science
Are we in a biomedicine brain drain?
Photo illustration: STAT; Photograph: Getty Images
A torrent of disruptive Trump administration policies — like a communications freeze, disruptions to grant reviews, canceling DEI programs, and funding cuts — is alarming scientists who fear the current political climate could well drive researchers to seek opportunities overseas, or to abandon academic research altogether. There's already been an exodus of life scientists from academia over the last few years into private sector jobs in the U.S., leaving the field weakened.
In interviews with STAT's Angus Chen and Jonathan Wosen, more than a dozen scientists and academics across the country expressed concern about how the U.S. could lose its position as the world leader in biomedicine if young scientists leave their positions.
"There's a fire sale on American academics right now," Carl Bergstrom, a biology professor, told my colleagues. Read more about what's at risk.
pharma
People with alcohol-use disorder drank less on Ozempic, small study shows
In the what-can't-GLP-1-drugs-do category, you've probably heard that the obesity drugs also curb cravings in the brain for alcohol. Pinning down that association can be a challenge — the same one faced by diet studies that rely on people to recall and faithfully report what they eat. A study published yesterday in JAMA Psychiatry got around that obstacle when researchers brought 48 clinical trial participants — half on Ozempic, half not — into the lab to sip their favorite beverages.
These people weren't already trying to quit drinking, but they all had been diagnosed with moderately severe alcohol use disorder. For nine weeks, half of the participants received low doses of Ozempic and kept track of how much and how often they drank. They also came into the lab at the trial's start and end for two-hour sessions when they could drink as much as they wanted. Their breath was analyzed and they answered some questions about their desire to drink.
Compared to the people who got a placebo, those who received Ozempic said they drank fewer drinks at home. They also drank less in the lab at the trial's end. A bonus: smokers smoked fewer cigarettes, too.
This research is complicated — in the past two weeks, there have been conflicting media reports that the drugs have depleted libido and improved it. This small trial on alcohol is a starting point for larger, longer studies. Currently, there are few drugs approved for alcohol use disorder and low uptake of those that do exist. — Elizabeth Cooney
first opinion
A victory for 'The Angry Moms' and clozapine users
For people with treatment-resistant psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, the drug clozapine has shown to be uniquely effective, with high patient-rated satisfaction and the lowest mortality among any antipsychotics. It's been FDA-approved for decades, but since there are some serious associated side effects, there's also been a requirement for patients, providers, and pharmacies using the drug to be tracked in a special registry.
Last fall, an FDA advisory panel voted 14-1 that such a registry was no longer necessary. In a new First Opinion essay, physician Daniel X. Pham writes that if the FDA follows the committee's vote, it could be a transformative first step for mental health care — though won't be enough on its own. Read more about the historically restrictive process of clozapine prescription, how it could improve, and what a group called The Angry Moms has to do with it all.
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