Among pressing ethical concerns are whether brain organoids can feel pain or become conscious—and how would we know?
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Oral Medications for Treating Agitation in a Safety Net Emergency Department
In this quality improvement study, emergency physicians successfully adopted oral medications for treating agitation, primarily from intoxication.
Question Can emergency physicians adopt using oral medications as first-line treatment for agitation primarily from intoxication?
Findings In this quality improvement study evaluating 460 600 ED encounters, the proportion of patients receiving their first sedating medication orally increased from 7% to 31% after 1 year of the intervention, while time to adequate sedation and adverse events, measured prospectively during implementation, were not different between oral and intramuscular routes.
2025 FDA approvals
Lots of interesting information! The Zevaskyn (“a first cell-sheet-based gene therapy”) approval for treating epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is particularly uplifting. Back in high school, I knew someone with EB. It is a devastating disease. On the less happy side, an AAV9 therapy and an oncolytic virus therapy were rejected this year. [ https://www.nature.com/articles/d41573-026-00001-z](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41573-026-00001-z)
The US FDA approved 46 new drugs in 2025, despite a tumultuous year at the regulatory agency.
