the Purdue case specifically and for owners of companies seeking bankruptcy generally.

Persons: Sackler Organizations: Purdue Pharma, Purdue, Companies, United States, Appeals, Second Circuit

☆ Sacklers Can Be Shielded From Opioid Liability, Appeals Court Rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Members of the Sackler family, the billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma, will receive full immunity from all civil legal claims — current and future — over their role in the company’s prescription opioids business, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Tuesday. The ruling gives the family the sweeping protection that it has been demanding for years, in exchange for payment of up to $6 billion of the family’s fortune to help address the ongoing ravages of the opioid crisis. It removes a major hurdle for that money, plus the company’s initial outlay of $500 million, to be dispensed to states and communities for addiction treatment and prevention programs, needs that soared during an epidemic that has grown far beyond abuse of Purdue’s signature prescription painkiller drug, OxyContin. Unless it is successfully appealed to the Supreme Court — an unlikely prospect, legal experts said — the new ruling will close the door on Purdue’s hotly contested bankruptcy restructuring, which began nearly four years ago. The bankruptcy is at the core of a plan intended to resolve thousands of opioid cases against the company nationwide, plus roughly 400 against individual Sackler family members.

Persons: Sackler Organizations: Purdue Pharma

Djokovic won a record-extending 10th Australian Open in January - despite coming into the tournament with a hamstring issue - to equal Nadal's tally of 22 Grand Slams. An elbow injury forced Djokovic to pull out of the Madrid Open this month and he needed a painkiller during his quarter-final loss in Rome, but the 36-year-old is now back in shape. Djokovic, who starts against Aleksandar Kovacevic, said world number one Carlos Alcaraz was the "biggest favourite". Alcaraz and Djokovic are in the same side of the draw and could potentially meet in the semi-finals. Alcaraz won three titles on clay this year before his shock third-round exit from the Italian Open, but the Spaniard will be expected to resume normal service in his French Open first-round match against Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli on Monday.

ImageFamily dramaHBO will release its last episode of “Succession” on Sunday. The fictional Roy family in “Succession” bears an uncanny resemblance to the Murdoch family. On the other was Wellington’s nephew, Tim Mara. Show credits could feature the Venetian blind that reportedly divided their stadium luxury suites at the height of their tension. The series would end in 1995 when Tim Mara, lacking any other recourse, sold his stake in the team.

☆ Djokovic says new generation has arrived after Rome quarter-final exit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROME, May 18 (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic said the long awaited "shift of generations" has finally come to men's tennis after the world number one lost to 20-year-old Dane Holger Rune in the Italian Open quarter-finals. Djokovic, who has now lost two in a row to Rune, said the next generation of players led by world number two Carlos Alcaraz is like a breath of fresh air for the sport. "A new generation is here already," Djokovic told reporters. When asked if Roland Garros would be the most open tournament in years, Djokovic smiled and said: "It depends if Nadal plays or not. "But next to him Alcaraz, Rune - these guys are right there in contention, some of the biggest favourites to win the title."

☆ Britain's Oxford University cuts ties with Sackler family over opioid links
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The University of Oxford has cut ties with the Sackler family, whose wealth derives from opioid drugs, removing their name form a number of positions and buildings, including two galleries in the Ashmolean Museum. Britain's University of Oxford cut ties with key benefactor the Sackler family, whose wealth derives from addictive opioid drugs and stand accused of helping fuel a U.S. epidemic. The university said that the move, which was approved by its governing council Monday, had also received the "full support" of the Sackler family. "Oxford University has undertaken a review of its relationship with the Sackler family and their trusts, including the way their benefactions to the University are recognized," the university said in a statement. "Following this review, the University has decided that the University buildings, spaces and staff positions using the Sackler name will no longer do so," it said.

