World

When Alabama nurse Melissa went to pick up her regular prescription for rheumatoid arthritis last week, she was told the drug was “on hold” while the pharmacist checked she wasn’t going to use it to induce an abortion.

“He said, ‘Well I have to verify if you’re on any contraceptives to prevent pregnancy.’ The hell you do,” she recalled thinking.

Melissa — who is in her early forties and asked to be identified only by her first name for fear that speaking out might affect her livelihood — then called her doctor, who succeeded in having the pharmacy in the southern US state release the medicine.

“I picked it up a couple hours later, but I felt violated,” she told AFP, explaining she had had a hysterectomy six years ago, and that her lack of recent contraceptive history may have led the pharmacist to suspect she was pregnant.

Stories of people facing similar struggles have come to light in the weeks since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24, highlighting an overlooked consequence of new state-level bans or severe restrictions on abortion. 

It’s not yet clear how widespread the cases are, but national organizations including the Lupus Foundation of America and the American College of Rheumatology said they were aware of such concerns and asking people affected to come forward.

“The Arthritis Foundation supports unencumbered access to and coverage of FDA-approved drugs for managing arthritis in alignment with scientific and clinical guidelines, as well as evidence-based medical recommendations,” the organization said.

The issue centers on methotrexate, a drug which tempers inflammation and is commonly used against autoimmune conditions including inflammatory arthritis, psoriasis and lupus. 

Methotrexate stops cell division and is given in higher doses as a cancer drug. 

It can also sometimes be used in medical abortions, though not as frequently as the Food and Drug Administration-approved combination of two other drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol.

Nevertheless, many states have passed laws carrying threats of legal action against health care workers and pharmacies providing methotrexate.

– ‘It’s terrifying’  –

Another woman contacted by AFP, a 20-year-old university student from Ohio, said she has had a methotrexate prescription since 2020 to treat her lupus, which affects her kidney and liver and causes joint pain.

A pharmacist at a national chain told her they were “no longer accepting prescriptions for methotrexate unless it was for the FDA-approved use of (treating) breast cancer, or the patient was not presumably fertile,” she said.

She tried again, without success, to fill her prescription at a family-owned pharmacy, and this week got a letter from her doctor’s office stating the practice would no longer be prescribing methotrexate because of the number of patients having difficulty accessing it.

Though the first pharmacy later changed its position, the experience left her “annoyed and angry,” she said.

A third woman, 48-year-old Jennifer Crow, a writer and produce gardener in Tellico Plains, Tennessee, told AFP she received an automated call from CVS saying her methotrexate refill had been declined “pending provider approval.”

Crow said Methotrexate had helped her enormously in managing her inflammatory arthritis, allowing her to roll out of bed and get dressed without severe pain, and walk without a cane for the first time in years.

Though her doctor was able to resolve the situation, Crow, who has also had a hysterectomy, said she was worried for other chronic illness patients who didn’t have the same access to resources that she does.

In statements to AFP, national pharmacy chains CVS and Walmart confirmed they were working to adhere to new state regulations in light of the high court’s decision to revoke the constitutional right to an abortion.

CVS added: “We encourage providers to include their diagnosis on the prescriptions they write to help ensure patients have quick and easy access to medications.”

Alisa Vidulich, policy director of the Arthritis Foundation, told AFP she was hopeful the situation might be remedied quickly as medical professionals and pharmacies developed new guidelines.

“But that may not actually be the case in all states and it may in fact turn into a longer term issue,” she acknowledged.

Melissa, the nurse, said she was incensed at the double standard that allowed one of her best friends, who is a man, to get his methotrexate prescription filled right away with no questions asked.

“We’re headed in the wrong direction and it’s terrifying. I have two daughters. I don’t want to see this,” she said.

Twitter shares slid late Thursday after a Washington Post report that Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy the social media giant is in danger.

The world’s richest man has previously expressed misgivings and even implied he could walk away from the deal over concerns about what he believes are an abundance of fake accounts.

According to the Post, however, Musk has been unable to pin down the percentage of Twitter accounts that are not genuine, despite being given access to internal data.

While Musk has already made comments putting his commitment to the deal in doubt, the latest report cited an anonymous source saying his team is preparing for a “change in direction.”

Twitter shares, which were already trading lower than the price offered by Musk, sank about four percent on the news in after-market trades.

“The Twitter soap opera is clearly coming to some sort of finale over the coming months as Musk makes the decision to stay (with a lower price) or go,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.

“The Twitter deal has clearly caused chaos at Twitter.”

Ives expected Musk to reveal details of his fake account concerns in the coming weeks.

During the Qatar Economic Forum last month, Musk said that his Twitter purchase remained held up by “very significant” questions about the number of fake users on the social network.

“So we are still awaiting resolution on that matter and that is a very significant matter,” the Tesla car and SpaceX exploration chief said via a video link to the gathering.

Twitter executives have held firm that less than five percent of accounts are bogus, with Musk saying he believes the number to be much higher.

Musk said there were also questions about Twitter’s debt.

