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COVID Vaccine Victim ‘Not Disabled Enough’ for Compensation
A nurse who was struck down with a rare neurological condition while taking part in the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine trial was denied access to compensation because she was not disabled enough. Marie-Claire Hoyle volunteered to get the vaccine in 2020, but two weeks after receiving her second dose she developed transverse myelitis, a paralysing inflammation of the spinal cord that left her in agonising pain and unable to use her limbs fully.
Her condition was so alarming that it led to a temporary worldwide shutdown of the vaccine trial while scientists evaluated the situation and assessed the severity of her symptoms. But because her condition had improved over time and she has since regained most of her lost function, the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) ruled that she did not meet the qualifying threshold of being 60 per cent disabled.
Mrs Hoyle is calling for reform of the state compensation system for people left injured by the jab. She said that the initial effect of the transverse myelitis was severe.
Mrs Hoyle said: “I lost the ability to use my hands, I couldn’t hold a pen, I couldn’t hold a toothbrush. I was completely numb from my collarbone down to my thigh level because the signals from my spine and brain had been damaged. I’ve had an MRI since and there is still damage in my spinal cord, which will never heal. I have really poor grip in my fingertips, so I constantly drop things. I still have nerve pain down the left side of my arm and numbness across my central chest and that will never resolve.”
Spontaneous Abortion Risk Higher With Some Migraine Drugs, U.S. Study Shows
Women exposed to anti-calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) monoclonal antibodies for migraine prevention early in their pregnancies had a higher risk of spontaneous abortion, retrospective U.S. data showed.
Among 7,100 pregnant migraineurs, anti-CGRP monoclonal antibody exposure was associated with a 42% higher risk of spontaneous abortion compared with no exposure (adjusted HR 1.42, 95% CI 1.12-1.80), reported Anick Bérard, PhD, of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine in Montreal, and colleagues.
Women who used propranolol for migraine prevention did not have this risk (adjusted HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.71-1.47), Bérard and co-authors wrote in JAMA Neurology.
“Our study is the first large-scale study looking at the safety of anti-CGRP during pregnancy for the prevention of chronic migraine,” Bérard told MedPage Today.
Man Claims He Went Blind After Taking Ozempic, Shares Warning for Other Users
A Maryland man claims that a popular weight-loss drug caused his total vision loss, leaving him legally blind. Todd Engel, 63, was first prescribed Ozempic in 2023 to help manage his diabetes.
The GLP-1 medication, which is approved to treat type 2 diabetes, is also commonly prescribed off-label for weight loss. Approximately four months after starting the medication, Engel was diagnosed with nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).
The condition, in which reduced blood flow damages the optic nerve, can cause sudden and permanent vision loss. “I first noticed it on New Year’s Eve, 2024. I had just gotten out of the shower, was getting ready to go to work. And I said to Shelley, ‘I can’t see in my right eye. It’s totally black. It’s totally dark in my right eye,’” Engel told Fox News Digital during an on-camera interview. “I was horrified. I was very, very upset that I couldn’t see.”
Black Mold, Bugs Found at Chinese Plants Making GLP-1 Compounding Agents
U.S. inspectors documented egregious conditions at two Chinese factories making key components for compounded GLP-1 drugs popular in America, including black mold on equipment and “gross contamination” on floors at one plant.
The inspectors caught employees trying to hide paperwork and furtively pouring out product samples at that plant and evidence of bogus documentation at the other, according to reports obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request.
The two companies manufactured semaglutide and tirzepatide — the active ingredients in weight-loss blockbusters from Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly & Co. — for custom-made versions that aren’t approved for sale by regulators nor reviewed for safety or effectiveness.
BioNTech’s mRNA Cancer Vaccine Falls Short of Goal in Trial
A messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine against cancer failed to meet a primary goal of a late-stage clinical trial, the shot’s manufacturer said on Oct. 13. The experimental vaccine, known as BNT113, fell short of its primary endpoint of survival without progression of cancer, German-based BioNTech said in a statement.
The phase 2/phase 3 clinical trial grouped patients into two groups. One received BNT113 and pembrolizumab, a cancer immunotherapy from Merck. The other received only pembrolizumab.
Trial participants had head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that had either spread through the body or involved a tumor that could not be operated on. The type of cancer is the seventh most common cancer type across the world. They also tested positive for human papillomavirus (HPV) 16.
WHO Experts Recommend HPV Shot for Girls Aged 4–8
The World Health Organization’s vaccine experts recommended Tuesday that countries consider routine vaccination against HPV in girls as young as 4, provided it helps improve lagging vaccine coverage.
Some 165 countries have introduced the human papillomavirus vaccine, said Anthony Scott, who chairs the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE).
“However, the global HPV vaccine coverage, at 33%, is far short of the global target we’re looking for, which is 90%,” he told reporters. HPV vaccination is a priority for all girls aged 9 to 14, according to the WHO.
CVS Settles Justice Department Case Over Opioid Prescriptions for $315M
CVS Health has agreed to pay $315 million to resolve allegations that the pharmacy chain operator unlawfully filled medically unnecessary prescriptions for addictive opioid painkillers, the US Justice Department said on Oct. 13. The settlement resolves a case the department announced in 2024 that sought to hold CVS responsible for its role in dispensing massive quantities of dangerous drugs like opioids that were at the heart of a nationwide addiction epidemic.
The lawsuit alleged that CVS since 2013 had illegally filled prescriptions for opioids and other narcotics in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act and then sought payment from federal healthcare programs like Medicare in violation of the False Claims Act.
As part of the settlement, CVS entered into an agreement with the Drug Enforcement Administration under which the chain would establish processes to monitor and receive reports of potentially illegal dispensing in its pharmacies and evaluate doctors suspected of illegally prescribing opioids.
