“I'm not great at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?”

This is what ‘Friends’ actor Matthew Perry’s character Chandler Bing was known for. He was known for being funny. However, he had his own struggles in his personal life and those struggles were acute depression. He was treating it with ketamine infusion therapy which is legal in the US and the UK.

What is Ketamine infusion therapy?

Ketamine is an anaesthetic used to treat depression, anxiety and pain under supervised and controlled medical settings. However, it does have its side effects, which can lead to distortion of sight, sound and time. It can also produce calming and relaxing effects.

Ketamine increases a person’s heart rate and blood pressure. If overdosed, it can leave users confused and agitated and can cause them to hurt themselves without even realising it. It can also lead to liver damage and bladder problems.

However, when used in moderation and under the supervision of medical doctors, it can treat depression where traditional antidepressants have failed.

Prof Rupert McShane, a University of Oxford psychiatrist who runs an NHS ketamine treatment clinic told BBC that ketamine “probably turns off the area of the brain that is involved in disappointment.”

Can Ketamine Infusion Therapy Kill Someone?

In simple terms, it cannot, be if the dosage is given in a controlled setting and as prescribed. Ketamine infusion therapy uses drugs in small doses than those used for anaesthesia. It acts faster than traditional anti-depressants, but the effects also wear off way quickly. Which is why it is important to monitor patients’ mental state for relapsing back into depression and discouraging them from overdosing on it.

There are ways of giving people ketamine. One of the ways is through “infusing”, which means to use an IV drip. However, injections, nasal sprays and capsules are also methods used to give people ketamine.

Since the dosage of ketamine used in the infusion treatment is small, it being the reason of actor Perry’s death was ruled out. The medical examiner also noted that Perry’s last ketamine infusion therapy session happened more than a week before his death, which means by the time he had died, it must have worn off.

So, What Happened To Perry?

Though Perry’s last session was more than a week before, his post-mortem showed that his blood contained a high concentration of ketamine. He had died of the “acute effects” of ketamine.

If it was not his session, then how did he get ketamine?

Prosecutors alleged that his assistant gave him at least 27 shots of ketamine in four days before his death, reported BBC.

Perry has been open about his personal struggles and this is what the doctors and dealers used against him. Martin Estrada, the US attorney for California’s Central District told the BBC that people took advantage of his condition. They charged him 165 times more than what vials of ketamine cost.

Names that have come up include Dr Salvador Plasencia, drug dealers “Ketamine Queen” aka Jasveen Sangha and Eric Fleming, and Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.

Who Are These Names And What Did They Do?

Ketamine Queen or Sangha supplied drugs that led to Perry’s death. Her home was a “drug-selling emporium,” said Estrada. More than 80 vials of ketamine, and thousands of pills including methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax were allegedly found in her house known as the “Sangha Stash House.”

Sangha is known to deal with high-end celebs and was a “major source of supply for ketamine to others as well as Perry,” said Estrada.

Dr Plasencia called Perry a “moron” while charging him $2,000 for vials that cost only $12. He sold Perry 20 vials of ketamine between September and October 2023, costing $55,000.

He was the one who taught Iwamasa, who had no medical knowledge to inject the drug. This is after he knew that “Perry’s ketamine addiction was spiralling out of control,” as per what the investigators told the BBC.

Another dealer Fleming was told by Sangha to “delete all our messages.” While Fleming pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs unlawfully, he also allegedly messaged Sangha: “Please call...Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry] only his assistant. So the assistant was the enabler.”

The court documents also revealed that he asked Sangha on whether the ketamine stays in your system or “is it immediately flushed out.”

Dr Pepper, Bots, Cans

The people who allegedly exploited Perry used coded language for ketamine and called it “Dr Pepper”, “bots”, or “cans.”

Selling overpriced drugs, taking advantage of Perry’s mental condition and falsifying medical records to make the drugs given to him look legitimate by Dr Plasencia is what took Perry’s life.

Iwamasa is said to have administered more than 20 shots of ketamine and three on the day Perry died. Whereas ketamine is only administered by a physician. Authorities also found that weeks before Perry’s death, Dr Plasencia allegedly bought 10 vials of ketamine and intended to sell to Perry.

He also injected Perry with a large dose, two days later. This caused him to “freeze up” and spiked his blood pressure.

When I Die, I Want Helping Others To Be The First Thing That’s Mentioned

Perry had always been open about his drug addictions, struggles with alcohol and his depression. He said that his openness would help others who are also struggling and wanted to be remembered by his quote which also is on the homepage of the Mattew Perry Foundation that helps others struggling with the disease of addiction: “When I die, I want helping others to be the first thing that’s mentioned.”

Five arrests have been made in the case so far.

Climate change is already driving illness, disrupting essential services and putting health at risk, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned at COP31 in Türkiye on Monday. Calling the climate crisis a health crisis, he urged governments to strengthen health systems, implement existing climate plans and increase funding for proven interventions.

