Specialty Focus 11/11/25: Safety risks in older, generic drugs + Moderate Dems advance deal with no ACA subsidies

November 11, 2025 | Volume XIV | Issue 45

Moderate Dems advance deal with no ACA subsidies

Fierce Healthcare reports:

A group of moderate Democrats on Sunday night gave Republicans the votes to move forward on a package to reopen the government that does not include an extension to Affordable Care Act marketplace subsidies.

Rather, senators who crossed the aisle said they secured from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, a pledge to put the issue to a vote in December.

The 60-40 vote on a procedural measure sets the wheels in motion to pass a spending agreement that...

FDA recall of blood pressure pills due to cancer-causing contaminant may point to higher safety risks in older generic drugs

C. Michael White | The Conversation

A generic blood pressure drug called prazosin, made by Teva Pharmaceuticals, is being recalled by the Food and Drug Administration because it contains elevated levels of cancer-causing chemicals called nitrosamines.

The recall, which Teva announced on Oct. 7, 2025, affects more than 580,000 prazosin capsules. Prazosin is prescribed to around 510,000 patients yearly and is used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder as well as high blood pressure.

I am a pharmacologist and pharmacist who has studied nitrosamine contamination of popular blood pressure, diabetes and heartburn drugs, as well as other issues in generic drug manufacturing.

Prazosin has been available as a generic medication for more than 25 years and, like many generics that have been around that long, is now produced by multiple manufacturers. This ratchets up competition on price, which may explain why older generics are more prone to manufacturing issues that may harm patient health.

A doctor's own prostate cancer recovery

Francisco M. Torres, MD writes for KevinMD:

This past summer, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. For more than three decades, I have taught, examined, and guided patients through various types of illnesses. However, nothing prepared me for the disorienting effect of becoming a patient myself. The diagnosis itself (a less aggressive prostate cancer amenable to robot-assisted radical prostatectomy) felt, at first, like a technical...

Doctor on federal officials removing of 'black box' warnings from HRT drugs

ABC News

ABC News’ Linsey Davis speaks with Chief Medical Officer at Hers, Dr. Jessica Shepherd, about the FDA removing “black box” warnings from menopausal hormone replacement therapy medication.

Watch the video HERE.

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