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Healthwatch
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It's an unfortunate reality: all medicines can cause side effects. While there are a few tried-and-true ways to deal with drug side effects, here's a less common option to consider: adding a second medication.
That's the approach taken with valbenazine (Ingrezza), a drug approved for a condition called tardive dyskinesia that's caused by certain medicines, most of which are for mental health. Let's dive into what TD is, how this drug is advertised, and what else to consider if a medicine you take causes TD.
What is tardive dyskinesia?
Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a condition marked by involuntary movements of the face or limbs, such as rapid eye blinking, grimacing, or pushing out the tongue. TD is caused by long-term use of certain drugs, many of which treat psychosis.
TD may be irreversible. Early recognition is key to improvement and preventing symptoms from getting worse. If you take antipsychotic medicines or other drugs that can cause TD, tell your prescribing health care provider right away about any worrisome symptoms.
A sidewalk sale, a cookout in the park, and a pitch
One ad for Ingrezza starts with a young man working with customers at a sidewalk sale. Though his mental health is much better, he says, now he's suffering with TD, a condition "that can be caused by some mental health meds." A spotlight shines on his hands as he fumbles and drops an instant camera he's selling. He seems embarrassed and his customers look perplexed.
Next we see a young woman at a cookout in a park. The mysterious spotlight is trained on her face as she blinks and grimaces involuntarily. Her voiceover explains that she feels like her involuntary movements are "always in the spotlight."
Later these two happily interact with others, their movement problems much improved. A voiceover tells us Ingrezza is the #1 treatment for adults with TD. The dose — "always one pill, once a day" — can improve unwanted movements in seven out of 10 people. And people taking Ingrezza can stay on most mental health meds.
That's the pitch. The downsides come next.
What are the side effects of this drug to control a side effect?
As required by the FDA, the ad lists common and serious side effects of Ingrezza, including
That's right, one possible side effect is abnormal movements — a symptom this drug is supposed to treat!
What the ad gets right
The ad
What else should you know?
Unfortunately, the ad skims over — or entirely skips — some important details. Below are a few examples.
Which medicines cause TD?
We never learn which medicines can cause TD (especially when used long-term), which seems vital to know. Many, but not all, are used to help treat certain mental health disorders, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Here are some of the most common.
Mental health medicines:
Other types of medicines:
Also, the ad never explains that TD may be irreversible regardless of treatment. Because improvement is most likely if caught early, it's important for people taking these medicines to check in with their health provider if they notice TD symptoms described above — especially if symptoms are growing worse.
What about effectiveness and cost?
Seven in 10 people reported that their symptoms improved, according to the ad. How much improvement? That wasn't shared. But here's what I found in a key study:
What happens after six weeks? A few small follow-up studies suggest that some people who continue taking Ingrezza may improve further over time.
And the cost? That's also never mentioned in the ad. It's about $8,700 a month. No details on the financial assistance program, or who qualifies for free treatment, are provided.
Are there other ways to manage TD?
Well, yes. But the ad doesn't mention those either. Three approaches to discuss with your healthcare provider are:
If you have TD, you and your health care provider can consider several options:
The bottom line
The idea of treating a drug's side effect with another drug may not be appealing. Certainly, it makes sense to try other options first.
But sometimes there are no better options. It's always worth asking whether a treatment is worse than the disease. But TD is one situation in which all options — including a drug treatment for another drug's side effects — are well worth considering.
Source: Harvard Health Publishing
Instablog9ja
3 hrs
10
The Federal Government has issued a nine-month ultimatum to individuals that are keeping dollars outside the banking system.
The minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun disclosed this while briefing journalists at the end of the National Economic Council, NEC, presided over by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to him, “One element of the cost increase is the foreign exchange rate, and that is demand and supply. There is going to be a release today, details by the federal government through the Ministry of Finance, in conjunction with the Central Bank, a programme, starting today, 31st of October, and lasting nine months, that will allow people to bring in cash that is outside the banking system.
Therefore it is unsafe, it is unsecure and it is outside of legal limits. They will allowed forbearance to bring dollars cash. Let me emphasize once again, it is to bring dollars that they are holding outside the system to be able to bring them in and credit it to their bank accounts, as long as it is not proceeds of crime, illicit money. There will be no penalty, there will be no taxes, there will be no questions.
