Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Tropical Storm Rafael, which is expected to strengthen into a hurricane as it moves across the Gulf of Mexico, could disrupt the supply chain for IV solutions, according to a Nov. 5 news release from nonprofit Healthcare Ready. (Murphy, 11/5)

Direct-to-consumer telehealth company Hims & Hers is defending its sale of compounded glucagon-like peptide agonists, or GLP-1s, even as shortages of the name brand weight loss medications are waning. Compounded GLP-1s are essentially copies of popular weight loss medications made by manufacturers such as Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum said during the company's third quarter earnings call that compounded GLP-1s offered patients access to medications they are unable to get elsewhere. (Turner, 11/5)

A new World Health Organization (WHO) study published today identifies 17 priority pathogens for vaccine development, signifying the first global effort to gauge pathogens by regional disease burden, antimicrobial resistance risk, and socioeconomic impact. The list includes longstanding priorities for vaccine research and development, including HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis (TB), conditions that lead to 2.5 million deaths each year. The team published its findings in eBioMedicine. The report also spotlights pathogens such as group A Streptococcus and Klebsiella pneumoniae as disease-control priorities for all regions, pointing to the urgency of the need to develop new vaccines for pathogens that are increasingly resistant to antimicrobials. (Schnirring, 11/5)

A cloned black-footed ferret successfully gave birth — marking the first time a U.S. clone of an endangered species produced offspring, and an opportunity to rebuild the black-footed ferret population. (Diaz, 11/5)