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I Lost My Son to OxyContin. ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ Is My Sackler Revenge Fantasy
I had read a short article a while back on this show marrying some of Edgar Allan Poe’s short horror stories with a modern family whose pharmaceutical company has made a fortune selling a highly addictive opioid that it promises is not habit-forming. However, it didn’t instantly make my must-watch list, like “Dopesick” and “Painkiller” did, because I’m not a fan of horror and it’s fictional.
In an early courtroom scene, the prosecutor says that no one in the “Usher crime family” has faced any consequences for what they have done. “Sackler cartel!” I thought — that’s what I call those who served on the board of Purdue Pharma, the family-owned and felony-convicted company that, unbelievably, continues to make OxyContin.
In the two decades since I began my journey as an activist, I’ve spoken with literally thousands of parents, spouses, children, and other loved ones who lost someone to this manmade, greed-fueled plague. A fictional piece of horror has described this real-life terror in a way I had not seen before.
The final episode offers a breathtaking visual portrayal of the lives lost in the opioid epidemic. The numbers surrounding the opioid crisis are impossible to comprehend: In 2021 alone, more than 80,000 people died from opioid overdoses. From 1999 to 2021, almost 645,000 have died. And those numbers are likely undercounts.
Drugmakers Are Set to Pay 23andMe Millions to Access Consumer DNA
GSK Plc will pay 23andMe Holding Co. $20 million for access to the genetic-testing company’s vast trove of consumer DNA data, extending a five-year collaboration that’s allowed the drugmaker to mine genetic data as it researches new medications.
Under the new agreement, 23andMe will provide GSK with one year of access to anonymized DNA data from the approximately 80% of gene-testing customers who have agreed to share their information for research, 23andMe said in a statement Monday. The genetic testing company will also provide data-analysis services to GSK.
The idea for drugmakers is to comb the data for hints about genetic pathways that might be at the root of disease, which could significantly speed up the long, slow process of drug development. GSK and 23andMe have already taken one potential medication to clinical trials: a cancer drug that works to block CD96, a protein that helps modulate the body’s immune responses. It entered that testing phase in four years, compared to an industry average of about seven years. Overall, the partnership between GSK and 23andMe has produced more than 50 new drug targets, according to the statement.
The new agreement changes some components of the collaboration. Any discoveries GSK makes with the 23andMe data will now be solely owned by the British pharmaceutical giant, while the genetic-testing company will be eligible for royalties on some projects. In the past, the two companies pursued new drug targets jointly. GSK’s new deal with 23andMe is also non-exclusive, leaving the genetic-testing company free to license its database to other drugmakers.
The ‘Silent Pandemic’ Is Now Screaming at America’s Children
Antibiotics used to treat common childhood ailments are becoming less and less effective, according to a new study. Many of the antibiotics often used to treat infections like pneumonia, sepsis (bloodstream infections), and meningitis, which children often contract, are now less than 50% effective, the study published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health — Southeast Asia said.
The worst affected regions by this reduced efficacy are Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including Indonesia and the Philippines. Antibiotics in the United States are also getting less and less effective.
“It is already affecting us in the U.S. This has been deemed a silent pandemic,” André O. Hudson, a professor of biochemistry at Rochester Institute of Technology, told Newsweek.
Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, is one of the top ten public health threats, according to the World Health Organization. Illnesses like sepsis kill over 500,000 newborns worldwide every year, with many of these being attributed to antibiotic resistance.
The more we use antibiotics, the more pressure we put on the organisms to evolve resistance. The wide use of antimicrobials in agriculture to protect crops and animals, as well as the uncontrolled access to antibiotics in some parts of the world where no prescriptions are needed, has led to widespread resistance.
U.S. Survey Reveals Growing Distrust of Vaccines, Embrace of Untruths
A survey of U.S. adults demonstrates eroding confidence in vaccines and more willingness to accept misinformation about vaccines and COVID-19 over the last 2 years, according to results released today by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) at the University of Pennsylvania.
The center fielded its 13th nationally representative public health survey to more than 1,500 adults from October 5 to 12, 2023, finding that the proportion of respondents who believe in the safety of vaccines fell from 77% in April 2021 to 71% in fall 2023. Over the same period, the percentage of respondents who believe approved vaccines are unsafe jumped from 9% to 16%.
News organizations, public health officials, scientists, and fact-checkers (including APPC’s project FactCheck.org) have attempted to disprove misinformation about vaccination and COVID-19, yet 26% of respondents said they still believe that the antiparasitic drug ivermectin is effective against COVID-19, up from 10% in September 2021.
The U.S. Infant Mortality Rate Rose Last Year. The CDC Says It’s the Largest Increase in Two Decades
The U.S. infant mortality rate rose 3% last year — the largest increase in two decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
White and Native American infants, infant boys and babies born at 37 weeks or earlier had significant death rate increases. The CDC’s report, published Wednesday, also noted larger increases for two of the leading causes of infant deaths — maternal complications and bacterial meningitis.
