The Handoff: Your Week in Neurology News – 7/13/17

The Handoff is a weekly roundup of neurology news covering various developments in subspecialties, the pharmaceutical industry, and the overall state of health care as it affects neurologists.

— Stat profiles the growing trend of gabapentin abuse, which Neurology Advisor reported on last summer, and what one Ohio town is doing to try and keep it from spreading. 

— Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, Georgia’s public health commissioner and an OB-GYN, will replace Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, as director of the CDC. 

— Endo Pharmaceuticals has agreed to voluntarily remove its opioid drug Opana ER from the market, citing strong concerns from the FDA over the drug’s misuse. 

— The National Institutes of Health are making a big push to boost brain tissue donation by partnering with not-for-profit organizations and streamlining distribution through the NeuroBioBank. 

— Rare-disease drugmakers, many of whom cater to patients with neurological disorders, are concerned that insurers will reinstate “lifetime limits,” putting a cap on prescription drug costs. 

— Joseph Safdieh, MD, FAAN, has been named the new editor-in-chief of Neurology Today, the official publication of the American Academy of Neurology. 

— The NIH has launched a study to examine the risk posed by a Zika virus and HIV co-infection in pregnant women. Meanwhile, another NIH-funded study found that malaria drug hydroxychloroquine protects fetal mice from Zika infection. 

— Watch the latest Grand Rounds from the University of Colorado, which questions whether “normal aging” is truly normal.