Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs an executive order March 18, 2024, alongside 7-year-old Kioko Jenkins, who has sickle cell disease, at La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago. The order creates an advisory council to investigate how Illinois’ Medicaid program can help cover costs of emerging gene therapies. (Dilpreet Raju / Capitol News Illinois)
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About 5,000 Illinoisans live with sickle cell disease, a gene defect most common in Black people that causes red blood cells to be misshapen and die off early, resulting in chronic fatigue and pain. 

This image provided by Perrigo Company shows boxes of Opill, the first over-the-counter birth control pill available later this month in the United States. (Perrigo Company via AP)

The drug’s approval came despite some concerns by FDA scientists about the company’s results, including whether women with certain medical conditions would understand that they shouldn’t take the drug.

FILE - This Feb. 20, 2015, photo shows an arrangement of peanuts in New York. (Patrick Sison / AP Photo, File)

An estimated 17 million people in the U.S. have the type of food allergies that can cause rapid, serious symptoms, including severe, whole-body reactions that are potentially deadly.

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A group of Illinois lawmakers have a proposal that would ban a handful of common additives in food made and sold in Illinois starting in 2027. California last year became the first state to ban the substances that are common in mass-produced and ultra-processed cereals, candies, salad dressings and sodas.

Jalen Matthews sits on her yoga mat in her home in Louisville, Ky., Monday, Dec. 4, 2023. She was diagnosed with sickle cell at birth and had her first pain crisis at age 9. Three years later, the disease led to a spinal cord stroke that left her with some paralysis in her left arm and leg. “I had to learn how to walk again, feed myself, clothe myself, basically learn how to do everything all over again,” said Matthews, who is now 26. (Timothy D. Easley / AP Photo)

Regulators on Friday approved two gene therapies for sickle cell disease that doctors hope can cure the painful, inherited blood disorder that afflicts mostly Black people in the U.S.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration took a “momentous” step toward banning menthol in cigarettes and banning flavored cigars. (Liudmila Chernetska / iStockphoto / Getty Images)

The FDA has been officially exploring the possibility of a menthol ban for more than a decade. In July 2013, the FDA requested comments on preliminary research, data and evaluations with regard to the regulation of menthol.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing to ban certain hair-straightening products, such as chemical relaxers and pressing products, that have been linked to health risks. (Adobe Stock)

Scientists have long identified an association between the use of hair-straightening chemical products with an increased risk of certain cancers. Research suggests that about 50% of products advertised to Black women contain these types of chemicals, compared with about 7% that are advertised to White women.

(Sarah Silbiger / Getty Images)

The agency said the products are illegally marketed to treat conditions including conjunctivitis — known as pink eye — glaucoma and cataracts, and some of the warnings cited sterility issues with the products.

FILE - Sudafed and other common nasal decongestants containing pseudoephedrine are on display behind the counter at Hospital Discount Pharmacy in Edmond, Okla., Jan. 11, 2005. (AP Photo, File)

The leading decongestant used by millions of Americans is likely no better than a dummy pill, according to government experts who reviewed the latest research on the long-questioned drug ingredient.

Brian Ong, CVS pharmacist, draws up syringes with the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine as he works at Peninsula Del Rey at the vaccine clinic where Covid-19 vaccinations are given at the senior living community on Friday, January 15, 2021 in Daly City, Calif. CVS administered the vaccine clinic. (Lea Suzuki / San Francisco Chronicle / AP)

A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group is scheduled to meet to discuss COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday, meaning the vaccines could become available within just a few days, 

COVID-19 vaccines that have been updated to defend against XBB.1.5 are expected to be available in mid-September. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to give its nod to the updated vaccines in a few weeks. The announcement comes amid a late summer uptick in COVID-19.

For the first time, a semi-independent committee for the World Health Organization said it’s determined that aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener found in thousands of products like diet sodas and sugar-free gum, should be put categorized as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” (SabdiZ / iStockphoto / Getty Images)

Aspartame is a popular artificial sweetener found in thousands of products like diet sodas and sugar-free gum. It’s considered one of the most studied food additives in existence.

This illustration provided by Perrigo in May 2023, depicts proposed packaging for the company’s birth control medication Opill. (Perrigo via AP, File)

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it cleared Perrigo’s once-a-day Opill to be sold without a prescription, making it the first such medication to be moved out from behind the pharmacy counter.

This illustration provided by Perrigo in May 2023, depicts proposed packaging for the company's birth control medication Opill. (Perrigo via AP)

Federal health advisers said a decades-old birth control pill should be sold without a prescription, paving the way for a likely U.S. approval of the first over-the-counter contraceptive medication. Currently, a prescription is required in the U.S.

Adderall XR capsules are displayed on Feb. 24, 2023. Drug shortages are growing in the United States, and experts see no clear path to resolving them. (AP Photo / Jenny Kane, File)

In recent months, unexpected demand spikes, manufacturing problems and tight ingredient supplies have contributed to shortages that stress patients, parents and doctors.

(Scott Olson / Getty Images via CNN)

On Tuesday, the FDA changed the terms of the authorizations for those vaccines so that certain individuals could get an additional dose ahead of most others.