Although the investigational Alzheimer's drug solanezumab disappointed those at the CTAD meeting last week, extended results from an early study of aducanumab quickly boosted spirits. Following concerns about ARIA, Biogen added a titration arm to the study, and this group had less ARIA and good efficacy when compared with a steady higher dose of the drug. The field isn't letting go of the amyloid hypothesis just yet. (Endpoints News, FierceBiotech)
Heroin deaths have surpassed gun homicides for the first time ever. The opioid epidemic continues to surge in the U.S., topping 30,000 deaths in 2015. (Washington Post)
Teen use of illicit substances continues to drop -- with the exception of marijuana. (STAT News)
Governments should call on naloxone drugmakers to drop prices and increase transparency about the generic drug's costs, researchers argue in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Endo has sold the rights to the opioid chronic pain drug Belbuca back to BioDelivery Sciences. (Philly.com)
A diagnostic algorithm involving cerebrospinal fluid and nasal samples had excellent sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. (JAMA Neurology)
A higher exposure to statins was tied to a lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease compared with lower exposure, but that reduction varied by race/ethnicity and type of statin. (JAMA Neurology)
Rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome in rural areas jumped more than 500% from 2004 to 2013, far outpacing urban areas. (MedPage Today)
Bristol-Myers Squibb is paying nearly $20 million to settle charges that it improperly promoted Abilify for children and older patients with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. (Reuters)
The nation's largest statewide effort to track concussions among youth athletes is under way in Texas. UTSouthwestern launched the ConTex registry, run by Munro Cullum, PhD, to assess the prevalence of brain injuries in high school sports.