STAT - Reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine

Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images

BRIEFLY

Harvard's dining workers would be better off financially if they had a plan from the state health exchange rather than the plan Harvard is offering them.

First Opinion

Harvard’s low-income workers deserve affordable health insurance

By Micah Johnson and Sanjay Kishore

Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

BRIEFLY

The settlement is an outgrowth of the bribery scandal that rocked Glaxo and resulted in a $490 million fine two years ago

Pharmalot

Glaxo to pay $20 million for bribing doctors in China

By Ed Silverman

Sia Kambou/AFP/Getty Images A team conducts antimosquito spraying as children run behind a car in…

BRIEFLY

Early evidence suggests Zika infection in children typically triggers only mild disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

Health

Zika infection in children is typically mild, CDC report finds

By Helen Branswell

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Syringes filled with flu vaccine.

BRIEFLY

For the past eight years, flu shots have contained a virus that was retrieved from a sick person in California in the spring of 2009. No more.

Health

The flu vaccine is set to get a makeover

By Helen Branswell

Carolyn Kaster/AP

BRIEFLY

At issue is the pediatric review program, which was created in 2012 and awards a voucher to a drug maker that wins approval of a treatment for a rare pediatric…

Pharmalot

Obama extends controversial program for rare pediatric drugs

By Ed Silverman

Dan Balilty/AP

BRIEFLY

Teva two Mexican brothers have filed dueling lawsuits after their $2.3 billion deal went sour, and now both sides are blaming the other for the debris.

Pharmalot

Buyers remorse or fraud? Teva and Mexican brothers slug it out over sour deal

By Ed Silverman

Rich Pedroncelli/AP

BRIEFLY

An audit has found that some 12,000 Ohio physicians appear to be violating the policy aimed at stemming the opioid epidemic.

Health

Many doctors not using site for keeping painkillers in check

By Associated Press

Mike Reddy for STAT

Keith Bedford/The Boston Globe John Maraganore, CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

BRIEFLY

The path from a brilliant discovery to medication can be long. Example A: The long slog to turn the Nobel-winning tech known as RNAi into a drug.

Biotech

When a Nobel Prize brings a shower of hype: the roller coaster ride of RNAi

By Meghana Keshavan

Gage family photo collection/Creative Commons Phineas Gage, who in 1848 was impaled through the skull by a…

BRIEFLY

Impaled, blown up, and dropped from the sky. These are the sorts of events that should kill you, but these folks all survived. Here are their tales.

Quick Take

5 bizarre accidents that people survived against all odds

By Leah Samuel

David Zalubowski/AP Candy bars wrapped in new packaging to indicate that the products contain…

BRIEFLY

The state will now require that edible marijuana products come with a diamond-shaped stamp and the letters T-H-C — not just on the packaging but on the edibles themselves.

Health

Colorado gives marijuana candy a new look to avoid confusion

By Associated Press

Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images A surgeon performs a robot-assisted prostate tumorectomy using ultrasound imaging at the…

BRIEFLY

With the help of ever more effective genetic assessments and other personalized medicine tools, we can reduce the heavy burden of prostate cancer.

First Opinion

Prostate cancer treatment needs to get more personalized

By Brian Helfand

Andrew Harnik/AP The Securities and Exchange Commission building in Washington D.C.

BRIEFLY

Robert Gadimian is alleged to have bought and sold Puma stock after learning about favorable study results for a medicine that was being tested to treat breast cancer,

Pharmalot

SEC charges former Puma biotech exec with $1.1 million in insider trading

By Ed Silverman

New Hampshire State Police Forensic Lab On the left, a lethal dose of heroin; on the right, a…

BRIEFLY

Drugs users generally don’t know when their heroin is laced with fentanyl, so it's easy for them to inadvertently take a deadly dose of the substance.

Health

Why fentanyl is deadlier than heroin, in a single photo

By Allison Bond

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

BRIEFLY

A big nutritional supplement maker signed an agreement with the New York state attorney general’s office to start DNA-testing its products for authenticity.

Health

Can DNA testing make nutritional supplements safer? Some tests might not be up to snuff

By Ike Swetlitz

Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images A Cambodian woman holds a baby as a health official, in background,…

BRIEFLY

US health officials say pregnant women should consider avoiding travel to 11 countries in Southeast Asia because of concerns about the Zika virus.

Health

Pregnant women urged to consider avoiding Southeast Asia because of Zika

By Andrew Joseph

Alex Hogan/STAT, Getty Images

BRIEFLY

Donald Trump has not given any money to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for eight years, but is still credited for donations given through his foundation.

Politics

How Trump was named ‘Grand Benefactor’ for a Dana-Farber gala without donating a penny

By Ike Swetlitz

Alex Hogan/STAT

BRIEFLY

From new hires to departures to promotions, here are the latest comings and goings in the pharmaceutical industry.

Pharmalot

Up and down the ladder: The latest comings and goings

By Ed Silverman

Elise Amendola/AP

BRIEFLY

The STAT Morning Rounds newsletter keeps you ahead of the day's health and science news.

Morning Rounds

Kratom ban looms & Olive Garden’s antibiotic challenge

By Megan Thielking

Alex Hogan/STAT

BRIEFLY

Welcome to The Readout, your daily source for all things biotech.

The Readout

De-escalating the CAR-T ‘race’ & RNAi’s roller coaster ride

By Damian Garde and Meghana Keshavan

APStock

BRIEFLY

The arrest of Jeffrey Pearlman is the latest in a string of developments involving Insys and its marketing of Subsys, an opioid-based painkiller.

Pharmalot

Former Insys sales manager is arrested in opioid kickback scheme

By Ed Silverman

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

BRIEFLY

Medical schools can erode empathy in students. Pre-med school boot camps can help make better doctors by teaching empathy and related "soft" skills.

First Opinion

Medical students need to learn the potent medicine of empathy

By Wolfgang Gilliar

Molly Ferguson for STAT

BRIEFLY

In this "Signal" episode, we take a deep dive into some of the nefariously creative tricks drug companies use to maintain monopolies and handle competition.

Signal Podcast

LISTEN: To make big profits, drug companies turn to monopoly shenanigans

By Luke Timmerman and Meg Tirrell

Yasser Al-Zayyat/AFP/Getty Images Stateless Arabs known as the Bedoon march during a protest to demand…

BRIEFLY

A Kuwaiti law requiring DNA testing of all residents has sparked international outcry — and there are signs of opposition from locals fearful of its scope.

Politics

Opposition stirring to Kuwaiti law mandating DNA tests for all residents

By Megan Thielking

Alex Hogan/STAT

BRIEFLY

A federal judge ruled that a lawsuit filed by the city of Chicago, which accuses several drug makers of falsely marketing opioid painkillers, can proceed.

Pharmalot

Pharmalot, Pharmalittle: Chicago can proceed with lawsuit against opioid drug makers

By Ed Silverman