July 16 (ZFJ) — The World Health Organization’s cancer research agency categorized non-sugar sweetener aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” (group 2B) based on “limited evidence” for causing cancer in humans on Friday, July 14. A WHO joint panel did not change its acceptable daily limit of 40 mg/kg body weight.
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that has been widely used in foods and beverages since the 1980s as an alternative to sugar.
July 12 (ZFJ) — The Food and Drug Administration granted traditional approval to Eisai and Biogen’s Leqembi (lecanemab-irmb) 100 mg/mL intravenous injection on July 6. It is the first Alzheimer’s drug to clear this regulatory hurdle and aims to slow the disease’s progression.
“Today’s action is the first verification that a drug targeting the underlying disease process of Alzheimer’s disease has shown clinical benefit in this devastating disease,” said Teresa Buracchio, acting director of the Office of Neuroscience in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
June 24 (ZFJ) — Lab-grown meat companies UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat announced on Wednesday that they received the final Agriculture Department approval required to sell their chicken in the United States.
The Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service issued grants of inspection for the companies’ manufacturing facilities: UPSIDE’s Engineering, Production, and Innovation Center and GOOD Meat’s demonstration plant in Alameda, California. GOOD Meat’s contract manufacturing partner JOINN Biologics also received a GOI.
