Miss a day, miss a lot. Subscribe to The Defender's Top News of the Day. It's free.

Most U.S. Adults Are Declining COVID Boosters as CDC Warns of Health Risks: ‘Relatively Little Protection’

Fox News reported:

Adults who aren’t current on their COVID-19 vaccine booster doses may have “relatively little remaining protection” against hospitalization compared to those who haven’t been vaccinated at all, suggests a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The study spanned multiple states and examined more than 85,000 hospitalizations of people with “COVID-like illness.”

Despite the CDC’s September 2022 recommendation that all vaccinated people 12 years and older should receive a booster dose, the vast majority of Americans have not received it.

As of May 10, 2023, only 1 in 5 (20.5%) U.S. adults had received a bivalent booster dose. And most of that group had received their last vaccine dose more than a year ago, the CDC reported in the study findings. “Uptake has been quite low,” Dr. Marc Siegel, professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Fox News Digital.

Cancer Vaccines Poised to Unlock ‘New Treatment Paradigm’ With Merck/Moderna Data

Reuters reported:

Adding an experimental mRNA-based vaccine from Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) and Merck & Co (MRK.N) reduced the risk that the most deadly skin cancer would spread by 65% over treatment with an immunotherapy alone in a midstage trial, the companies reported on Monday.

The results, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, follow earlier promising data from the trial showing the customized mRNA vaccine given in combination with Merck’s Keytruda cut the risk of death or recurrence of melanoma by 44% compared with Keytruda alone.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that mRNA technology, which rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, can be used to assemble personalized vaccines that train the immune system to attack the specific type of cancer cells in a patient’s tumors.

Scientists have been chasing the dream of vaccines to treat cancer for decades with few successes. Experts say mRNA vaccines, which can be produced in as little as eight weeks, paired with drugs that rev up the immune system may lead to a new generation of cancer therapies.

FDA Allows Temporary Import of Unapproved Chinese Cancer Drug to Ease U.S. Shortage

CNBC reported:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the temporary importation of an unapproved chemotherapy drug from China in an effort to ease an acute shortage of cancer drugs in the United States, according to an update posted to the agency’s website Friday.

Qilu Pharmaceutical, which makes and markets cisplatin injections in China, received FDA permission to export the drug to the U.S. market weeks ago, a document shows.

Cisplatin is a generic drug that has been available for decades in the U.S. and is distributed by several approved manufacturers. Those manufacturers have been unable to keep up with demand. Qilu’s version of cisplatin is not approved in the U.S.

Ticks Die When They Bite Him. This Man’s Immunity to Ticks Could Pave the Way for a Tick Vaccine.

Insider reported:

When ticks bite Richard Ostfeld, they die — not because he’s particularly vigilant about squishing them, but because his immune system attacks as soon as it senses their presence.

He is one of the rare individuals who has developed acquired tick resistance. Some humans and animals develop tick immunity naturally as they encounter ticks in their lives.

There have not been any studies in which scientists have induced ATR in humans. But Ostfeld said some research labs are looking into the possibility. It’s just a tricky process, given that a vaccine could trigger an auto-immune response if it attacks the immune system too broadly.

The Lyme disease vaccine currently in development would only protect against the bacteria Lyme borreliosis, meaning you could still get other tick-borne diseases. But a vaccine against tick saliva could theoretically teach your body to kill ticks, protecting you against all the pathogens inside them.

HPV Vaccine Caused POTS, Fibromyalgia and Other Complications, Gardasil Lawsuit Alleges

AboutLawsuits.com reported:

According to allegations raised in a Gardasil lawsuit recently filed by a Pennsylvania woman, side effects of the HPV vaccine caused POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), fibromyalgia and other injuries to develop after receiving only one injection.

Soriely Flores filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on May 19, indicating Merck & Co. failed to adequately warn patients and the medical community about the long-term health risks that may be caused by Gardasil vaccinations.

Although families and medical providers were led to believe Gardasil was safe, a number of problems have been reported in recent years, and Merck now faces nearly 100 Gardasil lawsuits alleging that the HPV vaccine caused autoimmune problems, including POTS, gastroparesis and other debilitating side effects, which have emerged shortly after receiving the injection.

Plaintiffs claim that these injuries could have been avoided if the drug maker had adequately researched the HPV vaccine and disclosed the potential risks.

Analysis: Stelara Patent Deal Puts J&J Back on Path to $57 Billion 2025 Revenue Forecast

Reuters reported:

Johnson & Johnson‘s (JNJ.N) legal settlement with Amgen Inc (AMGN.O) to delay a biosimilar version of its blockbuster psoriasis treatment Stelara until January 2025 could make the drug a larger contributor to J&J’s 2024 and 2025 sales than Wall Street is forecasting.

Stelara, introduced in 2009, has been J&J’s top-selling drug since 2019, with sales reaching $9.7 billion in 2022. Its patents begin to expire this year, opening the door to a cheaper biosimilar entering the market, and raising expectations that the company would need to lower the $13,000 per month price of Stelara.

Analysts currently expect J&J to bring in $54.5 billion in 2025 pharmaceutical sales on average, and for Stelara sales to fall from $9.9 billion this year to $7.5 billion in 2024 after a key U.S. patent expires in September, according to Refinitiv data. Two analysts have estimated $5.4 billion for Stelara in 2025.

Ozempic, Wegovy and Pregnancy Risk: What You Need to Know About the Issue

Fox News reported:

Ozempic and Wegovy share the common side effects of nausea and appetite loss, but there is one lesser-known risk factor that isn’t mentioned nearly as often.

The two semaglutide-containing medications — Ozempic for type 2 diabetes control and Wegovy for weight loss — could also pose a serious risk to unborn babies.

Animal studies have shown that when pregnant rabbits, rats and monkeys were given semaglutide, they experienced higher rates of miscarriage, birth defects and small fetal size — information that’s included in the drug labels for both medications, which are made by Novo Nordisk in New Jersey.

Dr. Rekha Kumar, chief medical officer at the medically supported weight care program Found and a practicing endocrinologist in New York City, advises her patients to stop taking semaglutide-containing medications in the months leading up to pregnancy.