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☆ Eli Lilly's Alzheimer's drug hits a regulatory hurdle. But our belief in the stock isn't shaken
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Eli Lilly 's (LLY) attempt to receive accelerated regulatory approval for its Alzheimer's drug donanemab has been rejected. Eli Lilly said it will keep working with the FDA to "evaluate the fastest pathway" for donanemab to reach patients. Indeed, analysts at Barclays wrote in a note to clients Thursday that "we now see [accelerated approval] off the table." LLY 1Y mountain Eli Lilly (LLY) 1-year performance "It's definitely not a thesis-breaker," Bank of America analyst Geoff Meacham told CNBC on Friday. David Ricks, CEO, Eli Lilly Scott Mlyn | CNBC

The only HIV vaccine in a late-stage trial has failed, researchers announced Wednesday, dealing a significant blow to the effort to control the global HIV epidemic and adding to a decadeslong roster of failed attempts. “I don’t think that people should give up on the field of the HIV vaccine,” Fauci said. Fauci said that a critical limitation of the Mosaico vaccine was that it elicited what are known as non-neutralizing — as opposed to neutralizing — antibodies against HIV. As with the Thai trial, the hope is to channel research findings into future HIV vaccine development. To prove a vaccine works, researchers must recruit participants who remain at substantial risk of HIV over time.

☆ The most-popular big tech default email programs are old and vulnerable
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Elizabeth Macbride | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

All over the world, organizations of all sizes, including small businesses, scrambled to upload patches and to figure out if they'd been infiltrated. Each time big software companies have changed default settings or made blanket changes with cybersecurity in mind, he points out, cybercrime fell measurably. Some of its donors are big technology companies. "Microsoft takes email security very seriously," said Girish Chander, head of Microsoft Defender for Office, in a statement to CNBC. Updating email software default settings.

☆ Sen. Bernie Sanders urges Moderna not to hike price of Covid-19 vaccines
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday urged Moderna not to quadruple the price of its Covid-19 vaccine once distribution of the shots moves to the commercial market. In a letter to Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel, Sanders called the price increase "outrageous." Private health insurance premiums would also rise as a consequence of a vaccine price hike , Sanders wrote. Pfizer is also considering raising the price of its Covid vaccine to $110 to $130 per dose. Moderna's Covid vaccine is the company's only commercially available product.

The study participants all had blood-sodium concentrations considered to be within the normal range: 135 to 146 millimoles per liter. Even people with blood-sodium levels above 142 millimoles per liter had elevated risks of developing certain chronic diseases, including heart failure, stroke, chronic lung disease, diabetes and dementia, the study found. Dmitrieva's previous research similarly found that higher blood sodium may be a risk factor for heart failure. But the study authors cautioned that more research is needed to determine whether good hydration can help slow aging, prevent disease or lead to a longer life. The NIH study "doesn’t prove that drinking more water will prevent chronic disease," he said.

Around 67% of people who took the experimental pill, called VV116, reported side effects, compared to to 77% who took Paxlovid. In the trial of VV116, more than 380 people took the experimental drug, while a similarly sized group took Paxlovid. The median time to recovery — defined as no Covid symptoms for two consecutive days — was four days for VV116 recipients and five days for those who took Paxlovid. Three-quarters of the trial participants were vaccinated, though the study found consistent results regardless of vaccine status. The National Institutes of Health recommends Paxlovid, with molnupiravir as an alternative in situations when neither Paxlovid nor remdesivir is available or appropriate.

Dec 28 (Reuters) - TG Therapeutics Inc (TGTX.O) said on Wednesday that the U.S. health regulator had approved its monoclonal antibody for treating patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, sending its shares up nearly 9% in afternoon trade. TG Therapeutics said it was expecting to launch the drug, branded as Briumvi, in the first quarter of 2023, but did not give details on its pricing. Jefferies analyst Chris Howerton said ahead of the approval that he was expecting the drug to be priced in the range of $30,000 per patient per year. Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease in which the immune system attacks the brain cells causing motor disabilities. Unlike other MS drugs that target T cells, Briumvi belongs to a class of drugs that tackles B cells' role in driving the inflammation that is central to neurological disease.

