OTC hearing aids promise to increase the accessibility and affordability of the devices for millions of adults who live with untreated mild to moderate hearing loss.
The FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 designated a new class of OTC hearing aids.
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Only 3.7% of people in the U.S. with hearing difficulty own hearing aids. Thanks to a federal law in progress of being implemented, OTC hearing aids may help bridge the gap.
The new rapid test is available without a prescription, but only 20 million are set to be sold by the middle of next year.
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Zoë McLaren, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
A new over-the-counter COVID-19 test has been authorized by the FDA. Though it can be used to test people with and without symptoms, moderate cost and limited production mean it isn’t a game-changer.
An estimated £300m worth of medicine goes unused in the UK every year. But is it safe to take drugs past their expiry date?
When people went to their GP asking for painkillers, they weren’t prescribed higher doses of codeine or stronger opioids, as some feared.
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When codeine became a prescription only drug in 2018, the number of overdoses dropped, our new research shows. But restricting sales of codeine is only one way to reduce harm from opioids.
False positive results have raised questions about home pregnancy tests.
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Ken Harvey, Monash University e Bruce Baer Arnold, University of Canberra
There is currently a weak process of checking claims made in advertisements for medicines, to ensure they don’t mislead or deceive consumers -this could be abandoned if a bill passes parliament.
A Bitcoin futures market will take some of the risk out of the currency.
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