With the deployment of hundreds of thousands of troops in Saudi Arabia, health problems endemic to the Arabian Peninsula may be coming to the attention of physicians in the USA and other areas.

Rimantadine hydrochloride (Flumadine - Forest), the alpha-methyl derivative of amantadine (Symmetrel, and others), was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for prevention and treatment of influenza A virus infections in adults and for prevention of influenza in children.

The FDA has approved ipilimumab (Yervoy – Bristol-Myers Squibb), a recombinant human monoclonal antibody, for treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

The FDA has approved fostamatinib disodium hexahydrate (Tavalisse – Rigel), the first spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) inhibitor, for oral treatment of thrombocytopenia in adults with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) who have had an insufficient response to a previous treatment.

In our article in issue 1687 on the updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna (Med Lett Drugs Ther 2023; 65:161), the doses and formulations of the Pfizer vaccine were incorrect. A revised table has been posted in the online version of the article.

View Figure 1: Pneumococcal Vaccine Recommendations for Adults 19-64 Years Old

The labeling for the investigational, long-acting, prophylactic anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies tixagevimab and cilgavimab (Evusheld; available under an FDA Emergency Use Authorization) now includes warnings about a risk of serious hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis, with use of the drugs, particularly in patients who have experienced a hypersensitivity reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine.

Almost 300,000 cases of epidemic cholera have occurred in the Western Hemisphere in 1991, mostly in South and Central America (Morbid Mortal Weekly Rep, 40:562, Aug 16, 1991). The few US cases caused by the epidemic strain have been in returning travelers or associated with contaminated food they brought back illicitly, with no secondary spread to date.

The FDA has approved the immune checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq – Genentech) for treatment of locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that have progressed during or following platinum-based chemotherapy. Atezolizumab is the first programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) blocking antibody to become available in the US. Two other immune checkpoint inhibitors, the programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitors nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda), are also approved for treatment of metastatic NSCLC, and...

In February 2021, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the investigational monoclonal antibodies bamlanivimab and etesevimab (Lilly) for use together to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 in persons ≥12 years old who weigh ≥40 kg and are at high risk of progression to severe disease or hospitalization. The FDA has now expanded this EUA to allow use of the antibodies together for post-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 in such persons if they are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or are unlikely to have an adequate immune response to full vaccination and have...