☆ TikTok banned on government devices under spending bill passed by Congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The bill includes an exception for law enforcement, national security and research purposes. TikTok has repeatedly said its U.S. user data is not based in China, though those assurances have done little to alleviate concern. While it fell short of antitrust advocates' hopes, the inclusion of the merger filing fee bill still gained praise. Miller said the bill will "significantly strengthen antitrust law for the first time since 1976." Empowering state AGs in antitrust casesAnother antitrust bill included in the package was a version of the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act.

They have found that in Puerto Rico, people have a higher propensity for Alzheimer's and part of the reason could be a genetic variant they have uncovered. While, in the U.S., 10.7% of the population age 65 and older has Alzheimer's, in Puerto Rico the number is 12.5%. In the U.S., it's the fifth-leading cause of death in those over 65 but in Puerto Rico, it ranks fourth in the same age group. It was more than three decades ago when Alzheimer’s genetic research pioneer Margaret Pericak-Vance was at Duke University that she began trying to involve more diverse populations in research. A variant only found among Hispanic CaribbeansDr. Katrina Celis, Director of Research Support Larry Adams, and Dr. Parker Bussies prepare to see Alzheimer’s patients and their families in Puerto Rico for Puerto Rico Alzheimers Disease Initiative, known as PRADI.

☆ Super Bowl-winning NFL player Ronnie Hillman dies from rare form of cancer at 31
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Drew Weisholtz | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Former Denver Broncos running back Ronnie Hillman, who helped the team win Super Bowl 50, died from a rare form of cancer, his family said Wednesday in a statement on Instagram. “It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved son, brother & father, Ronnie K Hillman Jr.,” the family said in the post. “Ronnie quietly and peacefully transitioned today in the company of his family and close friends. “As a family, we hope beyond hope, and we have faith that can move mountains,” the statement said in part. He played the first four seasons of his career with Denver, helping the team win the Super Bowl in the 2015 season.

☆ How technology helps a research-intensive medical school secure grants and attract top scientists
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Ibm With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Meeting researchers' demanding data storage requirementsEinstein partners with IBM to help meet the NIH standards and manage these huge data sets. "A leading-edge infrastructure helps us attract top research talent," said Shailesh Shenov, assistant dean for Einstein Information Technology. IBM Spectrum Scale software features an auto-tiering feature that moves less frequently used data to IBM Tape, which only powers up when it is accessed. Furthermore, the tiering contributes to our sustainability initiatives because tape storage only consumes power during reads or writes." Because it deals with highly regulated healthcare data, Einstein added IBM Data Guardium Protection to automate compliance auditing and reporting and monitor user activity.

☆ Why detransitioners are crucial to the science of gender care
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +43 min

A Canadian health provider said it couldn’t participate, citing recent threats to hospitals offering youth gender care. But as Reuters found, hard evidence on long-term outcomes for the rising numbers of people who received gender treatment as minors is very weak. Dr Marianne van der Loos, the Dutch study’s lead author, is a physician at Amsterdam University Medical Center’s Center for Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, a pioneer in gender care for adolescents. For those who also received medical treatment, detransitioning typically includes halting the hormone therapy they otherwise would receive for years. One is Max Robinson, who was 16 when she sought gender care at Kaiser in 2012.

DeSantis has made Covid-19 vaccine skepticism his calling card ahead of a potential run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The announcements Tuesday came at a roundtable focused on vaccines that DeSantis led. The risk of heart inflammation is far greater from Covid-19 than from vaccination. DeSantis last year moved to block cruise lines departing from Florida from requiring their customers to be vaccinated, and to block municipalities from imposing vaccine mandates. In June, DeSantis touted Florida’s status as the only state not to preorder vaccines for children younger than 5.