They just meet the normal ‘Know Your Customer’ criteria of banks and they have an opportunity to bring in those funds, make them safe, make them secure, and make them available through normal, economic activity.
The details of that, the guidelines of that, will be released, first of all, the announcement by the Ministry of Finance and the guidelines later will follow very quickly by Central Bank.
That is an opportunity, not just for people who would normally like to comply, to be compliant with the laws and normal business practice, but of course, it gives us an opportunity to bring those dollars from where they are doing nothing to where they are within the financial system, they add to our reserves, and of course can help with the exchange rate”.
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Investopedia
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Rising demand for used cars helped online used-vehicle retailer Carvana (CVNA) blow away profit and sales estimates and boost its full-year outlook. The company's shares soared Thursday.
Carvana late Wednesday reported third-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of 64 cents, nearly three times higher than the estimate from analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. Revenue jumped about 32% to $3.66 billion, also above forecasts. Retail units sold increased 34% to 108,651.
Carvana said it set records for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted EBITDA margin, and GAAP operating income.
Carvana reported that adjusted EBITDA reached $429 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.7%, showcasing improved profitability. The company also achieved $337 million in GAAP operating income, marking its highest operating profit.
Founder and CEO Ernie Garcia said, “Q3 experienced strong customer demand similar to that of Q1 and Q2,” and in a shareholder letter detailed the company’s strategy to grow retail units and revenue, boost gross profit per unit, and demonstrate operating leverage.
Carvana expects full-year adjusted EBITDA to be “significantly above” the high end of its previous outlook of $1.0 billion to $1.2 billion.
Shares of Carvana skyrocketed to their highest level in almost three years on Thursday, trading up 22% at $253.18 recently.
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Investopedia
11 hrs
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The job market likely slowed down in October, partly because of the impacts of hurricanes Helene and Milton.A highly anticipated report on the job market from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday will likely show U.S. employers added 110,000 jobs in October, a sharp slowdown from 254,000 in September, according to a survey of economists by and . The median forecast calls for the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.1%, not a high level by historical standards but above the 50-year lows reached last year.
The deceleration in job growth could represent the impact of hurricanes Helene and Milton, which temporarily threw many people out of work. This could make it more challenging than usual for experts to determine what the monthly report says about the longer-term health of the job market and the economy.Just ahead of the report, other data hinted the effect of the hurricanes could be smaller than previously thought. The number of new unemployment claims dipped last week, falling to 216,000 from 228,000 the week before, hitting its lowest since May, the Department of Labor said Thursday. The dropoff suggested the impact of the storms on the job market faded quickly, Oliver Allen, senior U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in a commentary.The October report comes at a crucial time: it will be the last major economic report before the general election and the Federal Reserve policy committee's next meeting in November. At that meeting, officials must decide whether and how much to cut the central bank's key fed funds rate to help boost the economy and prevent a spike in unemployment.Fed officials cut the influential fed funds rate at their last meeting in September after months of economic data showed inflation is cooling while the job market is slowing down. The Fed had held the rate at a two-decade high, pushing up borrowing costs on all kinds of loans to subdue the surge of inflation that welled up in 2021 as the economy reopened from the pandemic. The Fed cut rates partly out of concern that a recent hiring slowdown could worsen and lead to severe layoffs.
Official reports of the job market are a crucial barometer for the Fed, which seeks to keep employment at a high level while also keeping a lid on inflation.
Should job creation grind to a halt or reverse itself, the Fed could cut the fed funds rate faster and further. Steep rate cuts would push down interest rates on all kinds of loans, including mortgages, credit cards, and car loans, possibly boosting the economy and the job market.Should the report match expectations, the slowdown wouldn't be enough to spur faster rate cuts, several economists said. Financial markets are pricing in a 94.8% chance the Fed will cut the fed funds rate by 0.25 percentage points at their next meeting to a range of 4.5% to 4.75%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, which forecasts rate movements based on fed funds futures trading data.In addition to the hurricanes, a strike at Boeing throws another wild card into the data, potentially reducing the hiring figures further. Given all the noise, it might take a major deviation from expectations to shift Fed officials from the path of slow-and-steady rate cuts that markets currently anticipate."We expect policymakers will look past modest surprises in this report," David Seif, chief economist for developed markets at Nomura, wrote in a commentary.If forecasts are accurate, October would be one of the slowest months of job creation in the last three years. The U.S. economy has added jobs every month since January 2021, and only one month (April 2024) gained fewer than 110,000 since then.
