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Cancer Vaccine Trials — Using Same mRNA Tech Behind COVID Shots — Could Launch in U.K. This September
Trials of cutting-edge cancer vaccines could kick off in the U.K. as soon as September, German COVID vaccine maker BioNTech announced on Friday, part of a new government partnership to fast-track development of the same mRNA technology behind the most successful coronavirus vaccines as companies race to build upon pandemic successes and target other diseases.
As many as 10,000 cancer patients in the U.K. will be treated with personalized mRNA cancer treatments by 2030, BioNTech said in a statement, whether as part of a clinical trial testing the new therapies or as approved treatment.
Such treatments are often described as cancer vaccines because they work by training the patient’s immune system to target and attack cancer cells, the same mechanism the vaccines produced by Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna use to train the body to recognize and fight the virus causing COVID-19.
BioNTech said it will also set up a regional headquarters in London and a scientific research hub in Cambridge.
Biden Has Called for Annual COVID Booster Shots. But Is That Realistic?
U.S. News & World Report reported:
“For most Americans, one COVID shot each year will be all they need,” President Joe Biden said at the White House. “And if you get it, you’ll be protected. And if you don’t, you’re putting yourself and other people at unnecessary risk.”
He has also spread the idea on Twitter, saying: “Our nation’s experts say that most folks will only need one updated COVID vaccine to stay protected all year long. One shot, once a year. Just like flu.”
But more than three months after the Biden administration first floated the idea of an annual COVID-19 booster shot, no official policy has been announced as questions and hurdles remain.
These questions are exactly what a committee of vaccine experts will be discussing at an upcoming Food and Drug Administration meeting in late January. Among other things, they will talk about “how and whether the composition and schedule for booster doses should be adjusted moving forward.”
Stanford Medicine Scientists Pinpoint COVID Virus’s Entry and Exit Ports Inside Our Noses
Stanford Medicine News reported:
If only there were a “morning after” nasal spray that could knock out respiratory viruses’ ability to colonize your nose and throat. In a study in the print issue of Cell, Peter Jackson, Ph.D., a Stanford Medicine professor of pathology and of microbiology and immunology, and his colleagues brought that possibility closer to reality by pinpointing the routes that SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 virus, take to enter and exit cells in our nasal cavity. “Our upper airways are the launchpad not only for infection of our lungs but for transmission to others,” Jackson said.
Jackson shares senior authorship of the study — the first to describe COVID-19 nasal infection in molecular detail — with Raul Andino, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology at UC San Francisco. The lead authors are former Stanford Medicine postdoctoral scholar Chien-ting Wu, Ph.D., and graduate student Ran Cheng, along with UCSF postdoctoral scholars Peter Lidsky, Ph.D., and Yinghong Xiao, Ph.D.
The findings identify new targets for a nasally applied drug that, by impeding ciliary motion or microvilli gigantism, could prevent even unknown respiratory viruses — the kind you meet, say, at a pandemic — from making themselves at home in your nose or throat.
Jackson said substances used in these experiments could perhaps be optimized for use in, say, nasal sprays soon after a respiratory viral exposure, or as prophylactics.
Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.5 Accounts for 27.6% of U.S. COVID Cases — CDC
The Omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, is estimated to account for 27.6% of COVID-19 cases in the United States for the week ending Jan. 7, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed on Friday.
The CDC revised its estimate for the week ended Dec. 31 to say XBB.1.5 made up 18.3% of cases, not about 40% of cases. The agency did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking details about the change in estimated data.
The World Health Organization’s senior epidemiologist, Maria Van Kerkhove, earlier this week said XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible Omicron sub-variant that has been detected so far.
Biden Administration Launches Pilot Program for COVID Telehealthcare
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Thursday announced the launch of a pilot program that will allow people to receive free testing, consultation and treatment for COVID-19 from their homes.
The NIH estimated up to 8,000 eligible individuals will participate in the pilot program, called the Home Test to Treat program, which will be led by local and state officials in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Major pharmacy chains including CVS and Walgreens already offer telehealth services that can help facilitate treatments for COVID-19, and some primary care physicians also provide this option for their patients. Walgreens partnered with companies including DoorDash and Uber to offer free deliveries of COVID-19 antivirals last year.
Judge: Tennessee Must Release Consultant COVID Response Docs
A Tennessee judge has ordered Gov. Bill Lee’s administration to release consultant reports that recommend how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic — documents the state argued should remain secret under public records law.
The series of records requests, some dating back to 2020, resulted in denials and later releases of certain documents. Ultimately, the state withheld six documents and redacted parts of others, claiming they fell under a “deliberative process” privilege. The lawsuit was filed in January 2022.