☆ Elon Musk booed off stage at a Dave Chappelle show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Elon Musk joined Dave Chappelle on stage Sunday in San Francisco, home of Twitter’s headquarters where the world’s richest person recently laid off ] many of its employees. The crowd at the Chase Center loudly booed Musk, who had spent much of the weekend wading into the culture wars, making transphobic statements and seemingly echoing QAnon tropes. Video of the incident at Sunday’s Chappelle show captured by people in attendance shows the controversial Twitter owner taking the stage and yelling Chappelle’s famous Rick James impression: “I’m rich, b***h.” Afterward, Musk got loudly booed for several minutes. That’s the sound of pending civil unrest.”After more jeers, Chappelle ended his show with a reprimand and a prayer. Musk continued his culture war campaign on Monday, once again warning about the thread of what he calls “the woke mind virus.”

☆ Elon Musk suggests Dr. Fauci should be prosecuted and mocks gender pronouns in controversial tweet — the latest in a series of statements fueling right-wing viewpoints
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk suggested that Dr. Anthony Fauci should be prosecuted in a tweet posted on Sunday. The tweet is the latest in a series of posts supporting right-wing efforts and conspiracies in recent months. "My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci," Musk wrote on Sunday in a now-viral tweet that has generated significant backlash. The tweet is the latest of several recent quips from Musk empowering right-wing viewpoints and conspiracies. "I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare," Musk wrote at the time.

☆ Fact Check-Pepto-Bismol not a proven treatment for COVID-19
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Pepto-Bismol, the familiar pink over-the-counter medicine, might be expected to ease diarrhea symptoms in people with or without COVID-19. The claim that “big pharma” is hiding the benefits of Pepto-Bismol as a treatment for COVID-19 is part of a narrative that COVID-19 was manufactured for the pharmaceutical industry as a source of profit, previously debunked by Reuters (here). Bruce Yacyshyn, an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati and co-principal investigator of the Pepto-Bismol clinical trial, told Reuters via email that there was a valid scientific reason to test the medication in the context of COVID-19. But it remained as yet an “unproven treatment” for the virus because “no placebo controlled, randomized clinical trial data is yet available for this drug in this indication.”WHY PEPTO-BISMOL? There is no scientific evidence that Pepto-Bismol provides any benefit as a treatment for COVID-19, and a clinical trial testing that question has not yet produced results.

☆ Celine Dion reveals she has stiff-person syndrome in an emotional video, postpones tour dates
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Drew Weisholtz | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Celine Dion revealed on Thursday that she has a rare medical condition that has forced her to postpone dates on her European tour next year. “As you know, I’ve always been an open book and I wasn’t ready to say anything before, but I’m ready now. “Recently, I’ve been diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder called the stiff-person syndrome, which affects something like one in a million people. I love you guys so much and I really hope I can see you again real soon.”Dion had canceled North American tour dates in January and European dates in April due to health issues. Stiff-person syndrome, or SPS, is a rare neurological disorder with some features of an autoimmune disease, according to the National Institutes of Health.

☆ Statins lower the risk of one of the deadliest kinds of strokes, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Doctors know that drugs called statins lower a person’s risk of a stroke due to a blood clot. But a new study shows that the inexpensive medications can also decrease the risk of a first stroke as a result of an intracerebral hemorrhage, the deadliest kind. People in the study who used statins for any period of time had a 17% lower risk of a stroke in the lobe areas of the brain and a 16% lower risk of a stroke in the non-lobe areas of the brain. When they used a statin for more than five years, they had a 33% lower risk of a bleeding stroke in the lobe areas and a 38% lower risk in the non-lobe areas. She said this study shows what biologically makes sense: Taking statins and keeping fatty deposits from building up in the arteries makes hemorrhagic strokes less likely.

[1/2] Test tubes are seen in front of displayed Pfizer and Biontech logos in this illustration taken, May 21, 2021. Moderna first sued Pfizer in August, accusing the company of violating its rights in three patents related to innovations that Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna said it pioneered before the COVID-19 pandemic. Moderna has also filed a related lawsuit against Pfizer and BioNTech in Germany. In its lawsuit, Moderna asked for an undisclosed amount of money damages from Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines sold since March. Pfizer and BioNTech said in their Monday filing that they developed their vaccine independently, calling Moderna's lawsuit "revisionist history" and arguing its patents "far exceed its actual contributions to the field."

