Get caught up with Contemporary Pediatrics! This list helps you navigate our top stories from the week, all in one place.
Interested in receiving a copy of the Contemporary Pediatrics journal every issue?
Want to stay up to date with pediatric news? Subscribe to the Contemporary Pediatrics e-newsletter to receive emailed updates regarding new data, pediatric clinical trials, puzzler cases, FDA news, and much more.
Thank you for visiting the Contemporary Pediatrics® website. Take a look at some of our top stories from the week (Monday, July 28, to Friday, August 1, 2025), and click on each link to read and watch anything you may have missed.
Elizabeth Reichert, PhD, a pediatric and adolescent psychologist at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, emphasized the role of primary care providers in spotting early signs of emotional distress in youth—especially amid constant exposure to news and social media. Key behavioral indicators include changes in sleep, appetite, energy, irritability, academic performance, and social withdrawal.
To support mental well-being, Reichert recommends providers encourage families to engage in coviewing or coscrolling, helping children reflect on the content they consume. Setting screen-time boundaries—like disabling autoplay or creating device-free times—can also strengthen emotional regulation and family connection.
On July 31, 2025, the FDA approved concizumab-mtci (Alhemo; Novo Nordisk) as a once-daily subcutaneous prophylactic treatment for patients 12 years and older with hemophilia A or B without inhibitors. The approval, based on results from the phase 3 explorer8 trial, expands Alhemo’s prior indication for patients with inhibitors and introduces the first subcutaneous injectable pen option for this population.
In the explorer8 trial, concizumab-mtci significantly reduced annualized bleeding rates (ABR) by 86% in hemophilia A and 79% in hemophilia B patients compared with no prophylaxis. The therapy is administered as a daily subcutaneous injection and was generally well tolerated, with injection site reactions and headache being the most common adverse events.
Another month has come and gone, and with it, several FDA approvals and regulatory updates related to the ever-evolving landscape of pediatric health care.
In our July monthly recap, we list our top FDA-related news items in a quick, easy-to-read format so you can stay informed.
Take a look at our detailed coverage of FDA-related news from July, and stay in touch with our digital newsletters, which provide practical information for today's pediatrician.
Vaccination coverage among kindergartners in the United States declined during the 2024–2025 school year while exemption rates rose, according to new findings from the CDC. Data from states and the District of Columbia showed decreases in coverage for all routine childhood vaccines compared to the previous year. Most states also reported year-over-year declines in protection against illnesses such as measles, polio, and varicella.
Twelve-month data from the phase 3 CAHtalyst pediatric trial, presented at ENDO 2025, showed that crinecerfont (Crenessity; Neurocrine Biosciences), when added to glucocorticoid therapy, improved weight-related outcomes in children with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). The trial demonstrated a reduction in adrenal androgens, enabling lower glucocorticoid doses and a decrease in body mass index (BMI) among participants receiving crinecerfont.
Richard Auchus, MD, PhD, professor of pharmacology and internal medicine at the University of Michigan, highlighted the metabolic risks these patients face. “Children with CAH have a high prevalence of obesity, as do adults with CAH, which places them at increased risk for cardiovascular disease,” he explained. "In adults, secondary to adrenal crisis, the second most common cause of death in CAH is cardiovascular disease. They have a significant metabolic risk, which begins developing in childhood due to prolonged exposure to the high doses of glucocorticoids traditionally necessary to manage the condition adequately."
