The Absurdly High Cost Of Insulin Explained
Colorado just became the first state to cap the price of insulin at $100 per month.
When inventor Frederick Banting discovered insulin in 1923, he refused to put his name on the patent. He felt it was unethical for a doctor to profit from a discovery that would save lives. Banting’s co-inventors, James Collip and Charles Best, sold the insulin patent to the University of Toronto for a mere $1. They wanted everyone who needed their medication to be able to afford it.
Today, Banting and colleagues would be spinning in their graves: Their drug, which many of the 30 million Americans with diabetes rely on, has become the poster child for pharmaceutical price gouging.
Weight-Loss Surgery May Help Cut The Risk Of Breast Cancer
(Reuters Health) – Severely obese women who opt for weight-loss surgery may be cutting their risk of breast cancer along with their extra pounds, a large U.S. study suggests.
Researchers compared two groups of women with morbid obesity: nearly 18,000 who underwent various forms of so-called bariatric surgery and nearly 54,000 who did not. The groups were similar in terms of age, medical conditions and body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height).
We’re Barely Using The Best Tool We Have To Fight Obesity
Americans keep dieting to lose weight, but bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment out there.
There’s a surprisingly big disconnect between how obesity researchers think about the causes of and treatments for obesity and how the American public does.
Researchers think some people have genetic and hormonal traits that make them more susceptible to obesity. They view obesity as a complex, chronic disease, like cancer, with many causes and subtypes. They’re also losing faith in dieting and exercise, neither of which is very helpful for weight loss in the long term.