Specific steps can be taken to reduce the risk of potentially fatal reactions to anti-seizure medications, researchers report in a new review. Performing blood tests, asking patients about risk factors and modifying dosages all can reduce reaction risk for drugs that millions of Americans take for epilepsy and other conditions, researchers said. However, rashes and skin reactions in newly medicated patients still require prompt medical attention, results show. Rashes are common with anti-seizure meds, occurring in 2% to 16% of patients, depending on the drug, researchers said in background notes. Roughly 5% of these rashes indicate a life-threatening condition, researchers added. The FDA recently issued a warning about serious reactions to two anti-seizure drugs, levetiracetam and clobazam, the researchers noted. “Dangerous reactions are rare, but patients and caregivers should understand the risk and how to respond if side effects occur,” said lead researcher Dr. Ram Mani, chief of the adult epilepsy division at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. For the new report, published recently in the journal Current Treatment Options in Neurology, researchers analyzed and combined published data on individual anti-seizure drugs, distinguishing the different rashes and their triggers. Genetics can increase a person’s risk of a severe rash, as can interactions between the anti-seizure meds and other drugs, researchers found. Users also are at higher risk if they use aromatic…  read on >  read on >

A medication used to manage type 2 diabetes has been found effective in treating sleep apnea. The worldwide clinical trial demonstrates that tirzepatide significantly lowers breathing interruptions during sleep, a key indicator of the severity of a patient’s obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Tirzepatide is one of the class of blockbuster GLP-1 medicines, sold as Mounjaro to fight diabetes and as Zepbound to help with weight loss. “This study marks a significant milestone in the treatment of OSA, offering a promising new therapeutic option that addresses both respiratory and metabolic complications,” said study leader Dr. Atul Malhotra, director of sleep medicine at UC San Diego Health. OSA is characterized by repeated episodes of irregular breathing during sleep due to total or partial blockage of the upper airway. It can result in reduced oxygen levels in the blood and has been linked to an increased risk for high blood pressure, heart disease and other heart-related complications.  More than 900 million people worldwide are believed to have OSA, and the 469 participants in this study were recruited from the United States and eight other countries. All were clinically obese and had moderate-to-severe sleep apnea. Some used continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment, in which a machine maintains an open airway during sleep. All were given 10 or 15 milligrams (mg) of tirzepatide or a placebo.  Over the course…  read on >  read on >

Both the World Health Organization and Eli Lilly Co. warned Thursday that consumers should avoid fake versions of weight-loss drugs that are circulating in numerous countries. The WHO warning said that the international health agency has fielded several reports of fake semaglutide — the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic — in all geographic regions of the world since 2022. “WHO advises healthcare professionals, regulatory authorities and the public be aware of these falsified batches of medicines,” Dr. Yukiko Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products, said in the warning. “We call on stakeholders to stop any usage of suspicious medicines and report to relevant authorities.” Meanwhile, Lilly said in an open letter that it was “deeply concerned” about phony or compounded versions of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in the Lilly weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound. “These [fake] products are often advertised and sold online, through social media or at certain med-spas,” Lilly said in its letter. “They may contain no medicine, the wrong medicine, incorrect dosages or multiple medicines mixed together, which could result in serious harm. They are never safe to use.” Novo Nordisk has issued similar warnings in the past about its medications. The WHO said patients can protect themselves by using prescriptions from licensed physicians to buy the medications. Consumers should also avoid buying the drugs from unfamiliar sources, the…  read on >  read on >

They aren’t exactly ready to open a jungle clinic, but new research suggests wild chimpanzees are practicing a kind of medicine. Fifty-one chimps living in two communities in Uganda appear to select edible plants specifically for their medicinal qualities, reports a team led by Elodie Freymann of the University of Oxford in the UK. The chimpanzees appeared to add certain plants to their diet when battling a sickness that they didn’t normally consume when healthy. Freymann’s team suspected this might be a kind of self-medication, so they tested the pharmacologic properties of these plants in the lab. Reporting June 20 in the journal PLOS One, they found that 88% of the 13 trees and herbs the chimps sought out when ill contained anti-bacterial properties, while 33% were anti-inflammatory. For example, “dead wood from a tree in the Dogbane family (Alstonia boonei) showed the strongest antibacterial activity and also had anti-inflammatory properties, suggesting that it could be used to treat wounds,” according to an Oxford news release on the study. The bark and resin of the mahogany tree and leaves from a species of fern (Christella parasitica) also had strong anti-inflammatory properties, Freymann’s group found. In fact, one male chimpanzee with an injured hand gathered the fern leaves, perhaps to ease pain, the team noted. In another incident, a chimp who was battling a parasitic infection…  read on >  read on >

A Colombian family’s genetics are shining a spotlight on a gene that might help protect people from the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. About 1,200 out of 6,000 family members carry a genetic variant called the “Paisa mutation,” which dooms them to early Alzheimer’s, researchers said. But 28 family members with the Paisa mutation dodged early Alzheimer’s, apparently because they carry another gene that protects against the degenerative brain disease, researchers reported June 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study represents the first evidence that having this other gene — known as the “Christchurch variant” — might confer some protection against inherited Alzheimer’s, researchers said. Drugs and therapies focusing on this genetic pathway might be capable of preventing or treating dementia and Alzheimer’s in others, said co-lead author Yakeel Quiroz, director of the Familial Dementia Neuroimaging Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital. “As a clinician, I am highly encouraged by our findings, as they suggest the potential for delaying cognitive decline and dementia in older individuals,” Quiroz said in a hospital news release. “Now we must leverage this new knowledge to develop effective treatments for dementia prevention.” The study focused on variants of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene. The APOE4 variant is known to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, and is linked to developing a more severe form of dementia, according to the Mayo…  read on >  read on >