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Over the last few weeks, a manufacturer’s shortage of one medication means some Alaska chemotherapy patients have had to postpone the lifesaving treatment. Abraxane is a prescription drug that is used to treat certain advanced pancreatic, breast and lung cancers. A note on the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ website explains that the shortage is due to manufacturing delays, and that there is currently insufficient supply for usual ordering. “We’ve exhausted our resources, and it’s a well-known national shortage,” said Hertha Monroe, clinical nurse manager with the Katmai Oncology Group, a cancer clinic in Anchorage. (10/17)

Biogen reported disappointing results Sunday from a late-stage clinical trial involving its experimental treatment for a rare, genetically defined form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. In the Phase 3 study, the Biogen drug called tofersen failed to slow the neurologic and functional decline of ALS patients compared to a placebo. The drug showed some improvements on other measures of disease progression, the company said, although interpreting those secondary results is challenging because the study’s main goal was not met. (Feuerstein, 10/17)

The first new Alzheimer’s treatment in more than 20 years was hailed as a breakthrough when regulators approved it more than four months ago, but its rollout has been slowed by questions about its price and how well it works. Several major medical centers remain undecided on whether to use Biogen’s Aduhelm, which is recommended for early stages of the disease. Big names like the Cleveland Clinic and Mass General Brigham in Boston say they’ll pass on it for now. (Murphy, 10/17)

As Florida’s legal pot industry is poised to mushroom, health regulators are asking lawmakers for nearly $13 million to more than double the number of workers in the office that oversees medical marijuana issues. Health officials also want $4 million for a state education and prevention campaign to publicize “accurate information” about medical marijuana, money to buy vehicles to transport samples of THC-infused edible products to a testing lab in Jacksonville and additional funds to open three regional offices within the Office of Medical Marijuana Use, according to documents submitted to the Legislature. (Kam, 10/15)

KHN: Watch: Going Beyond The Script Of ‘Dopesick’ And America’s Real-Life Opioid Crisis 

KHN and policy colleagues at our parent organization KFF teamed up with Hulu for a discussion of America’s opioid crisis, following the Oct. 13 premiere of the online streaming service’s new series “Dopesick.” The discussion explored how the series’ writers worked with journalist Beth Macy, author of the book “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America,” and showrunner Danny Strong to create and fact-check scripts and develop characters. It quickly moved on to a deeper discussion of how the fictionalized version of the opioid epidemic portrayed in the Hulu series dovetailed with the broader reality KFF’s journalists and analysts have been documenting in their work for the past few years. (10/18)

A college basketball player hatched the idea after seeing a discrimination case nearly implode his own team, then wondering why nobody had done anything about it sooner. Ten years later, that player has developed the idea into a key tool for fixing a sports landscape teeming with cases of sexual abuse, along with examples of racism and sexism in the workplace, discrimination, harassment and doping cheats at virtually every level. (Pells, 10/18)