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Investopedia
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12
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After months of campaigning, the 2024 presidential election is right around the corner, and many voters are looking at the economy before casting their vote.
Perhaps no economic issue has attracted more attention than inflation, as voters have experienced some of the highest price levels in the last 30 years.
In a Gallup survey on election issues, 14% of Americans said inflation was the biggest issue facing the country, and another 21% said the economy in general presented the biggest challenge for the nation.
This is one of a series of articles Investopedia is doing around important economic indicators heading into the 2024 election. You can read more here:
According to the September measurement of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, inflation has cooled to 2.1% over the year. However, prices haven't come down, and many voters still remember the recent spike in inflation, which hit 7.2% in June 2022.
Voters have faced varying degrees of price pressures as they have gone to the polls in recent years. Here are some of the inflation rates that voters experienced in recent elections.
For voters, the September print of the PCE is usually the last inflation reading they get before heading to the ballot box. When voters went to the polls in 2020, the inflation rate was 1.3%, up a tick from the prior month.
While inflation was low during the period, it also occurred during the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which created several economic issues for voters that ultimately helped Joe Biden defeat incumbent Donald Trump in that election.
In 2016, Trump was able to win during a period of similarly low inflation, with the September inflation rate at 1.2%. The favorable inflation rate came during President Barack Obama's administration, but voters didn’t reward his party, as Trump defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
In the 2012 presidential election, President Barack Obama won reelection against the backdrop of a September inflation rate of 1.7%, up slightly from the prior month. Obama won the 2008 election against the backdrop of that year’s financial crisis when inflation was at 3.7% after hitting 4% the month earlier.
Inflation was near the current level when former President George W. Bush won his first presidential election. Voters faced an inflation rate of 2.5% in September 2000. Four years later, inflation was slightly better at 2.3% in September 2004. While these readings were higher than the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, that goal wasn’t formally established until 2012.
While inflation hasn’t been much of an issue for voters over the past 40 years, the 1980 presidential election happened during a much different economic environment.
During that election, the annual inflation rate was 10.7% going into voting day, the highest during any presidential campaign in the PCE's 64-year history. Former President Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter in that election. Four years later, Reagan won reelection behind an inflation rate that had dropped to 3.3%.
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Amazon (AMZN) reports earnings after the bell Thursday, with investors likely to be watching the tech giant's margins amid concerns consumer weakness, growing labor costs, and higher spending on artificial intelligence (AI) could squeeze profits.
Amazon shares took a hit after the company released its second-quarter report in July, as its quarterly sales and outlook missed expectations. Since then, shares have largely recovered to their level before the report, leaving them about 23% higher for the year so far at $186.68 in Thursday afternoon trading.
Analysts expect Amazon's third-quarter revenue to come in at $157.27 billion, up from the prior quarter and year-ago period. However, profits are projected to fall sequentially to $12.38 billion as expenses climb, despite rising roughly 25% year-over-year.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and a growing advertising business for showing ads on Prime Video have been key sources of revenue growth so far this year. A migration to cloud storage and growing use of AI products have helped boost AWS revenue. Jefferies analysts said recently their checks suggest growing AWS revenue in the third quarter.
The analysts also said they have seen "solid & improving" demand for ad spending with Amazon. Wedbush analysts said they believe high-margin ad revenue could help offset big spending from Amazon to fuel its AI efforts, along with things like Project Kuiper, its planned satellite broadband project.
A number of big tech companies including Amazon face pressure from investors to show that their spending on AI is paying off. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in the company's first-quarter earnings call that it wouldn't be spending so much on AI if it didn't see "very clear signals" that Amazon could monetize it.
JPMorgan analysts told clients earlier this month it will be important for Amazon, along with other tech giants, to "highlight their early returns on AI spending" in their earnings calls.
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