“I’m a cardiologist; I’m used to doing things.” — FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, during a press briefing discussing the agency’s proposal to ban menthol in cigarettes and other tobacco products.
“It’s just really important to get the word out that we have a lot more tools in the toolkit now.” — Kathy Yang, PharmD, of the University of California San Francisco, on urging providers to talk to patients about reaching out when they are ill to improve access to Paxlovid.
“Why these telemedicine operations still exist is totally perplexing.” — Nick Sawyer, MD, MBA, of the University of California Davis, on services that provide prescriptions for unproven remedies, like ivermectin, for COVID-19.
“I see light at the tunnel. I just don’t know whether it’s a train or the sun.” — North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr (R) discussing the state of the pandemic during a Senate committee hearing on re-authorizing FDA users fees.
“It does have a bit of a flavor of, here we go again.” — Jacob Lemieux, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, on South Africa’s new surge in COVID cases.
“There’s no specific reason why emergency contraception pills must be taken after intercourse.” — Erica Cahill, MD, of Stanford University in California, on new research examining an oral drug combination as pre-sex birth control.
“This is a theme throughout all of medicine, the ‘lumpers and splitters.'” — David Dudzinski, MD, JD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discussing new guidelines that introduced new categories for heart failure with intermediate and improved ejection fraction.
“It costs like $5 to use this, so why not give it a try?” — Nicole Schmitt, MD, of Emory University in Atlanta, on the use of topical antisepsis agents prior to complex facial flap reconstruction as a means of reducing surgical site infections.