Axios PM

November 10, 2023
Happy Friday, and thank you to our veterans!
- Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 359 words, a 1Β½-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for the holiday copy edit.
1 big thing: Rampant drug shortages
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
America's obsession with treating obesity, thinning hair and ADHD is creating severe shortages of popular prescription drugs.
- Why it matters: Pharmacies are running out of commonly prescribed drugs at a decade-high rate β often after massive spikes in demand, Axios Vitals author Tina Reed writes.
π Details: Ozempic and other diabetes medications that are being used for weight loss are in extraordinarily high demand.
- "In 20 years, I've never seen anything like this," Bradley Nelson, senior director of clinical services for RxBenefits, told Axios.
A surge in Adderall prescriptions has helped fuel the shortage β combined with a crackdown by the DEA, as well as supply-chain issues.
- Some antibiotics + anti-RSV drugs for children are also in short supply.
2. πΆοΈ Spotted: New stealth bomber

The Air Force's next-generation stealth bomber β the B-21 Raider β took its first flight this morning, Reuters reports.
- A sunrise takeoff offered the first unscripted look at the new bomber, which has been developed under strict security.

The B-21 has the same "flying wing" shape as its predecessor, the B-2.
- It'll be able to deliver both conventional and nuclear weapons around the world using long-range and mid-air refueling capabilities.
3. Catch me up

- πΊπΈ Above: Reenactors from the Massachusetts 54th Regiment Company A join a Veterans Day Parade in Boston.
- βοΈ The judge overseeing former President Trump's classified-documents trial denied Trump's request to delay the trial, Axios' Erin Doherty and Ivana Saric report.
- β οΈ Fort Totten Park β which dates to the Civil War defenses of Washington, D.C., up near the Maryland line β is closed because World War I-era munitions were discovered there in mounds of soil. (NBC News)
4. π» 1 for the road: Capitol Christmas tree en route


A 63-foot Norway Spruce from West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest is headed toward Washington, where it will be this year's Capitol Christmas tree, Axios' Ivana Saric writes.
- π² The tree functions as a sort of Appalachian Olympic torch as it makes its journey, stopping in communities across West Virginia β then at Joint Base Andrews, before arriving on the Capitol grounds.
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