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Pfizer RSV Vaccine That Protects Infants Could Receive FDA Approval This Summer
Pfizer’s vaccine that protects infants from respiratory syncytial virus could receive Food and Drug Administration approval by the end of this summer.
Pfizer on Tuesday said the FDA is reviewing the vaccine on an expedited basis. The agency is expected to make a decision on whether to clear the shot in August, just before respiratory virus season.
The single-dose vaccine is administered to expectant mothers in the late second-to-third trimester of their pregnancy. The antibodies triggered by the shot are passed to the fetus and protect infants against RSV from birth through the first six months of life when they are most vulnerable.
No vaccine to protect against RSV exists now. Infants younger than six months are also too young to receive most shots recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prescription Drugs, Placebos and Harmful Effects: Unlocking Big Pharma’s Secrets
“Forbidden Knowledge: A Self-Advocate’s Guide to Managing your own Prescription Drugs” is a study of the pharmaceutical industry’s influence. Terence H. Young, a former Ontario MPP and federal MP, founded the non-profit Drug Safety Canada after his 15-year-old daughter Vanessa died. Her death was due to a heart arrhythmia caused by Johnson & Johnson’s prescription drug Prepulsid.
Through his book, Young is seeking to reveal what patients need to know about prescription drugs and what they can do. “In my journey, I’ve unearthed four key secrets — fundamental truths — that the Big Pharma wizards keep to themselves as forbidden knowledge from patients. These truths enable them to mesmerize and befuddle worldly and intelligent people from all walks of life worldwide to induce them to take their risky potions.
“The fourth truth is the one that enables the plague of serious adverse effects and allows Big Pharma to continue business as usual. I learned this truth the hard way. It’s the most important secret of all. Big Pharma never admits its drugs cause serious harm, even after they’re pulled off the market for killing thousands of patients. Its corporations fight plaintiffs in court for years.”
Reckitt Recalls Baby Formula Over Possible Contamination With Deadly Bacteria
Nutrition product manufacturer Reckitt is voluntarily recalling baby formula after the product was possibly contaminated with Cronobacter sakazakii, a bacteria that can be life-threatening among young children.
The company says it is recalling two batches of ProSobee 12.9 oz. Simply Plant-Based Infant Formula out of “an abundance of caution” and that “all product distributed went through extensive testing and tested negative for the bacteria.”
Cronobacter sakazakii is the same bacteria that caused several infections among infants last year, leading to an FDA investigation of formula maker Abbott Laboratories. Abbott has denied any direct link to the cases, two of which involved children who died. Abbott issued a voluntary recall and shuttered a plant for months, contributing to a nationwide formula shortage.
Pharmaceutical Companies Do Have a Morality Crisis
Even though Moderna now says its coronavirus vaccine will be free, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is correct in his assessment that a “morality crisis” has overtaken the pharmaceutical industry. Although a 2021 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that Americans gave top priority to lowering drug prices, adequate relief has not arrived.
Why does the industry raise drug prices exorbitantly here — yet not in other countries? A 2021 Rand report found that prescription drug prices in the United States were more than twice those in 32 other nations.
A 2020 House Oversight Committee report found pricing decisions here driven by revenue and earnings goals and as a tool to boost profits.
The committee revealed, for instance, that the cost of a multiple sclerosis drug was increased in the United States by 60% when its manufacturer faced pressure to reduce its price in Europe. And a cancer drug’s price had increased more than 20 times since its launch in 2005, while company profits rose to an astounding $4 billion in 2018.
New Idaho Bill Would Criminalize Anyone Administering COVID mRNA Vaccines
If two Idaho state lawmakers get their way, it would become a criminal misdemeanor to administer a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in Idaho. Yep, you heard that correctly. State Senator Tammy Nichols and State Representative Judy Boyle, both Republicans, have co-sponsored House Bill (HB) 154 for Idaho, otherwise known as the “Gem State.” Yeah, this bill is quite a gem if you’ve been collecting all of the “WTF” moments from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yes, apparently, Nichols wants to ban all mRNA technology from the state of Idaho. But wait until you see whom she wants to punish. This bill itself didn’t have a whole lot of verbiage. It simply stated that “A person may not provide or administer a vaccine developed using messenger ribonucleic acid technology for use in an individual or any other mammal in this state.” So in other words, this would apply to giving mRNA vaccines not only to humans but also to other mammals such as bighorn sheep if you were so inclined. The next line clarified that “A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
HB 154 didn’t specifically mention COVID-19 probably because Nichols and Boyle seem to be trying to target future mRNA vaccines as well. Researchers, biotech companies, and pharmaceutical companies have been working on mRNA vaccines to prevent other types of infectious diseases such as the flu as well as cancer.
Presumably, such future mRNA vaccines would have to go through the full testing and approval process that other vaccines and medications would go through before reaching the market. If such mRNA vaccines prove to be effective against other such problems. this HB154, should it become a law, could hinder the Idaho population’s ability to access such technology.
BioNTech Sees U.K. Trials on Cancer Vaccines Starting This Year, Paper Says
Clinical trials for BioNTech’s (22UAy.DE) cancer vaccines should start this year in Britain, marking an important step towards their possible sale on the open market, the German company’s top executive Ugur Sahin told magazine Der Spiegel.
BioNTech, known for its COVID vaccine with U.S. partner Pfizer (PFE.N), is currently deciding which types of cancer it wants to test its personalized cancer immunotherapies on and the locations where it will conduct the trials, Sahin said.
The company wants these therapies, which are based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology similar to the one that underpins its COVID-19 vaccine, to soon become a regular treatment for cancer patients.
Develop Vaccines for All Animal Influenza Strains, Says Incoming WHO Chief Scientist
Governments should invest in vaccines for all strains of influenza virus that exist in the animal kingdom as an insurance policy in case of an outbreak in humans, the incoming chief scientist at the World Health Organization said on Monday.
Countries ranging from the United States and Britain to France and Japan have suffered record losses of poultry in outbreaks of avian flu in the past year.
The recent spread to mammals of H5N1 — commonly known as bird flu — needed to be monitored, but the risk to humans remained low, the WHO said earlier this month.
Incoming WHO chief scientist Jeremy Farrar said he would like to see the pharmaceutical industry at least conduct some clinical trials for all influenza strains such that the world would not have to start from scratch to initiate global manufacturing should the need arise.
‘Amazing Coincidence’ Moderna Offered Free Vaccines When Asked to Testify, Bernie Sanders Says
It “maybe was just a wild and crazy coincidence” drug company Moderna announced a plan to give free COVID vaccines to uninsured Americans right as a Senate committee asked them to testify — but it was “a step in the right direction,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday.
“Amazing coincidence, that happened the same exact day we announced that we were inviting them to testify,” Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
The committee last week asked Moderna’s CEO, Stéphane Bancel, to appear in a panel next month examining proposed plans to raise the COVID vaccine’s list price to $110 to $130 per dose.
Moderna on Wednesday said people in the U.S. will be able to access vaccines “regardless of ability to pay.”
Merck’s COVID Pill Fails to Prevent Infection Among Household Members
Merck & Co Inc. (MRK.N) said on Tuesday its COVID-19 pill was not effective at cutting the risk of coronavirus infections in people living with someone infected with the virus.
The results were similar to data from rival Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N), whose COVID pill Paxlovid also failed to prevent infections among household contacts.
The two antiviral drugs are approved as treatments for individuals at risk of severe disease, but enthusiasm for the Merck pill has waned since it was shown to be only 30% effective versus 90% for Pfizer’s Paxlovid.