But agency veterans, outside public health officials, and workplace organization experts said the current workplace structure could be a major barrier to that goal. As of early 2020, much of the workforce of the FDA and the National Institutes of Health was working remotely. Today, the NIH is mostly back in the office, but the FDA said many of its employees continue to work remotely when possible. Many people have fled the U.S. public health workforce in recent years, burned out from the covid-19 response. Benjamin said the CDC would likely have made its pandemic stumbles even if staffers hadn’t been working remotely.

☆ HIV vaccine candidate induces immune response in early clinical trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —An experimental HIV vaccine has been found to induce broadly neutralizing antibodies among a small group of volunteers in a Phase 1 study. “We know that broadly neutralizing antibodies are a potentially effective strategy to prevent HIV,” del Rio said. “However, the incorporation of many different shots into an HIV vaccine regimen is unappealing. More than 20 HIV vaccine clinical trials are ongoing around the world, according to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. But having an HIV vaccine available would make protection against the virus more accessible, he said.

☆ How almost $427 million in taxpayer money is locked away in a forgotten government fund — and lawmakers won't spend it or return it
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The intended beneficiaries of the taxpayer-fueled Presidential Election Campaign Fund — presidential candidates — don't want it, as they're soured by its restrictions on their election fundraising and spending. An accounting of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, as of October 31, 2022. Several nonprofit leaders told Insider that Congress could use the Presidential Election Campaign Fund money to immediately ease suffering, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2019-20 congressional session, two Republican lawmakers sponsored similar bills that attempted to kill the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Until that or any other repurposing decision comes down, the FEC continues to spend taxpayer resources keeping the Presidential Election Campaign Fund alive.

☆ Why long Covid could cost the U.S. nearly $4 trillion
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Emily Lorsch | Erin Black | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWhy long Covid could cost the U.S. nearly $4 trillionLong Covid is not just changing the lives of those affected, but proving to have a significant impact on the U.S. labor force and economy. About 25% of the roughly 16.3 million working-age Americans suffering from long Covid are out of work, and according to one estimate, long Covid could cost the U.S. as much as $3.7 trillion. In 2021, Congress allocated $1.15 billion to the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of the disease but many experts are saying that is not nearly enough.

☆ Fact Check-PCR test for COVID-19 uses gene cloning but cannot be used to clone humans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test kits for COVID-19 use what’s known as gene cloning – not reproductive cloning – to detect the presence or absence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but social media posts claim that humans are being cloned using COVID-19 PCR tests. The claim appears to originate from an Aug. 18 segment of the Stew Peters Show titled, “Patent PCR Test Linked To Human Cloning Video Shows Animal Experiments, Cross Species Genetics” (here). The 2015 paper by Hoseini and Sauer explains methods for gene cloning with PCR and used a gene encoding a red fluorescent protein as its example. PCR tests for COVID-19 cannot be used for human cloning. Molecular cloning, or gene cloning, that is described in a 2015 paper about using PCR to copy individual genes is an entirely different process.

☆ America’s gun epidemic is deadlier than ever, and there are vast disparities in who’s dying
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The researchers found that firearm mortality rates increased for most demographic groups in recent years – especially during the pandemic – and vast disparities persisted. With infant mortality in the United States, when you look at Black infants versus White infants, there’s over a two-fold (difference in) mortality rate. There are two key factors driving community gun violence, says Jonathan Jay, an assistant professor at Boston University School of Public Health: disadvantage at the neighborhood level and exposure to gun violence at the individual level. “Gun violence is most likely in spaces that show signs of physical disinvestment. The gun suicide rate increased 10% while the non-gun suicide rate decreased by 8%, and the gun homicide rate increased 45% while the non-gun homicide rate increased only 6%.

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