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People with schizophrenia who were also taking GLP-1 drugs for diabetes had fewer psychiatric relapses in a large study of US health records, indicating another potential benefit from the medicines. The patients on GLP-1s were 24% less likely to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital than people not taking the drugs, researchers said, and 29% less likely to go to the emergency room for a mental health crisis. They were also less likely to be admitted than those who took other types of diabetes medicine, according to the study published Wednesday in the Lancet Psychiatry journal. (Kresge, 10/14)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent warning letters to Amazon and Walmart over herpes products sold on their websites. The agency said the items are unapproved drugs that can’t legally be shipped across state lines. The Amazon letter names nine products: FemiClear, HClear for him, HerpCare Ointment, HerpCare Spray, Herstat GST, Genital Herpes Ointment, RoyceDerm Herpes Relief Cream, Terragen HG Formula and Genital Herpes Intimate Wash. (Vohnoutka, 10/14)

The CEO of Compass Pathways said Wednesday that the company, which is preparing to complete the submission of its psychedelic therapy for regulatory review this quarter, will “go slow before we go fast,” warning that negative patient or provider experiences early in the launch could damage the broader sector. (Keshavan, 10/14)

Whoop has never been known for marketing to an older population. Performance athletes headline ads for the wearable company, which aims to turn continuous streams of physiological data into useful insights for behavior change — mostly, for a young, fit customer base. (Palmer, 10/14)

A new platform driven by artificial intelligence could enable patients to communicate with their medical devices in real time to improve their health, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Medicine. Brian Litt, a professor of neurology, neurosurgery and bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, knew that neurological signals that can precede epileptic seizures could be detected by implanted devices — but not immediately communicated to the patient. (Svrluga, 10/14)

Studies show that artificial intelligence can distort memories, raising questions about what happens when machines become keepers of the past. (Cha, 10/15)

Merck CEO Rob Davis told CNBC on Wednesday that he expects the company’s breakthrough cancer vaccine with Moderna to get faster to manufacture over time. Shortening the current six-week timeline could potentially help the companies reach more patients. (Constantino, 10/14)

In a way, Pope Leo XIV may be lucky he got lung cancer now and not, say, six years ago. Treatments have changed so much, specialists say, that the old days are almost unrecognizable. For many patients, said Karen Knudsen, the chief executive of the Parker Institute, lung cancer is no longer the dire diagnosis it was in the past. Dr. Lecia Sequist, a thoracic oncologist at Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, said, “I think a lot of people have that gut reaction about lung cancer — that it can be rapidly fatal — but that is a little bit outdated, especially if it’s caught early.” (Kolata and Johnson, 10/14)

After Lisa Moore’s cancer treatments stopped working, the 64-year-old enrolled in a study to try out a new type of drug, one that is programmed to go after disease in cells in a novel way. Ten months later, she went into remission. (Lawrence, 10/15)

Dr. Rachna Shroff, a physician-scientist who spent much of her career researching treatments for gastrointestinal cancers, has died at the age of 47. She briefly battled an aggressive form of the disease she was trying to cure. Earlier this year, Shroff, associate director of clinical investigations at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, was diagnosed with cancer of an unknown origin after she developed a swollen lymph node in May. By the end of the month, it had spread elsewhere in her body, and testing showed it had likely originated in her stomach or intestine. (Hohman and Kane, 10/14)