☆ Oxford University wipes the Sackler name from its buildings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Oxford University will remove the Sackler name from its buildings following a review of its relationship with the family that recently expressed regret for its role in the US opioid crisis. The 900-year old university said in a statement that it would remove the Sackler name from some of its most prominent landmarks, including parts of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology and the Bodleian Library. The university said the decision had “the full support of the Sackler family,” adding that it would keep the Sackler name on two donor boards “for the purposes of historical recording of donations to the university.”The Sackler Trust did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. Oxford said in its statement that it had not received any new donations from the Sackler family or its charitable trusts since January 2019. In March, a US judge approved a $6 billion settlement paid by the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma to several US states as well as victims of the opioid crisis.

☆ Rune repeats Djokovic upset to storm into Rome semi-finals
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

For the first time since 2004, neither Djokovic nor the injured Rafa Nadal will be in the Rome final. Rune outlasted Djokovic in three sets in last year's Paris Masters final and the 20-year-old made the perfect start in search of another upset by breaking the world number one in the opening game of the match. "Obviously, I did it last year in Paris, but every match is a huge challenge when I play Novak. "He's one of the greatest to ever play the game so I knew I had to be at my best. Rune said he hoped to stay humble after another statement win on the ATP Tour.

☆ Intense battlefield video shows Ukrainians rescuing a wounded soldier and treating his shrapnel wound in the back of a van
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A video published by Ukraine's border guards on Tuesday follows a unit fighting in Bakhmut. The video follows the unit as they drive in the night to rescue the soldier and treat his wounds. Help me," the injured soldier says over a radio, per a translation added to the video by the border guard. The video then shows the team dragging the injured soldier into the car as he groans in pain. The injured soldier then asks whether he has lost his leg, to which the other says: "What are you talking about!

☆ Mexico asks China for help to control fentanyl shipments
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, April 4 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday he had sent a letter to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping urging him to help control shipments of the synthetic opioid fentanyl sent across the Pacific. U.S. and Mexican officials argue that the ingredients used to make fentanyl are chiefly sent from Asia, but Lopez Obrador argues Mexico is not a production hub for the drug. Some Republicans have urged Washington to authorize the use of military force in Mexico to tackle the problem, a suggestion that has been vigorously rejected by Lopez Obrador. In his letter, Lopez Obrador complained to Xi about interference in Mexico's affairs by U.S. lawmakers. Lopez Obrador then asked Xi if he could provide Mexico with information on when, where, and how much fentanyl was being sent across the Pacific, and by whom.

☆ Mexican president says more fentanyl enters the U.S. and Canada than Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

However, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a news conference it was not Mexico that was responsible for the introduction of most fentanyl into the United States. "I maintain that more fentanyl reaches the United States and Canada directly than reaches Mexico," he said. Lopez Obrador, who has bristled at suggestions the U.S. could intervene in Mexico, said Mexican officials had explained to him that only blue fentanyl pills turned up in Mexico. "Over in the United States they've got all colors and flavors," the president said. Asked whether there were fentanyl production labs in the country, Lopez Obrador said "yes" but underlined that the raw materials used to make the drug were coming from Asia.

☆ Ketamine is being sold as a depression wonder drug. For some, it's making everything worse.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +42 min

The infusions at the ketamine clinic in his West Texas hometown were a Christmas gift from his grandmother. About five years ago, more and more of my friends started using ketamine recreationally. IV ketamine treatment centers charging $400 to $2,000 an infusion popped up all over the country. "Ketamine used as directed in an appropriate clinical setting very rarely leads to any dependence," Mindbloom says on its website. Like Nadia, most of the people I interviewed said when they started using ketamine, they didn't think it was possible to become dependent on it.

☆ Snapchat's role in fentanyl crisis probed during House roundtable: 'It's a Snap-specific problem'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The roundtable featured the mother of a child who died after taking a drug containing fentanyl allegedly purchased over Snapchat, apparently believing it was a prescription painkiller. "Big Tech has many problems," said Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer who works on cases seeking to hold tech platforms accountable for often offline harms. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice are also investigating Snap's role in fentanyl sales. That's because it does not incentivize safety features, she said, and also prevents tech platforms from reaching the discovery stage in many cases, which could otherwise reveal internal information. But legislation weakening encryption for law enforcement investigations would also likely be at odds with the committee's other goal of increasing digital privacy protections.

WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Thursday filed a lawsuit accusing AmerisourceBergen Corp (ABC.N), one of the nation's largest drug distributors, of helping ignite the nation's deadly opioid epidemic by failing to report hundreds of thousands of suspicious orders of prescription painkillers. The government said AmerisourceBergen had since 2014 systematically refused or negligently failed to flag suspicious orders by pharmacy customers when it had reason to know that opioids were being diverted to illegal channels. "For years, AmerisourceBergen prioritized profits over its legal obligations and over Americans' well-being," Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta told reporters. In a statement, AmerisourceBergen called the lawsuit an improper attempt to "shift blame" and the burdens of law enforcement from the Justice Department and DEA to the companies they regulate. The Justice Department said AmerisourceBergen for years understaffed and unfunded programs designed to ensure compliance with the Controlled Substances Act.

Dec 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Thursday filed a civil lawsuit accusing the drug distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp (ABC.N) of contributing to the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic by repeatedly failing to report suspicious orders of prescription painkillers. "The United States brings this suit to hold defendants accountable for their egregious failure to report suspicious orders and their role in contributing to the opioid epidemic," the Justice Department said in its complaint. The company has long denied contributing to the opioid epidemic. Thursday's lawsuit is latest in a series of criminal and civil actions the Justice Department has pursued against companies accused of fueling the opioid epidemic. Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ GSK, Sanofi shares brighten as thousands of Zantac lawsuits are dismissed
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Shares of GSK and Sanofi surged in early trading on Wednesday, following the dismissal of thousands of U.S. lawsuits claiming that the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer. Zantac, first approved in 1983, became the world’s best selling medicine in 1988 and one of the first-ever drugs to top $1 billion in annual sales. The decision bodes well for state cases too, they wrote in a note. Shares of Haleon, which comprises consumer health assets once owned by GSK and Pfizer and spun out as an independent company in July, also rose 5%. Barclays analysts said they viewed Zantac as substantially derisked, “leaving Haleon investible again for those without the appetite for pharma litigation risk.”

☆ U.S.-Backed Researchers Use AI to Probe for Weaknesses in Drug Supply Chains
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has approved research that will use artificial intelligence to delve into drug supply chains and probe for weaknesses, including foreign influence. Any overreliance on foreign inputs in drug supply chains could leave the U.S. open to dire shortages in the event of conflict or natural catastrophe. PREVIEWThe DHS-backed dive into drug supply chains will examine to what extent the supply of drugs might be susceptible to disruption. The new DHS-backed study will try to map out supply chains several layers deep, and potentially uncover previously hidden issues, Mr. Tuchman said. Consultant Steven Lynn says the pandemic opened people’s eyes to issues inherent in far-flung pharmaceutical supply chains.

A powerful animal tranquilizer is increasingly showing up in the illicit drug supply, putting unsuspecting users at risk for hard to treat overdoses and dangerous side effects, the Food and Drug Administration warned Tuesday. The drug, called xylazine, is primarily found in heroin and illicit fentanyl, the FDA said, and overdoses can look similar to an opioid overdose. But because xylazine isn't an opioid, these overdoses can't be reversed using the antidote naloxone, or Narcan. It's also linked with gaping skin wounds not seen with other injectable drug use, the FDA said. Because the drug isn't included in routine toxicology screenings, the FDA added, it may be underdetected in overdoses.

☆ CDC softens guidelines for doctors prescribing opioid painkillers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

The nation’s top public health agency on Thursday softened its guidelines for U.S. doctors prescribing oxycodone and other opioid painkillers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new recommendations are an update to 2016 guidelines that added momentum to a decline in opioid painkiller prescriptions. Opioids painkillers can be addictive — even when used under doctors’ orders — and were identified as a big reason for a rise in U.S. drug overdoses that began more than two decades ago. But they also were seen as a barrier to care, with some pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions as doctors wrote them. The new guidelines are designed to ensure that patients get compassionate and safe pain care, CDC officials said.

