Executives guilty in $100M Adderall scheme; California sober; training viruses to fight superbugs – Morning Medical Update

'One of the most egregious abuses of telehealth' nets convictions

A federal jury in San Francisco has convicted Ruthia He, founder and CEO of Done, a California-based telehealth platform, as well as David Brody, the company’s clinical president, for orchestrating a scheme that illegally distributed more than 40 million Adderall and other stimulant pills and generated over $100 million in fraudulent subscriptions and claims. Prosecutors detailed how leadership pressured clinicians to limit evaluations, avoid follow-up care and continue prescribing despite red flags including patient addiction, psychosis and overdose. Investigators said Done used deceptive advertising, auto-refill systems and falsified prior authorizations to secure insurance coverage, defrauding Medicare, Medicaid and commercial payers of at least $14 million.

“This case represents one of the most egregious abuses of telehealth we’ve seen,” said Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). Sentencings are set for February 2026.

Cannabis may curb drinking — at least briefly

The “California sober” trend gets some early scientific backing: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial from Brown University found that smoking THC-containing cannabis led heavy-drinking adults to consume 19% to 27% less alcohol over a two-hour period in a laboratory bar setting. Participants also delayed their first drink and reported reduced urge to drink when using active cannabis versus placebo.

Training viruses to fight superbugs

UC San Diego investigators report success “training” bacteriophages, or phages, to better attack multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, a hospital-acquired pathogen that resists many available antibiotics. By evolving phages alongside bacterial strains for 30 days, researchers were able to broaden the viruses’ killing range, improving their ability to suppress growth of even extensively drug-resistant isolates. Published in Nature Communications, the research suggests experimentally evolved phages could become a valuable tool in the fight against antibiotic resistance.