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Trump and RFK Jr. Told Pregnant Women to Stop Using Tylenol. It’s Happening
Last September, President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that women using acetaminophen, best known as the brand name drug Tylenol, during pregnancy could be raising their children’s risk of autism. Many outside scientists quickly denounced the claim as based on weak evidence.
Research out this week, however, shows at least some doctors and pregnant women have since heeded Trump’s warning to stay away from the over-the-counter pain and fever medication. Scientists studied the medical records of people across the U.S. who visited emergency departments or outpatient clinics last year. They found the use of acetaminophen among pregnant women in the ER dropped following the Trump announcement.
Meanwhile, prescriptions of leucovorin for children, a drug now touted as an autism treatment by the White House with little supporting data, rose during the same time.
“Although causal claims cannot be made, the observed associations are consistent with influence of new FDA recommendations on clinical decisions,” the authors wrote in their paper, published Thursday in the Lancet.
What One Adderall Pill Does to the Heart Within Hours of Use
A single dose of amphetamine-dextroamphetamine (Adderall) had acute cardiovascular effects for healthy young people not regularly using it, a small controlled study found.
Resting systolic blood pressure (BP) increased significantly, from 116 to 126 mm Hg at 3 hours after a 25-mg dose. Also rising significantly were diastolic BP (from 72 to 78 mm Hg), heart rate (from 60 to 70 beats/min), and plasma norepinephrine (from 215 to 301 pg/mL), reported Anna Svatikova, MD, PhD, of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues.
Meanwhile, there were no such changes observed when healthy volunteers were given placebo. “Healthy Adderall-naive participants consuming a single dose of Adderall manifest striking increases in BP, HR [heart rate], and sympathetic activation, even at rest. These findings may have important mechanistic implications for understanding acute cardiovascular events associated with illicit Adderall use,” study authors wrote in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Moderna Agrees to Pay up to $2.25 Billion to Settle COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Dispute
Moderna has agreed to pay Genevant Sciences, a subsidiary of Roivant Sciences, and Arbutus Biopharma up to $2.25 billion to settle a long-running legal fight over the technology that made its COVID-19 vaccine possible, the companies said on Tuesday.
Under the deal, Moderna will pay $950 million upfront in July 2026, with an additional $1.3 billion that depends on the outcome of a separate legal appeal.
The deal resolves all U.S. and international legal actions accusing Moderna of using lipid nanoparticle, or LNP, a delivery technology owned by Genevant and Arbutus, without permission in its COVID vaccine. Moderna said in a press release that it would not owe the companies any royalties for LNP technology in its future vaccines under the agreement.
Lipid nanoparticles act as a tiny protective shell that helps fragile mRNA molecules reach human cells intact, allowing the vaccine to work as intended.
New Analysis of GLP-1 Drugs Suggests People Who Stopped Using Medications Regained 60% of Weight Lost
New research is taking a closer look at what can happen a year or more after people stop taking GLP-1 medications.
A new systematic review published in the journal eClinicalMedicine on Wednesday examined 48 studies that analyzed and predicted the outcomes of people who either had diabetes or were overweight or obese and took popular GLP-1 medications such as liraglutide (under brand names such as Victoza and Saxenda), semaglutide (under brand names such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus) and tirzepatide (under brand names like Mounjaro and Zepbound).
For people who stopped taking GLP-1 weight-loss medications, patients regained about 60% of the weight they lost within a year, according to the review’s analysis. When researchers used computer statistical modeling to see what could happen after more than a year off of the medications, it suggested those patients could regain about 75% of the weight they had lost.
Merck Identifies More Than 150 Redundancies in North Carolina as Vaccine Sales Plummet
BioProcess International reported:
Last month, large pharmaceutical conglomerate Merck filed a worker adjustment and retraining notification (WARN) notice with North Carolina’s Department of Commerce, announcing over 150 redundancies at its facilities in Durham county. Most job losses occurred at the Old Oxford Road facility, which manufactures Merck’s human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil.
Just last year, Merck committed a $1 billion investment to the Old Oxford Road plant to bolster production of the Gardasil and Gardasil-9 vaccines. However, according to the WARN notice submitted by plant manager Amanda Taylor, Gardasil production would cease at the Durham facility due to “the recent worldwide reduction in demand for this product.”
According to an annual financial report filed by Merck on February 24, 2026, Gardasil sales have significantly declined. This is despite the HPV vaccination being its second most revenue-generating product behind Keytruda, an immunotherapy used for cancer.
Universal Vaccine Blocks Viruses, Bacteria, and Allergies With a Nasal Spray
As vital as vaccines are, they can be frustratingly selective about their targets.
Scientists from institutions across the US have now developed a strikingly “universal” vaccine, which has protected mice against a range of viruses, bacteria, and even allergies.
The new GLA-3M-052-LS+OVA vaccine can be delivered as a nasal spray. Three doses protected mice from infection from SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses for three months, and reduced the viral load in their lungs 700-fold, compared to unvaccinated mice. The vaccine also accelerated the mice’s immune response to SARS-CoV-2. While their lungs’ adaptive immune systems typically take up to two weeks to respond to the virus, those with the vaccine took as little as three days to launch a counter-attack.
In follow-up tests, the vaccine was also found to protect the animals against bacterial infections. That included Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii, both of which are often acquired in hospital settings and are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
UK Poultry to Receive Bird Flu Vaccination in Major Trial
Britain has commenced targeted trials for a bird flu vaccine in turkeys, marking a notable shift in its approach to controlling a disease that has ravaged flocks and compelled some countries to adopt similar techniques to reduce losses.
The pervasive spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly referred to as bird flu, is a significant concern for governments and the poultry industry. Its capacity to devastate flocks, inflate food prices, and the potential risk of a new pandemic are all pressing issues.
Globally, major poultry producers have largely resisted vaccination strategies due to fears that such measures could conceal the virus’s spread and jeopardise export markets. However, the UK trials, expected to run for 24 weeks, aim to assess the effectiveness of authorised vaccines in real-world conditions.
Pfizer Breaks Into Obesity Market in China With Approval for Sciwind-Partnered GLP-1
Less than two weeks after Pfizer struck a deal with a Chinese drugmaker to gain commercial rights to a GLP-1 drug, the country’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved the treatment for patients with obesity. With the endorsement of injected Xianweiying, Pfizer has broken into the weight-loss market and done so in the world’s largest country, which has a growing obesity problem.
Last month, Pfizer signed on with Hangzhou-based Sciwind Biosciences in a deal worth up to $495 million between upfront and potential milestone payments. In that deal, Pfizer gained marketing rights in China to the GLP-1 compound ecnoglutide, which was also approved by the NMPA five weeks ago as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes and is dubbed Xianyida in that indication.
Under the terms of the deal, Sciwind will continue to lead the R&D of ecnoglutide and the manufacturing and supply of the treatment.
US FDA Approves Johnson & Johnson’s Blood Cancer Drug After Speedy Review
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Johnson & Johnson’s treatment for a type of blood cancer, making it the third drug cleared under the agency’s new speedy review program. The health regulator approved the use of Tecvayli in combination with Johnson & Johnson’s Darzalex in patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior line of therapy.
This was one of the 18 drugs selected so far for the FDA Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher Program that allows a speedy process and cuts the review time to one to two months from the typical 10 to 12 months. The decision was issued 55 days after filing, the agency said.
