Good morning from San Diego. This is Jonathan Wosen, West Coast biotech and life sciences reporter, filling in for Ed Silverman while he’s away from the Pharmalittle campus. I’m not a coffee drinker, but who needs caffeine when you’ve got the raw adrenaline rush of drug industry news to jolt you awake? If you don’t believe me, just read these items.
A drug often used off-label to treat alcohol use disorder might provide better benefits than therapies approved for this indication, STAT tells us. Data presented this week at the Digestive Disease Week meeting in D.C. suggest that seizure gabapentinoids might be a simple and effective way to slow alcohol-associated liver disease, a condition that can be deadly.
Australia to ban compounded versions of blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro, Reuters reports. Overwhelming demand for the popular drugs has led to supply shortages, causing some patients to seek out so-called compounded versions prepared by pharmacists who mix the raw ingredients that make up these medicines rather than using a branded version. But the country’s health minister, Mark Butler, says that it’s harder to ensure the safety of compounded drugs, noting that one Australian was hospitalized after taking a compounded GLP-1 product.
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