Speaking at a news briefing alongside Turkish Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu, Tedros said the health impacts of climate change were no longer a distant threat.

"They are here and now," he said, pointing to heat, floods, droughts, wildfires and air pollution that are increasingly affecting healthcare services.

"Health is also the most compelling reason for climate action," he said.

COP31: WHO Chief Lists Three Priorities For Health

Also read: COP31 Begins On Health Day: How Will Countries Measure The Health Impact Of Climate Change?

Tedros outlined three priorities to address the health impacts of climate change, saying the newly launched Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience (AIR) could help countries put them into practice.

1. Build climate-resilient health systems

Hospitals and clinics must be able to operate through heatwaves, floods and storms. This requires reliable electricity and water, early warning systems, resilient supply chains and trained healthcare workers.

2. Move from plans to implementation

Countries already know many of the measures that work, but financing, capacity and coordination remain major barriers to implementing them at scale, Tedros said.

He stressed that climate-related health risks cannot be addressed by health ministries alone. Ministries overseeing finance, environment, energy, transport, housing and urban planning must work together and integrate health into national adaptation plans and climate commitments.

3. Increase funding for proven interventions

Tedros called for greater investment in measures that can save lives, reduce emissions and strengthen economies.

"Climate action is not simply a cost. It's an investment in healthier people, more resilient communities and stronger economies," he said.

A WHO technical analysis published on November 4 found that six priority climate-health actions could save 1.6 million lives annually and generate US$24 in benefits for every dollar invested.

What Is The Antalya Initiative For Health Resilience?

Read More: Climate Crisis Is A Health Crisis: Just 6 Actions Could Save 1.6 Million Lives, Says WHO

Launched by the COP31 Presidency, the Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience (AIR) is a voluntary, non-binding initiative to help countries share practical experience and strengthen health systems against climate-related risks.

It will support the documentation of successful interventions, peer learning and the exchange of approaches that countries can adapt to their own settings.

AIR complements the WHO-led Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH), which brings countries and partners together to make, renew and report climate-health commitments. While

ATACH provides a platform for coordination, AIR focuses on sharing practical lessons from implementation.

The initiative will also build on the Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP), adopted at COP30, with lessons and resources carried forward through ATACH at future COPs.

"The focus now should be implementation, implementation and implementation," Tedros said, urging countries to learn from existing best practices rather than reinvent solutions. He called on governments to strengthen climate resilience across health systems and urged climate negotiators and funders to make health an explicit part of climate decisions and financing.

COP31 Health Day: What To Expect

Health Day, which opens COP31 on November 9, focuses on building dynamic and resilient health systems. It features four high-level panel discussions and a ministerial roundtable covering climate-resilient healthcare, digital health, climate-sensitive health technologies, humanitarian assistance and climate-health financing.

The scale of the health threat underscores the urgency. Around 3.5 billion people live in contexts highly vulnerable to climate change.

More than 90% of deaths from climate-related disasters over the past two decades occurred in developing countries. Air pollution, including pollution from fossil fuel combustion, causes around seven million deaths globally each year, according to WHO.

Two experimental heart drugs developed by Novartis and Novo Nordisk have failed to reduce major cardiovascular events in separate late-stage trials, despite successfully targeting cholesterol and inflammation.

Novartis' pelacarsen lowered lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), by 78%, while Novo Nordisk's ziltivekimab substantially reduced inflammatory markers. However, neither drug reduced heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular deaths compared with a placebo.

"Everybody in the world, me included, thought that this was going to work," said Dr. Steven Nissen of Cleveland Clinic, presenting the pelacarsen results at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2026.

Novartis' Pelacarsen Fails To Reduce Heart Events

Also read: Confused By Your Cholesterol Report? Here's What LDL And ApoB Really Mean

The seven-year Phase III Lp(a) HORIZON trial involved 8,323 people with established cardiovascular disease and elevated Lp(a) levels across 42 countries.

Participants received monthly injections of pelacarsen or a placebo. Despite reducing Lp(a) by 78%, the drug did not lower the risk of non-fatal heart attacks, strokes, urgent procedures to unblock arteries or cardiovascular deaths.

Even participants with higher Lp(a) levels showed no cardiovascular benefit.

"I cannot avoid the disappointing conclusion – it didn’t work," Nissen said, adding that cardiovascular outcomes remained unchanged despite the significant reduction in Lp(a).

Novo Nordisk's Ziltivekimab Also Fails

Novo Nordisk's Phase III ZEUS trial tested whether ziltivekimab, an experimental anti-inflammatory drug, could reduce cardiovascular events by blocking interleukin-6 (IL-6).

The trial included 6,376 patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and systemic inflammation.

In July 2026, Novo announced that the trial had failed to demonstrate a cardiovascular benefit. Results published in the New England Journal of Medicine on November 7 showed that although the drug substantially reduced inflammatory markers, it did not prevent major cardiovascular events.

During a median follow-up of 33 months, cardiovascular death, non-fatal heart attack or non-fatal stroke occurred in 17.6% of patients receiving ziltivekimab and 17.7% receiving placebo.

