According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as of April 24 there have been 844 confirmed cases of measles in the US in 2025; 11% of cases have resulted in hospitalization and 3 patients have died. The majority of cases (96%) have been in unvaccinated persons or in those whose vaccination history was unknown

Improved glucose meters and 2 sensing systems for continuous monitoring have become available for management of diabetes.

A recent supplement to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, titled "The Expert Consensus Guideline Series: Optimizing Pharmacologic Treatment of Psychotic Disorders," concluded that most experts endorsed use of second-generation (atypical) antipsychotics rather than first-generation drugs, with risperidone (Risperdal - Janssen) the top choice for first episodes, multiple episodes or switches from another drug (JM Kane et al, J Clin Psychiatry 2003; 64 suppl 12:5). The supplement was sponsored by Janssen.

Rofecoxib (Vioxx - Merck) has been withdrawn from the market due to an increased risk of cardiovascular complications associated with its long-term use. The question remains whether all selective COX-2 inhibitors carry the same risk. Full-page advertisements in newspapers for celecoxib (Celebrex - Pfizer), the most widely used COX-2 inhibitor, assure the public that it does not.

Pramlintide acetate (Symlin - Amylin Pharmaceuticals), a synthetic analog of human amylin, has been approved by the FDA as adjunctive treatment for patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes who inject insulin at mealtimes and have failed to achieve glucose control. Pramlintide is injected subcutaneously before meals.

Oxymorphone hydrochloride, a semi-synthetic opioid agonist, has been available for many years in the US as Numorphan (Endo) for parenteral use and as a rectal suppository. Now it has been approved by the FDA for oral administration as an immediate-release (IR) tablet (Opana) for treatment of moderate to severe acute pain, and as an extended-release tablet (Opana ER) for treatment of moderate to severe pain in patients requiring continuous opioid treatment for an extended period of time.

The FDA has approved the marketing of sinecatechins (Veregen - Bradley/Medigene), a botanical drug product, for treatment of external genital and perianal warts. Sinecatechins is a water extract of green tea leaves from Camellia sinensis. It is a mixture of catechins and other green tea components.

Nilotinib (Tasigna - Novartis), a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been approved by the FDA for treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) chronic or accelerated phase chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in patients resistant to or intolerant of imatinib (Gleevec).

The FDA has approved tocilizumab (Actemra – Genentech; RoActemra in Europe) for intravenous (IV) treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have had an inadequate response to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors.

Direct-to-consumer advertisements continue to urge patients who take warfarin (Coumadin, and others) for atrial fibrillation to ask their doctors about the benefits of one or another of the newer oral anticoagulants.