☆ GSK lifts earnings view again after forecast-beating quarter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Natalie Grover | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) logo is seen in this illustration, August 10, 2022. Shingrix generated sales of 760 million pounds ($873 million) compared with the GSK-compiled analyst consensus forecast for 685 million pounds. In July, GSK had predicted 2022 sales growth of 6% to 8% and adjusted operating profit to climb by 13% to 15%, both increases on forecasts issued in February. GSK said it had incurred a charge of 45 million pounds in the third quarter, primarily reflecting provisions for increased legal fees related to heartburn drug Zantac. Originally marketed by a forerunner of GSK, Zantac has been sold by several companies at different times, including Pfizer (PFE.N), Boehringer Ingelheim and Sanofi (SASY.PA) as well as a plethora of generic drugmakers.

☆ New GSK shines brighter with another forecast upgrade
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Natalie Grover | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Shingrix generated quarterly sales of 760 million pounds ($873 million), compared with the GSK-compiled analyst consensus forecast for 685 million pounds. GSK shares hit a 2-1/2 month high of 1,470.2 pence in early trade and were last up 1% at 1,461.3 pence. GSK said it had incurred a charge of 45 million pounds in the third quarter, primarily reflecting provisions for increased legal fees related Zantac. Originally marketed by a forerunner of GSK, Zantac has been sold by companies including Pfizer (PFE.N), Boehringer Ingelheim and Sanofi (SASY.PA), as well as many generic drugmakers. GSK reported a third-quarter adjusted profit of 46.9 pence per share on sales of about 7.83 billion pounds, topping analysts' forecasts for 40.1 pence and 7.32 billion pounds.

☆ Rock 'n' roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, known as 'The Killer,' dies
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Bill Trott | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Like Chuck Berry's guitar, Lewis' piano was essential in shaping rock 'n' roll in the mid-1950s. "Jerry Lee thinks that Jerry Lee is too wicked to be saved." His young son Steve Allen Lewis drowned in 1962 and another son, Jerry Lee Jr., died in a 1973 car accident at 19. In his later years he settled down but biographer Rick Bragg recalled interviewing Lewis for his 2014 book "Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Words." "I don't think Jerry Lee Lewis had to exaggerate his life one bit to make it interesting," Bragg told the Atlanta Constitution Journal.

☆ J&J beats estimates on demand for cancer drug
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Nancy Lapid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) on Tuesday beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on strong demand for its cancer drug Darzalex and Crohn's disease drug Stelara while projecting an easing of the hit from surging inflation. The company, which also sells medical devices and consumer health products such as Band Aids and painkiller Tylenol, tightened its full-year adjusted profit forecast range. J&J is the first drugmaker and medical devices firm to report third-quarter earnings and its shares rose 2.1% to $170.02 in premarket trading. The medical devices unit reported a 2.1% rise in sales to $6.78 billion on demand for contact lenses and wound-closure products. Total sales for the third-quarter rose 1.9% to $23.79 billion, topping estimates of $23.34 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

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WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic toll of the opioid addiction and overdose crisis on the United States reached nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020 alone and is likely to grow, a Congressional report seen by Reuters shows. It's a mind boggling number of deaths," said Representative David Trone, who sits on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee (JEC) that issued the report. "The rise in fatal opioid overdoses in 2021 suggests the total cost is likely to continue to increase," the report said. Although opioid use is more common among white people, Black people accounted for 17% of U.S. fatal opioid overdoses in 2020 despite making up 12.5% of the population. President Joe Biden announced on Friday nearly $1.5 billion to fund access to medications for opioid overdoses, sanctions against traffickers, and increased funding for law enforcement.

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