#44: Is Ozempic Safe? Australia Issues Chilling New Warning

• 🤖 AI meets abs! Novo Nordisk India and Healthify launch an AI-assisted obesity program for Ozempic users to guide and track results. (ET)

• 👓 Essilor’s FDA-approved kids’ glasses (ages 6-12) don’t just fix nearsightedness but slows it’s progression too. (ETHealth)

• ⚠️ When beauty turns blind: Facial fillers can accidentally choke arteries, triggering tissue death and even blindness. Instead, opt for Ultrasound-guided injections. (BBC)

• 👃🏻 Could a nasal drop fight brain cancer? A U.S.-developed nanomedicine slips into the brain to trigger the immune system (still in the preclinical phase). (TOI)

• 💊 Wockhardt’s Zaynich gets US FDA New Drug Application nod, moving India’s first-in-class superbug antibiotic closer to approval. (ET)

• 💉 Sun Pharma brings US/EU-approved Ilumya to India, an injectable that tackles psoriasis (chronic skin disease). (ET)

🇮🇳 India

• 🚬 Smoked… by Taxes! The GST tobacco cess may be retiring, but the Centre’s already lined up a fresh ‘health and security’ tax to keep prices high. (ETHealth)

• 🚨 Big move: CDSCO orders all pharmacies across India to display a QR code along with a toll-free number for instant reporting of medicine side-effects; drug safety control. (ET)

• ✂️ No strings attached: Rajasthan scraps the 2-year bond for PG doctors landing govt jobs, aiming to boost recruitment. (MD)

🌏️ Global

• ⚠️ Australia issues a hard warning: Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs linked to depression and suicidal thoughts. (TheGuardian)

• 🧑🏻‍💼 The FDA’s new drug chief quits in weeks, the last one abruptly left, and the CDC head was fired. Are U.S. health agencies in chaos mode? (CNN) (Reuters)

• 🍪 San Francisco is suing 10 food giants, including Heinz and Coca-Cola, over the harms of ultra-processed foods, demanding fines and a marketing crackdown. (BBC)

• 🚨 Abbott alert: Glucose Monitors linked to 7 deaths and 700+ injuries, all due to false low readings. (CNN)

• 👶🏻 Vaccine whiplash: Hepatitis B birth shot is no longer a default, a CDC panel now wants only at-risk babies to get it, drawing sharp criticism. (Reuters)

🇮🇳 India

• 🏥 Manipal Hospitals is set to file a $1B IPO in January’26, a listing that could value the chain at $13B. (ETHealth)

• 💥 Biocon takes full control of Biocon Biologics in a $5.5 B deal, buying Viatris’ stake for $815 M. (ET)

🌏️ Global

• 🫱🏼‍🫲🏻 Trade twist: Britain to pay 25% more for U.S. medicines, as long as its homegrown drugs enter the U.S. tariff-free. (Reuters)

• 🧪 Dragging heels costs $6.7B: Bristol Myers sued over delayed cancer-drug rollout, shareholders cry foul. (Reuters)

• 🇰🇪 Kenya-U.S. health deal! First African country to get U.S. health funding of $2.5B post-Trump cuts. (BBC)

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