Good morning everybody, it’s Jason Mast, filling in for Ed once more. Right here’s a enjoyable truth about medication, pulled from Anne Harrington’s “The Thoughts Fixers,” an interesting historical past of psychiatry I’ve lately picked up: After Albert Hoffman synthesized LSD, Sandoz promoted it as a “psychosis mimicking” drug. Firm scientists, together with some psychiatrists, believed the delusions of a superb (or dangerous) journey successfully simulated the expertise of getting schizophrenia. Clinicians, a minimum of one psychiatrist proposed, would possibly take it themselves to higher empathize with their sufferers. However principally it was used on volunteers — from psychological hospitals, VA hospitals, universities, prisons — to mannequin and perceive the illness. (A few of this work, sure, acquired CIA funding.)
The time period psychedelic, which means “thoughts manifesting,” solely emerged in 1956, because of creator Aldous Huxley. In 1953, he had a mystical expertise whereas taking mescaline and have become satisfied these medication needed to be rebranded. “It’ll give that elixir a nasty identify if it continues to be related, within the public thoughts, with schizophrenia signs,” he wrote. “Individuals will suppose they’re going mad, when in actual fact they’re starting, after they take it, to go sane.” And so the ‘60s have been born. Anyway! Right here’s some information. …
Sarepta Therapeutics agreed to halt all shipments of Elevidys, its gene remedy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, STAT studies. Sarepta had initially rebuffed a request from the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration to droop shipments, following three deaths from the remedy and a associated product. It’s not clear when or how the corporate will have the ability to get the drug again in the marketplace, notably in younger kids, in whom the remedy has appeared safer.
The federal authorities is launching a reform effort for the U.S. organ transplant system, Reuters tells us. The announcement follows a Well being and Human Providers probe into 351 circumstances by which organ donation was approved however not accomplished, which discovered 73 sufferers had proven neurological indicators incompatible with organ donation and a minimum of 28 sufferers might not have been deceased on the time organ procurement was initiated. It additionally follows New York Instances investigations into tried organ retrieval from donors who confirmed indicators of life, utilizing a process known as donation after circulatory demise, by which donors usually are not mind useless.
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