Medicine Episodes

Friday, August 21, 2026 In today's episode, Dr. Will Flanary (@drglaucomflecken) & Eva Johnson cover a historic drop in prescription drug prices. Prices fell 3.1% over the past year, the steepest annual decline since 1963, and the anchors unpack what is actually driving it from generics to GLP-1 competition to the Inflation Reduction Act. They also break down why the national index does not always match what patients pay at the pharmacy counter. Plus: a split between two studies on whether CTE c...

Friday, August 14, 2026 In today's episode, Adam Rose (@adjoro) & Dr. Alok Patel (@alokpatelmd) cover the FDA's landmark approval of Moderna's first mRNA flu vaccine for adults. They break down the phase-three trial showing the mRNA shot produced fewer confirmed influenza cases than standard vaccines, and what a complicated insurance landscape means for access this flu season. Plus: researchers at the Arc Institute fed millions of viral DNA sequences to a language model. It wrote new genomes th...

August 7, 2026 In today's episode, Dr. Will Flanary (@DrGlaucomflecken) & Eva Johnson cover the American Red Cross declaring its second-ever national blood crisis, with Type O blood critically low and hospitals postponing transfusions. They break down what's driving the shortage and debate whether blood donors deserve HOV-lane perks. Then: a 36-year-old Iowa woman with cystic fibrosis becomes the first known U.S. patient to receive a quadruple organ transplant involving re-transplanted lungs, in...

Friday, July 31, 2026 In today's episode, Dr. Alok Patel (@alokpatelmd) & Adam Rose (@adjoro) cover a Florida man's lawsuit against OpenAI after ChatGPT repeatedly dismissed his pulmonary embolism symptoms as "not something dangerous." The case raises urgent questions about AI medical liability just as a new JAMA analysis reveals updated cholesterol guidelines now make 87.5 million US adults eligible for statins (more than 56% of the 30-to-79 population). Plus: they also discuss the FDA's first ...

Friday, July 24, 2026 In today's episode, Dr. Alok Patel (@alokpatelmd) & Eva Johnson cover CMS's sweeping 2027 physician fee schedule proposal, which would accelerate Medicare's shift from fee-for-service toward value-based, preventive care. They also unpack Kalshi's launch of clinical trial prediction markets; betting on FDA approvals is now a real thing, and the ethical questions are piling up. Coffee gets a heart health endorsement from the AHA, and an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease hits ...

Friday, July 17, 2026 In today’s episode, Dr. Will Flanary / Dr. Glaucomflecken (@drglaucomflecken) and Adam Rose cover the EPCAT III trial, which found that aspirin alone was non-inferior to an initial course of rivaroxaban followed by aspirin for preventing major blood clots after elective hip or knee replacement in predominantly standard-risk patients. They examine NICE’s draft recommendation allowing two rapid endometriosis tests, EndoSure and Endotest, to enter limited NHS use while resear...

Friday, July 10, 2026 In today's episode, Dr. Will Flanary / Dr. Glaucomflecken (@drglaucomflecken) & Eva Johnson cover the retraction of the Advocate trial after FDA reviewers found the avacopan (Tavneos) dataset was unblinded, re-adjudicated, and altered before being relocked, throwing its approval for ANCA-associated vasculitis into doubt. They break down Medicare's new GLP-1 Bridge program, which offers eligible Part D beneficiaries drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound at $50 a month through the end of 2027, and why that copay sits outside normal Part D accounting. They also track a Cyclospora outbreak now reported across 18 states and why routine washing does not reliably kill it. Plus: they also discuss Alibaba's $600 million fentanyl-precursor settlement, the WHO's first emergency-use Ebola (Bundibugyo) diagnostic, France's deadly heat wave, and more.