The chances of Musk buying Twitter as originally negotiated are slim, Ives said.

Wedbush set the chance of the deal happening at a lower price at 60 percent, leaving open the door to the possibility Musk will try to walk away with only paying a required $1 billion breakup fee.

The British pound rallied Thursday on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s resignation as leader of the Conservative party, while Wall Street indices advanced for a fourth straight session.

Johnson’s announcement followed an extraordinary series of resignations from his scandal-plagued administration.

He acknowledged it was “clearly the will of the parliamentary Conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party, and therefore a new prime minister.”

The move lifted the pound above the $1.20 level.

“The currency market is relieved that Johnson is finally resigning, removing some of the political uncertainty that was priced into the pound and paving the way for a new prime minister,” said Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor. 

London’s blue-chip FTSE 100 stock index also rose 1.1 percent, along with bourses in Paris and Frankfurt.

In New York, stocks also had a good day, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each advancing for a fourth straight day.

Maris Ogg of Tower Bridge Advisors said it is too soon to declare that the market has turned. 

“I don’t think (the rebound) is meaningful because we’ve got to wait on earnings,” Ogg said, alluding to upcoming quarterly reports that investors fear will underscore a weakening economic outlook.

Elsewhere, oil prices pushed higher as markets focused on risks to petroleum supply, a shift from the recent fixation on the threat of recession.

Traders are worried about a potential interruption of a majority of Kazakhstan’s total oil exports after a Russian court ordered a 30-day ban on unloading from the 1,500-kilometre (930-mile) pipeline from Kazakh oil fields to the Novorossiysk terminal, citing environmental violations.

Earlier stoppages from the pipeline have triggered speculation that the Kremlin might be punishing its Central Asian ally for its neutral stance on Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the euro struck a fresh 20-year low against the dollar as the minutes from the latest European Central Bank meeting showed it is happy to go slow with hiking interest rates, unlike the US Federal Reserve.

The European single currency is being hammered by growing fears of a recession for the eurozone and the likelihood of more aggressive US interest-rate hikes.

– Key figures at around 2030 GMT –

New York – Dow: UP 1.1 percent at 31,384.55 (close)

New York – S&P 500: UP 1.5 percent at 3,902.62 (close)

New York – Nasdaq: UP 2.3 percent at 11,621.35 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 1.1 percent at 7,189.08 (close)

Frankfurt – DAX: UP 2.0 percent at 12,843.22 (close)

Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.6 percent at 6,006.70 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 2.0 percent at 3,488.50 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.5 percent at 26,490.53 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 21,643.58 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,364.40 (close)

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2024 from $1.1926 Wednesday

Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.49 pence from 85.37 pence

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0162 from $1.0182

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 136.01 yen from 135.95 yen 

Brent North Sea crude: UP 3.9 percent at $104.65 per barrel xx

West Texas Intermediate: UP 4.3 percent at $102.73 per barrel

A top aide and ex-boyfriend of fallen Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on Thursday of defrauding investors and patients at the failed blood testing startup.

Jurors found Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani guilty on all 12 fraud counts charged by federal prosecutors, a spokesperson at the courthouse in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose told AFP.

He is to be sentenced on November 15 and faces the potential for prison time as well as cash fines. The judge set his bail at $750,000 to insure he shows up for sentencing.

Balwani was tried separately from one-time US biotech star Holmes, whose trial in the same California courtroom ended in January with guilty verdicts on four counts of tricking investors into pouring money into what she claimed was a revolutionary blood testing system.

But the jury — who had listened to weeks of sometimes complex evidence — also acquitted her on four charges and could not reach a verdict on three others.

Holmes could also be hit with prison time when she is sentenced on September 26. She has filed an appeal asking that her convictions be tossed.

During her trial, Holmes alleged that Balwani was emotionally and physically abusive during their romantic relationship — claims he has denied. She also painted Balwani as a controlling force at Theranos.

Holmes and Balwani are rare examples of tech executives facing charges over a company’s flame-out, in a sector littered with the carcasses of failed startups that once promised untold riches.

Her trial shined a spotlight on the blurred line between the hustle that characterizes the industry and outright criminal dishonesty.

US prosecutor Robert Leach told jurors in a federal courthouse in San Jose that Balwani piloted the firm alongside Holmes and that the pair were “partners in everything, including their crime.”

But 57-year-old Balwani’s attorney Stephen Cazares said his client never committed fraud, and was convinced of Theranos’s potential.

Balwani, nearly two decades Holmes’s senior, was brought in to help steer the company she had founded in 2003 at just 19 years old.

Holmes, now 38, would go on to promise self-service testing machines that could run an analytical gamut cheaply and on just a few drops of blood — a pledge shattered under fraud allegations.

Prosecutors alleged Holmes and Balwani were aware the technology did not work as advertised, but continued to promote it as revolutionary to patients and the investors who pumped money into the company.

As Theranos soared, it attracted luminaries such as Rupert Murdoch and Henry Kissinger, but a series of reports casting doubt on the firm’s claims from Murdoch’s own Wall Street Journal set the company’s collapse in motion.