Up First Briefing: Alzheimer’s drug; Ukraine cluster bombs; tap water chemicals

Today’s top stories include plans by the Biden administration to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, the full approval of a new Alzheimer’s drug, and President Biden’s unfulfilled campaign promises.

US-Ukraine development: The Biden administration plans to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite human rights concerns.
* Cluster bombs have been used by both sides in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
* The U.S. is only sending munitions with a “dud rate” of around 2% or less, although some critics question whether the rate is truly that low.

Medical breakthrough: The FDA has given full approval to Leqembi, the first drug shown to slow down Alzheimer’s disease.
* This action means it will be widely covered by Medicare, potentially opening up access for more seniors in early stages of the disease.
* The drug has demonstrated a 27% slowdown in declines in memory and thinking after 18 months of treatment, however, it does have potential side effects.
* The annual cost of the drug is anticipated to be around $26,500.

Biden’s unmet promises: President Biden has not fulfilled all his campaign promises, such as forgiving student loans, halting new drilling on federal lands, and introducing free two years of community college.
* Following the Supreme Court’s block of Biden’s student loan relief plan, progressive groups are calling for him to employ the same strategy for other issues.
* While some voters are disappointed with Biden’s climate promises, he has already won several 2024 endorsements from environmental and conservation groups.

View original article on NPR

This summary was created by an AI system. The use of this summary is subject to our Terms of Service.

Contact us about this post

Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *