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Fentanyl’s Littlest Victims: Dozens of Babies, Toddlers Die in Missouri and Kansas
The Kansas City Star reported:
In KC, and across both Missouri and Kansas, dozens of little children have died from the illicit drug in the past three years, The Star has found in an ongoing investigation into the toll fentanyl has taken on our community. This report on our youngest victims launches an extensive project that will include community outreach and stories about the broader impact of fentanyl on the Kansas City area and the challenges of policing the problem.
Unlike other drug crises, including crack, these children aren’t suffering from debilitating addictions because their parents were using; they are dying of actual fentanyl overdoses. The babies and toddlers — ages 4 and under — have come across the synthetic opioid and its residue in their homes, inside hotel rooms and even at a city park.
Their deaths have largely gone unnoticed, ending up as statistics inside annual state reports on child deaths or in records kept by county medical examiners. Most of the attention on fentanyl has focused on teens or young adults and the awareness that “one pill can kill.”
But last year alone, seven children in Jackson County ages 2 and under died from fentanyl — three of them within one week last spring, records obtained by The Star revealed. Across the state line three years ago, another toddler, age 2, died in Johnson County and a 9-month-old died in Leavenworth County of fentanyl intoxication.
First on CNN: HHS Awards More Than $500 Million to Study COVID Vaccine Nasal Sprays and More
In the future, some COVID-19 vaccines may not be jabs in the arm. They could be a nasal spray or even a patch on the skin. Those are just two examples of the kind of next-generation vaccine technology that federal health officials are hoping to help advance.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday that it has selected three initial next-generation vaccine candidates to receive funding awards to help kick-start planning for Phase 2b clinical trials, slated to begin as early as this winter. Two of those studies involve intranasal vaccine candidates, and one involves a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine candidate.
HHS announced more than $500 million in awards to help advance the development of potential vaccines and therapeutics, which includes those initial three vaccine candidates.
The funding — part of Project NextGen, a $5 billion government initiative to develop new and more durable COVID-19 vaccines and treatments — builds on the more than $1.4 billion that was awarded in August.
Pfizer Trims Expectations for 2023 With Sales of COVID Vaccine, Treatment, Weaker Than Thought
Shares of Pfizer are in retreat on the first day of trading after the drug company said sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and its coronavirus treatment are weaker than it had expected and cut revenue projections by $9 billion for the year.
Falling sales of both clipped sales in the second quarter, but Pfizer said in August that it expected a rebound in the second half of 2023.
Shares of Pfizer slipped more than 1% before the opening bell Monday and Moderna, which is heavily reliant on the competing vaccine it makes, slid nearly 5%.
Full-year revenue for Paxlovid and Comirnaty is expected to be approximately $12.5 billion, short $9 billion of what it had expected.
Americans Will Spend Half Their Lives Taking Prescription Drugs: Penn State Study
If you’re an American, you’re probably on drugs — or will be someday soon. A new study reveals that people born in the U.S. today will spend about half of their lives taking prescription drugs. And for women, the figure is closer to 60% of their lives.
And it’s not just one drug: Polypharmacy — when a person takes five or more drugs at the same time — has risen to alarming levels. In the mid-1990s, most people taking prescription medicine were on one drug. But today, people taking prescription meds are likely to be taking five or more drugs simultaneously.
“There’s a large body of research that shows Americans are less healthy and live shorter lives than our counterparts in other high-income countries,” said study author Dr. Jessica Ho of the Pennsylvania State University. “The prescription drug piece is part and parcel of that reality. What we find is, even above and beyond what we might expect to be seeing, the rates of prescription drug use in the United States are extraordinarily high.”
EU Delays Approval of Novavax’s Revised COVID Vaccine
European Union (EU) regulators have delayed a decision to give approval for Novavax‘s (NVAX.O) variant-tailored COVID-19 vaccine, the company said on Sunday.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has requested more information from Novavax on the shot, which targets the XBB variant, the company said.
EMA director Emer Cooke said in September that it expected to decide on the use of the vaccine this month. The agency is expected to give its approval within four weeks, according to the FT report.
Novavax said on Friday that its updated COVID-19 vaccine was available at U.S. pharmacies such as CVS (CVS.N) and Rite Aid (RAD.N), a week after it received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use in individuals aged 12 years and older.
A New ‘Fentanyl Fighter’ Hits a Market Crowded With Overdose Reversal Drugs
More than four months after the Food and Drug Administration approved the overdose reversal medication Opvee, the manufacturer, Indivior, has started shipping the life-saving drug to first responders and pharmacies.
Opvee, a nasal spray version of the drug nalmefene, works by blocking opioid receptors in the brain to quickly reverse the effects of an overdose. The rescue medication is approved for people 12 and older and requires a prescription.
The antidote arrives in a crowded market of overdose reversal drugs. Narcan, a nasal spray version of naloxone, is purchased and stocked by public health departments, schools, police and fire departments and federal agencies nationwide. And last month, chain retailers CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and others began selling Narcan over the counter without a prescription.
New Coalition to Target Viral Spillovers
The Lancet and the Coalition for Preventing Pandemics at the Source yesterday announced that they have convened the new Commission on Prevention of Viral Spillover.
This commission strives to mobilize decision-makers to act to limit viral spillovers through research, policy, law, and practice, reducing the risk of future pandemics. The commission said viral spillovers between animals and humans have been the source of five viral pandemics in the last century (1918 influenza, 1957–58 influenza, 1968 influenza, 2009 influenza, and HIV), and more recently, COVID-19.
The initial goals of the coalition are to conduct original research and publish a comprehensive report in 2 to 3 years on viral spillover prevention. A total of 28 experts are on the commission, from fields ranging from epidemiology, veterinary medicine, and food systems management.
UNICEF Plans for Malaria Vaccine Purchase
Today UNICEF announced it would purchase a supply of the world’s second malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, in a deal to inoculate children in vulnerable regions. The 4-year deal is contingent on pre-qualification of the product from the World Health Organization (WHO).
R21/Matrix-M follows RTS,S, the first approved malaria vaccine anticipated to start being used later this year. They are the first two vaccines to target a parasitic disease and are the result of 35 years of research and development.
UNICEF is the world’s largest vaccine purchaser, buying more than 2 billion doses of vaccines annually for routine childhood immunizations in 100 countries around the world.
