Colonoscopy remains the preferred method of colorectal cancer screening. Many patients consider cleansing the bowel in preparation for colonoscopy the most unpleasant part of the procedure, but inadequate bowel preparation significantly lowers the diagnostic yield.

Teplizumab-mzwv (Tzield – Provention Bio), an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, has been approved by the FDA to delay the onset of stage 3 type 1 diabetes in patients ≥8 years old who have stage 2 type 1 diabetes. It is the first drug to become available in the US that delays the onset of type 1 diabetes.

Photoplex (Herbert), a new sunscreen formulation containing 7% padimate O and 3% Parsol 1789, is being advertised as the first and only chemical sunscreen with proven absorption throughout the UVB and UVA spectrum.

About 2.5 million persons in the US had hepatitis C between 2017 and 2020. Guidelines from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) on management of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were updated in 2023.

The FDA has approved Plenvu (Salix), a polyethylene glycol (PEG)-containing oral powder for reconstitution, for colon cleansing prior to colonoscopy in adults. Plenvu is the first PEG-containing colonoscopy preparation that requires only 1 L of water for dissolution and ingestion of 1 L of clear fluid in addition.

Monoclate (Armour), a formulation of Factor VIII (antihemophilic factor; AHF) prepared by immunoaffinity chromatography, was recently approved for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration. The new product is claimed to be more highly purified than older AHF formulations. Factor VIII concentrates commercially available in the USA are listed in the table below.

Finasteride (Proscar - Merck) has now been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for oral treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. A 4-aza-steroid, the drug is a specific inhibitor of steroid 5 -reductase, the enzyme that catalyzes conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. Dihydrotestosterone is required for development and maintenance of prostatic hypertrophy (JS Tenover, Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am, 20:893, 1991).

The FDA has approved mepolizumab (Nucala - GSK), a subcutaneously injected humanized interleukin-5 (IL-5) antagonist monoclonal antibody, for maintenance treatment of severe asthma in patients ≥12 years old who have an eosinophilic phenotype.

Patients are asking physicians about an article on the front page of the June 15th New York Times, in which some prostate cancer experts were quoted as suggesting that men 55 and older might be well advised to take finasteride (Proscar, and others) to prevent prostate cancer.

Health care professionals may be asked about lowvoltage electronic devices now being used to diagnose and/or treat a number of health problems. Most are galvanometers that measure skin resistance to an electric current. The FDA classifies "devices that use resistance measurements to diagnose and treat various diseases" as Class III devices that require FDA approval prior to marketing. None of the devices reviewed here has such approval.