Dr. Eric Eichenwald, a Philadelphia-based neonatologist, called the new data “disturbing,” but said experts at this point can only speculate as to why a statistic that generally has been falling for decades rose sharply in 2022.
The increase may seem small, but it’s the first statistically significant jump in the rate since the increase between 2001 and 2002, said Danielle Ely, the CDC report’s lead author. She also said researchers could not establish whether the 2022 rise was a one-year statistical blip — or the beginning of a more lasting trend.
FDA Takes First Step to Protect Children From Medications That Look and Taste Like Candy
Is that gummy a vitamin or candy? It can be hard to tell, especially for children. Since 2019, there’s been a spike in the number of children younger than 4 who were taken to the emergency room for ingesting gummy multivitamins and over-the-counter sleep aids like melatonin.
That’s why the Food and Drug Administration convened a meeting of experts Monday to discuss what, exactly, makes a drug “candy-like.”
The experts, who included more than a dozen doctors, drugmakers and poison control center directors, noted that risks of candy-like drugs being accidentally ingested depended on taste, packaging and how the products were formulated, such as chewable gummies versus hard tablets that must be swallowed.
Data presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the root cause of many accidental ingestions by children was the practice of adults leaving the medications outside of containers, with many children unaware if they were medications or sweet treats.
Amid COVID Slump, Pfizer Turns Attention to RSV Launch and a Potential Future in Obesity
As COVID revenues dwindle for pandemic stalwart Pfizer, the company is turning attention to its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine launch and a potential entry into the hot obesity market.
With only five months of sales under its belt, Pfizer’s RSV vaccine Abrysvo is “doing better than we thought,” Chief Commercial Officer Angela Hwang said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call, touting “very fast uptake” for the new shot.
After a pair of approvals in late May and August, Abrysvo pulled in revenues of $375 million during the third quarter, Pfizer said Tuesday.
Earlier this year, the shot won FDA nods to immunize older adults and then as a maternal vaccination to protect infants. In both settings, the Pfizer offering is facing off against Big Pharma competition.
Unlike Pfizer, Moderna Can Meet 2023 COVID Forecast, Analysts Say
Moderna (MRNA.O) should hit the lower end of its sales target for this year as it only needs to tap a small portion of the private market with its COVID vaccine to reach that goal, according to industry analysts.
Around 20 million people need to be vaccinated with Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine for the company to reach $2 billion in 2023 sales from the private market, a figure four analysts told Reuters was achievable. The company has said it expects total U.S. COVID vaccine demand to be as much as 100 million doses in the fall season.
Moderna forecasts $6 billion to $8 billion for sales of its COVID-19 vaccine in 2023, $2 billion to $4 billion of which is expected to come from the commercial market. Previously signed government contracts would account for the rest.
That forecast was called into question last month when Pfizer (PFE.N) lowered its full-year outlook for sales of its COVID-19 shot by about $2 billion due to lower-than-expected vaccination rates.
Already Nearing Blockbuster Status, GSK’s RSV Vaccine Arexvy Outdueled Pfizer Rival in First Round of Clash
Besides Pfizer’s fast-declining COVID-19 sales, vaccine rival GSK is giving the New York drugmaker another reason to worry.
In the first round of their RSV vaccine showdown, GSK’s Arexvy pulled down 709 million pounds ($860 million) in the third quarter, more than doubling the $375 million haul from Pfizer’s Abrysvo during the same period.
In what GSK CEO Emma Walmsley called an “outstanding U.S. launch,” Arexvy sales came in nearly 100% above Wall Street analysts’ expectations.
After approvals earlier this year, both vaccines are being launched into their first RSV season. The FDA cleared the two shots to prevent RSV in individuals 60 years of age and older in May, with GSK 28 days ahead of Pfizer.
At retail sites, which comprise the majority of the older-adult RSV market, Arexvy is getting two-thirds of the share in the U.S., Walmsley said.
Antibiotic, Heartburn Drug Use During Pregnancy and Infancy May Increase Risk of Digestive Problems: Study
Side effects of antibiotics and a popular class of heartburn medication, including drugs like Nexium Prilosec and Prevacid, during pregnancy or early infancy may increase the risk of developing a serious type of digestive problem, according to the findings of a new study.
Infants and mothers who took antibiotics and heartburn drugs faced an increased risk of suffering from eosinophilic esophagitis, according to findings published this week in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics.
According to the findings, maternal and infant use of antibiotics was linked with an increased risk of developing eosinophilic esophagitis. The risk of eosinophilic esophagitis was also increased for mothers and children who took acid suppressants, commonly called antacids, such as Prilosec and Nexium.
