New illicit drug containing fentanyl and powerful sedative may be behind mass overdose in Baltimore
At least 27 people were hospitalized after the mass overdose in the Penn North neighborhood on July 10.
On Thursday, scientists with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) said drug samples collected from the overdose site revealed a mix of drugs, including N-Methylclonazepam, an ingredient the NIST had not encountered before in street drugs. It can cause intense sedative and hypnotic side effects.
"Many people remained unconscious after receiving naloxone, likely as a result of the presence of N-methylclonazepam," NIST Research Chemist Edward Sisco told the Banner. Naloxone, more commonly known by its brand name Narcan, is a medication that reverses opioid overdoses by blocking the effects of the drug, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH).
Sisco said the drug samples also contained the pain medication acetaminophen, the diuretic Mannitol, the anti-malaria drug quinine and caffeine. According to Sisco, those drugs are often found in samples tested in Maryland.
Data from the Baltimore Health Department shows there were 921 fentanyl-related deaths reported in the city in 2023.
Between July 2024 and July 2025, the Maryland Department of Health reported 980 fentanyl-related deaths across the state. 487 of those incidents were in Baltimore, data shows. In 2024, overdose deaths in the city dropped by nearly 25%.
At the time of the mass overdose, witnesses told WJZ the alleged drug was called "New Jack City" and may have been laced with antifreeze, though those reports are now proven to be unfounded.
First responders in Baltimore jumped into action when the first overdose was reported at the intersection of Pennsylvania and North Avenues.
Crews initially found one person who they believed to be suffering from a drug overdose. Community members then alerted crews to additional victims in the area.
At least 27 people were taken to hospitals, seven in critical condition.
On July 13, five people were arrested for possession with intent to distribute drugs near the location where the overdose occurred, Baltimore Police said. However, it is unclear if the arrests are connected to the mass overdose, police said.
Community partners and addiction advocates swarmed the Penn North neighborhood with resources shortly after the overdoses were reported.
Officials with the city's Office of Overdose Response handed out Narcan and passed out test strips. They encouraged anyone who planned to use drugs to be extremely cautious.
"We're really just trying to engage the community to let folks know that if they are using today, that we don't know what's in the supply, and for folks to be careful," Overdose Response Executive Director Sara Whaley said.
Advocates have maintained a presence in the neighborhood, letting residents know that help is available.
Residents can connect with peer supervisors at the Enoch Pratt Library's Pennsylvania Avenue branch on weekdays during business hours. They can also call the 988 helpline to connect with a counselor or find treatment.
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Politico
9 hours ago
- Politico
How Trump's AI orders could throw states for a loop
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Message us on Signal: CarmenP.82, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. WORLD VIEW Hackers love Europe's hospitals, our colleague in Europe, Giedrė Peseckytė, reports. The European Union's health care sector was targeted in 309 cybersecurity incidents in 2023 — more than in any other critical sector. The cost of a major incident typically reached €300,000 or approximately $350,000. For cybercriminals, targeting health data 'is a perfect business plan,' according to Christos Xenakis, professor at the department of digital systems at the University of Piraeus, Greece. 'It's easy to steal data, and what you steal, you can sell it at a high price.' Ransomware attacks — where hackers lock data and demand a ransom — dominate the sector, an EU Agency for Cybersecurity report showed. 'They achieve two targets: One is to get the data and sell [it], and the other is to encrypt the whole system, disrupt the whole system and ask for money,' Xenakis said. 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Forbes
10 hours ago
- Forbes
Yes, You Should Brush Your Teeth For 2 Minutes, Twice A Day. Here's Why.
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Break It Up By Quadrant To break up the two minutes, you can also count for 30 seconds while brushing each quadrant of your mouth, if you don't have an electric toothbrush that does this automatically. This can help keep track of time while making sure you're getting to every tooth. Sing A Song Both Cullen and Messina suggest one way to track your time is to either sing or play a favorite song that lasts around two minutes. This can help gamify your brushing—and make it more enjoyable, a technique that can be especially helpful for kids. Be Gentle Though it's important to be thorough while brushing, experts advise against brushing too hard. 'You don't want to wear the teeth away by scrubbing like this is a floor,' says Wolff. Brushing too hard can actually damage your teeth and gums. To avoid that, opt for a brush with soft bristles. Many electric toothbrushes also have pressure sensors to indicate if you're brushing too aggressively, or if you're hitting the sweet spot. 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Brushing isn't all or nothing; even if you can't reach the full two minutes, Messina says it's still helpful to brush in the first place, no matter how long the duration. 'I know if you start small, that you'll realize how much better it feels and then you'll do more and more,' he says. And remember, brushing is key to overall health. 'It seems like such a small thing to brush your teeth twice a day, but I think people should be encouraged that they're really making a big impact on their overall health when they do that small thing,' says Cullen.
