EXCLUSIVE Top doctor reveals hidden toxin in pills taken by millions daily linked to sudden heart attacks
A top heart doctor has revealed the insidious chemical in medicine capsules that could increase your risk of a heart attack.
Dr Evan Levine, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai in New York, told the Daily Mail that phthalates - chemicals used to make plastics more flexible - in soft gel capsules could have damaging effects.
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Daily Mail
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US investment consortium wins £1.7bn battle for NHS landlord
Healthcare property firm Assura Group is set to be acquired by a consortium of US private equity firms after they trumped a rival bid. The increased 'best and last' cash offer of £1.7billion from private equity groups KKR and Stonepeak will be recommended to shareholders as Assura's top brass rejected a rival proposal from Primary Health Properties. The rival proposal PHP valued Assura at approximately £1.68billion. Assura is the latest in a growing list of British businesses being bought out and taken private by overseas private equity firms or investment companies, attracted by cheap valuations. Assura said that private ownership would enable it to secure new funding and invest in healthcare infrastructure, without the pressure of public market expectations. Both Assura and PHP own doctors' surgeries, hospitals and hospices across the UK, and are major landlords to the NHS. KKR, one of the biggest private equity outfits in the US, teamed up with New York investment firm Stonepeak to get the deal over the line. Via their Sana 'bidco' vehicle, KKR and Stonepeak hiked their final offer to 52.1p per share in cash, including two 0.84p dividends. This represented a 39.2 per cent premium to the pre-offer price. After weeks of due diligence into the PHP offer, directors of the healthcare property developer concluded that the bid presented 'material risks and downsides to Assura shareholders', including over-leverage and uncertainty around planned asset disposals. The revised offer from Sana will now proceed via a takeover offer, increasing deal certainty, with antitrust clearances already secured in China, Israel and South Korea, Assura said on Wednesday. Assura chair Ed Smith, said: 'The board's decision to recommend the offer from KKR and Stonepeak follows a careful and thorough evaluation of both offers, during which the board has been firmly focused on its fiduciary duty to shareholders.' 'KKR and Stonepeak are highly experienced investors in healthcare and infrastructure and I am confident that with their support, and the additional capital they will provide, Assura will continue to deliver the high-quality healthcare infrastructure our communities need.' Andrew Furze, managing director at KKR, said: 'After nearly a year of engagement, this is our best and final offer which we believe is lower risk than other alternatives and higher in value offering a significant premium. 'We require no disposals to achieve our ambition and importantly the all cash offer poses minimal execution risk.' Blackrock is the biggest holder of Assura shares, with 9.9 per cent of the equity. L&G, Aberdeen and Quilter are all among the top ten shareholders. Last summer, Assura announced the £500million acquisition of a portfolio of 14 private hospitals from a Canadian REIT. The hospitals are spread throughout Britain, though with a concentration towards London, and were let on long leases to a number of private healthcare providers. Assura shares rose 2.04 per cent or 1.00p to 49.90p on Wednesday, having risen around 27 per cent in the last year.
Telegraph
an hour ago
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The cheap fat jabs sending big pharma into a frenzy
For many Americans who tuned in to watch the Super Bowl earlier this year, it was a surprise to find themselves fat-shamed during the ad break. 'Obesity is America's deadliest epidemic,' a voiceover said, as images of wobbling bellies, greasy burgers and giant apple pies flashed across TV screens. The Super Bowl's 127m-strong audience, who were tucking into an estimated 1.5bn chicken wings during the event, were warned that 'obesity leads to half a million deaths each year'. But Hims and Hers, the US online medicines company behind the ad, said people should not blame themselves. Instead, its advert claimed that 'the system' was keeping them 'sick and stuck', adding that 'there are medications that work, but they're priced for profits, not patients'. To the relief of viewers, Hims and Hers offered a 'life-changing' solution. Rather than paying hundreds of dollars each month for well-known, branded weight-loss jabs such as Wegovy, households could instead try Hims and Hers' cheaper, replica versions. 'This is the future of healthcare,' it argued. 'Join us in the fight for a healthier America.' However, for the likes of Danish obesity drug maker Novo Nordisk and US pharma rival Eli Lilly, which have claimed the rise of copycat jabs poses potential health risks, such claims have become a serious headache. Copycat boom Over the past few decades, both businesses have poured billions of dollars into obesity drug research – recently yielding blockbuster drugs Wegovy and Mounjaro. The rapid uptake of such drugs has prompted a surge in revenues for big pharma. But bosses are now increasingly worried that demand among American patients has been dented by a cluster of smaller, copycat companies.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
I can reach orgasm alone – but not with my partner
I think I have a problem sexually. I can ejaculate alone when I masturbate, but not with a partner. This is becoming a problem as my partner is complaining about my inability to ejaculate when I am with her. I am now over 30 and it is starting to get me worried. Is there any treatment or help I can get? I really love this woman and find her sexy, but I am not able to get to the point of ejaculation. The transition from solo sex to satisfying partner sex is not always easy. Some people become so accustomed to particular types of touch, pressure or strokes during masturbation that they find switching to the different sensations with another person extremely challenging. In addition, some people require intense focus to achieve orgasm or ejaculation, and the anxiety or distraction of intimacy with a partner interrupts their usual process. It is possible to retrain your sexual style to accommodate a partner – and although this can best be done with the help of a sexual therapist, you could start by considering your exact needs in terms of the mechanics of your sexual response and encourage your partner to help by trying to replicate it. For example, perhaps you need to ask her to use a firmer or lighter touch during foreplay. If you find that intercourse does not provide you with sufficient stimulation, one strategy is to employ more erotic play that will increase your arousal before penetration. If you think your problem is distractibility or anxiety, you will have to find calming mechanisms that work for you. Essentially, the worry you are feeling about your partner's complaints is making it more difficult for you to ejaculate and taking the fun out of sex. Hopefully, you can both stop thinking of lovemaking as a task and simply focus on giving and receiving pleasure. Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders. If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to (please don't send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions.
