Trending News Today: FDA OKs Single-Dose Treatment to Prevent Malaria Relapse

The FDA approved a simpler, single-dose treatment to prevent relapses of malaria, the Associated Press reported. According to the article, the current standard treatment for malaria takes 2 weeks and many patients do not finish taking every dose. The new treatment, GlaxoSmithKline’s Krintafel, only targets the kind of malaria that mainly occurs in South America and Southeast Asia. In testing, one dose of the drug worked about the same as 2 weeks of the standard treatment, preventing relapses in about three-quarters of patients over 6 months, the article reported.

Bayer is pulling controversial birth control implant Essure off the market after thousands of complaints alleging it caused injury and health issues, The Hill reported. According to the article, the decision follows FDA action this year to restrict Essure’s sales and distribution to health care facilities that provide full information about the device’s risks. Bayer stated that the decision to pull Essure off the market is due to declining sales, saying it still stands by the product’s safety and efficacy, the article reported.

A new study has found that cigarette use declined over the past 10 years among young US women, including pregnant women, whereas use of marijuana blunts has increased, Reuters reported. According to the article, the researchers analyzed data from the 2006 to 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to understand how women of reproductive age used cigarettes, cigars, and marijuana blunts during the past month. According to the data, the likelihood of smoking cigarettes decreased from 18% to 10% for pregnant women and the likelihood of smoking blunts increased from less than 1% to 2.5%, the article reported.