Forbes
10 hours ago
- Forbes
20 Hurdles For Healthcare Tech Startups In Scaling Solutions
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They look for proven, well-established companies and products, making it difficult for healthcare startups to get traction, even when they have clearly better solutions. Partnering and delivering real value to that first set of clients is critical in scaling early on. - John Bou, Modio Health 4. Integrating With Insurance Systems Health insurance companies amplify the interoperability challenge by adding another layer of complex, often siloed, data and systems that healthcare tech startups must integrate with. This makes the negotiation and implementation of business associate and HIPAA agreements more complicated, given the data types, security requirements and shared liabilities that arise from integrating with both providers and payers. - Ajai Paul, Affirm Inc. 5. Understanding The Complex Stakeholder Ecosystem Healthcare startups often make the mistake of viewing the U.S. healthcare system with a 'singular' point of view. It is an integrated ecosystem where each stakeholder is affected by the others, which means multiple interests must be aligned when adopting new technologies. - Raghav Ramabadran, Intelligine Technologies 6. Building Custom Integrations For Each Customer Healthcare startups' challenges include integrating with electronic health record systems, which is not a 'plug and play' process. Each hospital or system has its own highly customized version of an EHR, with unique workflows, data fields and security protocols. This lack of standardization means startups must build a new integration for nearly every customer. - Chris Ciabarra, Athena Security Inc. 7. Developing Strong Governance From The Outset Healthcare startups often wait to build full product depth until after landing their first client, but healthcare's high-risk, structured environment demands strong governance from day one. Change control, release management and a deep understanding of current operations, especially when replacing legacy systems, are essential before customizing. Building depth late risks delays and failure! - Trisha Swift, Mula Integrative Health & Wellness 8. Maintaining HIPAA Compliance With Digital Content One challenge healthcare startups face when scaling tech is managing digital content while staying HIPAA-compliant. Hospitals need more than stock photos and shared drives—they expect secure, role-based access to branded visuals that convey authenticity and protect patient privacy. Without a digital asset management strategy, startups risk falling short on compliance, credibility and growth. - Andrew Fingerman, PhotoShelter 9. Ensuring Consistent Performance And Compliance Across Disparate Systems Healthcare startups often struggle to scale because hospital environments vary widely in terms of infrastructure, workflows and data systems. Without a unified data architecture, real-time metrics, and built-in security and governance, it's hard to ensure consistent performance—or meet privacy requirements like HIPAA and business associate agreements governing protected health information. - Dave Albano, Diliko 10. Working Within Complex Pricing And Claims Rules One of the challenges is the integration of new tech into strict hospital billing and compliance processes. Hospitals have complex pricing and claims rules, and startups must work within these rules. They can't disrupt revenue or patient data safety. Doing this right builds trust and helps a solution scale faster. - Abhishek Sinha, Accenture 11. Processing Both Structured And Unstructured Health Data Integrating structured data (EHRs; lab results) and unstructured data (clinical notes; imaging; video) can be a major challenge. Healthcare startups must ensure their tech can process both, all while adapting to varying data and privacy standards across systems, which further complicates scaling and interoperability. Fortunately, generative AI is making this easier to do. - David Talby, John Snow Labs 12. Balancing Accuracy And Transparency With Scalability The healthcare and life sciences sector faces rigorous accuracy and transparency requirements that cannot be sacrificed and must be built into products from the start. Balancing this with scalability—which is really code for 'solving problems you don't have yet'—is a constant challenge—especially for startups, which often place a key focus on agility and speed. - Martin Snyder, Certara 13. Maintaining A Consistent, Accurate Record Of Core Assets One key challenge healthcare startups face when scaling tech solutions across systems is the inability to maintain a consistent and accurate record of core assets—such as patients, providers and devices—due to the absence of a robust master data management strategy. This causes data fragmentation, which in turn hinders decision-making, innovation and seamless integration across platforms. - Somnath Banerjee 14. Keeping Up With A Range Of Regional Norms And Laws Key challenges include a wide range of compliance requirements, regulations, cultural norms, and data privacy and region-specific laws—making a one-size-fits-all solution impractical, even within a single organization. Startups often rely on business rules engines that lack user friendliness. Agentic AI offers a more adaptable and intuitive alternative. - Koushik Sundar, Citibank 15. Working Within Legacy Hospital Systems One major challenge healthcare startups face when scaling tech solutions is integration with legacy hospital systems. Many hospitals rely on outdated EHRs or siloed IT infrastructure, making interoperability difficult. Startups must ensure compliance, data security and seamless integration to gain trust and adoption at scale. - Srikanth Bellamkonda 16. Clearly Demonstrating ROI And Pathways To Reimbursement Healthcare startups often struggle to clearly demonstrate a return on investment and secure reimbursement pathways. Without established billing codes or tangible cost-savings data, hospitals hesitate to allocate budget. Startups must invest heavily in economic validation, health economics and outcomes research, ensuring payers and finance teams see sustainable revenue models before adoption. - Manav Kapoor, Amazon 17. Creating An Internal COE Establishing an internal center of excellence with deep industry experience in scaling healthcare systems is vital, but costly. A key challenge lies in selecting vendors that align with the company's DNA. Bridging the gap between emerging tech and the unique demands of healthcare requires thoughtful planning and a nuanced understanding of both innovation and patient-centric outcomes. - Hari Sonnenahalli, NTT Data Business Solutions 18. Overcoming Resistance To New Tech I've regularly observed the challenges clinical sites face when adopting new technologies. There is often reluctance or resistance to change; staffing shortages further exacerbate these issues. A more effective approach may be to 'mirror' site-level data. This would allow AI-driven platforms to build a harmonized system that enables forward progress without disrupting existing workflows. - Rachel Tam, Bristol Myers Squibb 19. Accounting For Integration Issues When Building Solutions The biggest hurdle to overcome when scaling tech solutions across hospitals or healthcare systems is not technical; rather, it is integration—into provider workflows, clinical practice guidelines, financial models and revenue cycle management programs. Unless the issues around integration are considered and covered when building the solution, scaling will not occur. The landscape is littered with misaligned HealthTech startups. - Mark Francis, Electronic Caregiver 20. Completing Vendor Risk Documentation Post-ransomware, hospitals demand extensive vendor risk audits with hundreds of security controls, SOC 2/HITRUST docs, and custom BAAs. Completing these lengthy questionnaires stretches sales cycles to 18 to 24 months, burning cash and pulling engineers from product work to compliance, blocking scale. - Mohit Menghnani, Twilio
