Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
One Lot of Generic Form of Xanax Recalled Due to Potential Contaminate
One lot of generic alprazolam (best known as brand-named Xanax) is being recalled by Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. due to potential contamination that poses a risk of infection.
The recall is for lot number 8082708 of alprazolam tablets, USP C-IV 0.5 mg packaged in bottles of 500, with an expiry date of September 2020. They were distributed in the United States between July 2019 and August 2019.
To date, Mylan says it hasn't received any reports of harm caused by the recalled lot of the anti-anxiety medication.
For more information, consumers can call Mylan at 1-800-796-9526. Anyone who's experienced any problems that may be related to using the recalled medication should contact their physician or healthcare provider, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.
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Racial Bias in Widely Used Health Care Software: Study
Black patients are less likely than whites to receive special care due to a racial bias flaw in a widely-used software program that helps direct care for millions of U.S. patients, researchers say.
The software, which is used by insurers and hospitals, predicts costs rather than sickness, the Associated Press reported.
Even when they're not as sick as black patients, whites tend to be most costly than blacks. The software regularly advised placing healthier white patients into health care risk management programs ahead of less-healthy blacks because the white patients had higher costs, according the study published in the journal Science.
Changing the software could more than double the number of black patients placed these programs, said study leader Dr. Ziad Obermeyer, University of California, Berkeley.
Software maker Optum said the study findings are "misleading" because hospitals can and should use their own socio-economic data along with the cost algorithm, the company told the AP.
