With increasing travel, immigration, use of immunosuppressive drugs and the spread of AIDS, physicians anywhere may see infections caused by parasites. The table in this document lists first-choice and alternative drugs for most parasitic infections.

Dronedarone (Multaq – Sanofi), an analog of amiodarone, was approved by the FDA in 2009 for oral treatment of paroxysmal or persistent (non-permanent) atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. Amiodarone (Cordarone, and others) is more effective for this indication, but its use is often limited by its adverse effects, including thyroid and pulmonary toxicity.

The oral biguanide metformin (Glucophage, and others) is generally the drug of choice for initial treatment of type 2 diabetes. It has also been used to prevent or at least delay the onset of diabetes in patients considered to be at high risk for the disease. Recent guidelines recommend considering use of metformin in patients with prediabetes (fasting plasma glucose 100-125 mg/dL, 2-hr post-load glucose 140-199 mg/dL, or A1C 5.7-6.4%), especially in those who are <60 years old, have a BMI >35 kg/m2, or have a history of gestational diabetes. Metformin has not been approved...

The FDA has expanded its Emergency Use Authorization for the adjuvanted protein subunit COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Novavax to include use of the vaccine as a two-dose primary series in adolescents 12-17 years old. The vaccine was authorized for primary immunization of adults in July 2022.

The FDA has approved Furoscix (scPharmaceuticals), a subcutaneous formulation of the loop diuretic furosemide administered via a single-use, on-body infusor, for treatment of congestion due to fluid overload in adults with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II-III chronic heart failure (HF). Furosemide (Lasix, and generics) has been available for years in oral and IV formulations.

Nogapendekin alfa inbakicept-pmln (Anktiva – ImmunityBio), a first-in-class interleukin-15 (IL15) receptor agonist, has been approved by the FDA for use with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) for treatment of patients with BCG-unresponsive nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) with carcinoma in situ with or without papillary tumors. Such patients generally undergo bladder tumor resection, followed by intravesical BCG treatment, but treatment failure and cancer recurrence are common. The adenoviral vector-based intravesical gene therapy nadofaragene firadenovec-vncg (Adstiladrin)...

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

The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved the marketing of G-CSF (recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, generic name filgrastim, Neupogen - Amgen) and GM-CSF (recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, generic name sargramostim, Leukine - Immunex, Prokine - Hoechst-Roussel). G-CSF is approved for use after cancer chemotherapy in patients with non-myeloid malignancies to decrease the incidence of infection. GM-CSF is approved for acceleration of myeloid recovery after autologous bone marrow transplantation in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,...

Abarelix (Plenaxis - Praecis Pharmaceuticals), an injectable gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist, has been approved by the FDA for treatment of advanced symptomatic prostate cancer in patients who should not take luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists and who refuse treatment with surgical castration.

The FDA has approved lubiprostone (Amitiza - Sucampo/Takeda), a chloride channel activator, for treatment of chronic idiopathic constipation in adults. The only other prescription drug approved by the FDA for this indication (in 2004 for adults <= 65 years old) is tegaserod (Zelnorm), a partial agonist of serotonin that is also approved for constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome in women. Of course, numerous over-the-counter products are available for treatment of constipation.