RFK Jr. pushes on psychiatric drug deprescribing, FDA approves wearable Sanofi cancer drug

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. After a brief hiatus, the Pharmalittle roundup is back with a short list of items to catch up on as the week begins. There is plenty to sift through, and the menu today includes news about a federal push connected to psychiatric medications, as well as an FDA decision involving a Sanofi blood cancer drug. The column opens with a note of thanks to the pinch hitters who filled in last week, and a casual acknowledgment that the inbox has been busy. The mood is light, but the items themselves touch on significant corners of health policy and drug regulation.

One of the main developments concerns U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is pressing forward with an effort aimed at helping Americans stop taking psychiatric drugs, a practice known as deprescribing. STAT reports that the work is moving ahead as federal officials and mental health professionals begin discussing how future guidance might look. Earlier this month, dozens of mental health professionals met with federal health officials to map out forthcoming clinical guidance they hope will help providers instruct patients on how to come off antidepressant medications.

The discussion appears to have centered on how clinicians might better support patients who want to discontinue these medicines. According to a senior HHS official, those conversations included gaps in the research around deprescribing SSRIs. The official said the group also discussed side effects that a person may experience when stopping these drugs. Those effects can vary depending on the medication and how long the person was taking it, the official said. The source does not provide additional details about the content of any planned guidance, the timing of its release, or how the effort may be received by clinicians or patients.

The item reflects a broader federal interest in antidepressant use and how it should be managed in clinical practice. The source makes clear that this work is still in the discussion stage, with participants identifying questions that remain unresolved in the research. The reported focus is on helping providers instruct patients, rather than on any specific recommendation to stop treatment. No further information was reported about which psychiatric medications beyond SSRIs were part of the talks, or whether any formal policy action is imminent.

Another development highlighted in the roundup involves Sanofi and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA approved a wearable form of Sanofi’s blood cancer drug Sarclisa, giving multiple myeloma patients a less burdensome alternative to intravenous infusions. Reuters reported the approval, which marks the first cancer drug approved by the FDA that can be delivered through an on-body injector attached to the skin. The source frames the decision as an example of subcutaneous dosing that may reduce the time patients spend in infusion centers when they need repeated treatment courses.

The wearable delivery option may also ease pressure on oncology clinics and nurses. That point is emphasized in the source, which notes that infusion treatments can take up to three hours, while the median injection time for the wearable device is 13 minutes. The report does not provide further clinical details about Sarclisa, the approval terms, or any comparison with other treatment settings. It also does not describe patient eligibility beyond the reference to multiple myeloma patients.

The broader implication of the FDA action is the potential convenience of a different delivery method for an existing cancer treatment. By moving from a traditional infusion setup to a wearable injector, the drug may be administered in a way that is less time-consuming for both patients and care teams. Still, the source confines itself to the approval and its practical significance, without making claims about outcomes, efficacy differences, or future uptake.

The roundup is presented in the familiar Pharmalittle style, with a brief introduction and a handful of tidbits intended for readers scanning the latest developments in medicine and policy. In this installment, the two major items are the federal discussion around deprescribing psychiatric drugs and the FDA’s approval of a wearable form of Sarclisa. The source does not report on additional news beyond these topics, although it notes other headlines and links elsewhere in the publication.

As a whole, the piece underscores two ongoing themes in health care: efforts to refine how psychiatric medications are used and discontinued, and continued movement toward drug delivery systems that may reduce treatment burden. In the first case, officials and clinicians are still grappling with what the evidence says and where the gaps remain. In the second, the FDA’s approval offers a new administration option for a cancer therapy already used in multiple myeloma. The source provides no further conclusion, but it frames both developments as notable items worth watching as the week begins.