On September 7, Novo Nordisk discontinued two additional late-stage trials of ziltivekimab in patients with heart failure and inflammation.

An independent data monitoring committee recommended stopping the studies, concluding they were unlikely to succeed.

Read More: This Common Heart Attack Risk Starts Silently In Healthy People In Their 20s

Why Did The Drugs Fail?

Nissen suggested that participants may have had advanced cardiovascular disease, making it too late for the drug to prevent further events.

Dr. Roger Blumenthal of Johns Hopkins suggested that participants' blood pressure and LDL cholesterol were already well controlled, leaving limited scope for additional risk reduction.

Another hypothesis was that anti-clotting medications taken by all participants may have diluted pelacarsen's potential effect, since Lp(a) is thought to contribute to cardiovascular disease partly by promoting blood clots.

These remain hypotheses, not proven explanations.

The findings also do not mean that Lp(a) or inflammation is irrelevant to heart disease. They show that lowering these markers with these particular drugs did not reduce cardiovascular events in the populations studied.

What Happens Next?

People with elevated Lp(a) can manage their cardiovascular risk by addressing other risk factors.

Nissen recommended exercise, weight management and lowering LDL cholesterol with statins when appropriate.

Three other cardiovascular outcome trials involving investigational Lp(a)-lowering drugs are underway. Their results may help determine whether targeting this cholesterol particle can prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Climate change is no longer a distant environmental concern. The effects of increasing temperatures, extreme weather events, melting glaciers, changing rainfall patterns and worsening air pollution on human health are alarming. Countries are continually identifying these health risks but monitoring if their climate policies are actually effective is the big question. This is one of the important areas of discussion at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), which starts on November 9, 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is stressing upon health to become a central part of climate policy discussions. The health body has urged countries to increase focus on measurable action, healthcare systems that can withstand climate change and funding to execute those actions.

Ahead of the conference, Dr Diarmid Campbell Lendrum, Head of the Climate Change, Energy, and Air Quality Unit at WHO headquarters said, “Health is the strongest argument for climate action."

Countries Need Reliable Health Indicators For Climate Change

Also read: Climate Crisis Is A Health Crisis: Just 6 Actions Could Save 1.6 Million Lives, Says WHO

Climate change has numerous effects on health. Extreme heat can lead to dehydration, heat exhaustion and heatstroke, while floods and droughts can disrupt access to safe drinking water, food and healthcare. Changing temperatures and rainfall patterns can also fuel spread of infectious diseases, including mosquito-borne illnesses.

Air pollution, which is closely linked to the burning of fossil fuels, adds to the burden of respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

However, measuring these effects is not as straightforward as one might think.

An increase in hospital admissions during a heatwave, for instance, could be considered an indicator, but countries also need to monitor who is most affected, whether healthcare facilities can cope and whether preventive measures are working.

A WHO review published in October 2025, Mapping Climate Change and Health Indicators, examined 31 reports from 22 countries. It identified 3,880 indicators being used to assess health risks related to climate change. After removing overlaps and combining similar measures, researchers identified 1,684 unique indicators.

These indicators covered climate hazards, population exposure, vulnerability, health outcomes, the impact on healthcare systems, future risks, and the policies and resources available to address them.

What Will Countries Measure?

Also read: Big Lancet Report: Heat-Related Deaths Rise 36% Since Paris Climate Agreement, Global Warming Blamed

Health indicators can help governments think beyond recording extreme weather events and examine their consequences for public health and healthcare systems. Some of the areas that countries could monitor include:

• Heat-related illness and deaths: Hospital admissions, emergency visits and mortality linked to extreme temperatures.
• Infectious diseases: Changes in the geographical spread of climate-related diseases, including dengue and malaria.
• Food and water security: Malnutrition, food insecurity and illnesses linked with unsafe drinking water.
• Healthcare infrastructure: The number of hospitals vulnerable to floods, heatwaves and other extreme weather events.
• Healthcare preparedness: Availability of early warning systems, emergency response plans, trained health workers and essential emergency medicines.
• Population vulnerability: Health impacts on children, older adults, people with disabilities, outdoor workers and underprivileged communities.

What Is WHO Calling For At COP31?

WHO is using COP31 to push for stronger implementation of existing climate and health commitments. Its priorities include making healthcare systems resilient to climate change, reducing the health sector's environmental footprint and ensuring that health considerations are included in climate policies and financing decisions.

The conference will begin with a dedicated Health Day on November 9, featuring discussions on health technologies related to climate, digital health, humanitarian response and resilient healthcare systems.

WHO's November 2026 briefing estimates that 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts highly vulnerable to climate change. It also says that scaling up six climate health actions could save 1.6 million lives annually and generate around US$24 in returns for every dollar invested.

Ultimately the challenge for countries is to turn climate and health commitments into measurable improvements. Tracking heat-related deaths, diseases, healthcare preparedness and unequal health impacts can help governments understand where action is working and where gaps remain.