“While we continue to believe that the common law deliberative process privilege should not be recognized by courts in Tennessee, we are pleased with the Court’s finding that the McKinsey records would not be covered by such a privilege and must be disclosed,” McAdoo said. “The release of this information is important to providing Tennesseans with a more complete understanding of the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The documents that the state refused to produce include one identifying key strategic issues to be addressed; two “scenario planning” documents; an “economic scenario planning” document; a file about issues and strategies for institutions under the Tennessee Higher Education Commission; and a document outlining “potential bold moves to combat COVID-19,” the judge wrote.
Here’s What People With Long COVID Need to Know About Navigating Health Insurance
Navigating the health insurance system is often difficult and overwhelming, even in the best of times. For patients with long COVID, a relatively new condition that frequently leaves patients with a lengthy and unpredictable list of debilitating symptoms, it can be especially nightmarish.
Nearly half of people with long COVID reported increased medical expenses, according to a recent survey conducted by the Patient Advocate Foundation. The nonprofit, NPAF’s sister organization, polled 64 people with the condition between 2020 and 2022. Meanwhile, 13% of respondents in the PAF survey said they’d experienced changes to their healthcare coverage as a result of long COVID.
In all, one Harvard University researcher estimated that long COVID could leave patients with an extra $9,000 a year in medical expenses. Between 2 million and 4 million full-time workers are out of the labor force due to long COVID, according to recent research from the Brookings Institution.
The Kraken COVID Variant Is Coming — but Not yet
The EU’s disease control agency has good news and bad news when it comes to XBB.1.5, the coronavirus sub-variant nicknamed Kraken that is ripping through America and keeping epidemiologists up at night.
The bad news is that XBB.1.5 is spreading quickly, most likely because it has some big advantages over the currently dominant Omicron strains. The good news is that Europe has some time to prepare for if and when cases go vertical.
“There is a possibility that this variant could have an increasing effect on the number of COVID-19 cases in the EU/EEA, but not within the coming month as the variant is currently only present in the EU/EEA at very low levels,” writes the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in its recent assessment of XBB.1.5.
For now, the sub-variant is just a blip on the radar in Europe in terms of case numbers, said the ECDC, though it has been detected in Denmark, France, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Iceland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Portugal and Ireland. Data coming out of the U.S. suggests XBB.1.5 spreads aggressively, with cases doubling every nine days.
Exclusive: China in Talks With Pfizer for Generic COVID Drug
China is in talks with Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) to secure a license that will allow domestic drugmakers to manufacture and distribute a generic version of the U.S. firm’s COVID-19 antiviral drug Paxlovid in China, three sources told Reuters.
China is in talks with Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) to secure a license that will allow domestic drugmakers to manufacture and distribute a generic version of the U.S. firm’s COVID-19 antiviral drug Paxlovid in China, three sources told Reuters.
In February last year, China approved Paxlovid, which was supposed to be largely available via hospitals, to treat high-risk patients in several provinces. Pfizer last month reached an agreement to export Paxlovid to China through a local company to make the medicine more widely available.
A Pfizer spokesperson said the company is actively collaborating with Chinese authorities and all stakeholders to secure an adequate supply of Paxlovid in China.
Moderna Signs $35 Million Deal With Cancer Drug Developer CytomX
Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O) on Thursday announced a $35 million licensing deal with cancer-focused drug developer CytomX Therapeutics (CTMX.O) to work on messenger RNA-based therapies for a wide range of diseases.
Shares of California-based CytomX rose more than 50% in extended trading. The firm will get $5 million in prepaid research funding as part of the upfront payment and it is eligible for up to about $1.2 billion in future milestone payments, the companies said in a joint statement.
The news comes a month after an experimental cancer vaccine from Moderna based on mRNA technology was shown to work against a type of skin cancer.
The deal offers CytomX access to Moderna’s mRNA technology, which has been used to develop COVID-19 vaccines, while Moderna would get access to CytomX’s Probody platform, used in the development of cancer therapies targeting diseased tissues.
Canadians’ Concern Over COVID Has Waned — and so Has Their Drive to Get Vaccinated: Poll
A majority of Canadians remain concerned about COVID-19, however, their anxieties toward the virus have softened and vary depending on age, according to a new poll. The Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News between Dec. 14 and 16, 2022, found 61% of the 1,004 adults surveyed indicated that COVID-19 is a concern and 70% disagreed with the notion the virus “is not a big deal.”
However, a clear consensus that once existed among Canadians supporting strong public health measures and showing high levels of concern appears to have softened, says Ipsos senior vice-president Sean Simpson.
As concern over SARS-CoV-2 is waning in Canada, so, too, is Canadians’ drive to get COVID-19 vaccines, according to the poll. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they had recently received a COVID-19 vaccine and another 14% said they intended to get one. But close to three in 10 said they do not intend to get a COVID-19 shot, which represents a reduction in the proportion of people who say they’re going to get the vaccine, Simpson said.
