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Medical devices and equipment

New gadgets that could give telemedicine a boost | The Wall Street Journal

Telemedicine offers patients the chance to meet with a doctor, 24/7, without leaving home. But many physicians are wary of participating because they can't peer into patients' ears, look down their throats or listen to their lungs remotely. A new genre of home diagnostic devices aims to address those concerns by giving patients some of the same tools that doctors use during in-office exams.

Pharmaceuticals

How big pharma pressures states to pay for pricey pills | Bloomberg

Nothing about a Washington state lawsuit called B.E. v. Teeter is as simple as it seems. It was filed this year by two hepatitis C patients against the state's Medicaid program to help the poor gain access to drugs such as Gilead Sciences Inc.'s $1,000 pill. But behind the team bringing the case is Gilead itself. While the drug giant isn't involved in the lawsuit, the company and its foundation have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the researchers, lawyers, patient advocates and medical experts who have helped build the case.

Bristol-Myers to test Opdivo with Nektar drug for several cancers | Reuters

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co said on Tuesday it would evaluate the use of its blockbuster cancer immunotherapy Opdivo in combination with an experimental drug from Nektar Therapeutics to treat multiple cancers.

Deadly opioid overwhelms first responders and crime labs in Ohio | Kaiser Health News

City and county agencies in the Cincinnati area — from law enforcement to the county coroner — are straining to respond to the carfentanil wave. Carfentanil is part of a shift to synthetic opioids in Cincinnati and around the country. Last year in Hamilton County, Ohio, there were more deaths attributed to fentanyl than to heroin.

Physicians

New York fertility doctor says he created baby with 3 genetic parents | NPR

A doctor who treats infertility in New York City says he has helped a couple have the first baby purposefully created with DNA from three different adults. John Zhang of the New Hope Fertility Center in Manhattan traveled to Mexico earlier this year to perform a procedure for a couple from Jordan that enabled them to have the baby in May, according to a clinic spokesman.

Safety, quality and clinical practice

Does hormonal birth control put women at risk for depression? | STAT

Firm evidence is lacking on whether hormonal contraception can cause depression. And experts say a new study, the largest of its kind, doesn't go very far in making the picture less murky.