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☆ Moderna says personalized mRNA cancer vaccine is effective for advanced melanoma
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The company said a possible melanoma vaccine it is studying with pharmaceutical giant Merck fared well in a small study of patients who had the cancer surgically removed. The drugmakers said a combination of the vaccine and Merck’s immunotherapy Keytruda led to a statistically significant improvement in survival before the cancer returned in patients with advanced melanoma. “We are very excited, we are moving very quickly with Merck onto phase 3 for this study,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC Tuesday morning. Like Spikevax, the potential skin cancer vaccine uses mRNA technology. The patient group that took the potential vaccine and Keytruda saw a 44% reduction in the risk of death or the cancer returning, the companies said.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Moderna, First Solar, Pinterest, Norwegian Cruise Line and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine labels are seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021. Moderna – The drugmaker saw its stock soar 19.6% after the company issued promising data about its cancer treatment. First Solar – The solar stock added 4.5% following an announcement on Monday that it will replace Fortune Brands Home & Security in the S&P 500 . Pinterest – Shares of the social media company climbed 11.9% after Piper Sandler upgraded Pinterest to overweight from neutral. Norwegian Cruise Line – The cruise giant shed 2.8% after UBS downgraded the stock to neutral from buy.

☆ Moderna just used a personalized vaccine to treat cancer, and it could signal a major breakthrough in how we treat the disease
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Moderna's cancer vaccine lowered the risk of death or skin-cancer recurrence in a midstage study. Moderna's CEO Stéphane Bancel compared the cancer study results to the initial outbreak of COVID-19, when Moderna scrambled to respond and develop a vaccine. Bancel said Moderna and its partner, Merck, would launch multiple late-stage studies in 2023 to test the cancer vaccine in not just melanoma patients but other types of cancer. Merck paid $250 million earlier this year to jointly develop Moderna's vaccine, extending a partnership between the two drugmakers that began in 2016. Study results have yet to be presented at a conference or published in a journal.

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.

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel on the experimental cancer vaccine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch CNBC's full interview with Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel on the experimental cancer vaccineModerna CEO Stéphane Bancel joins CNBC's 'Squawk Box' to discuss promising new data surrounding its experimental cancer vaccine in development with Merck. Bancel also outlines how the company is working with regulators for accelerated approval. "If we are able to teach the T cells of a cancer patient to recognize the mutation of that specific cancer that it could not recognize before, that's a massive medical step forward," Bancel tells CNBC.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves in the premarket: Oracle, Boeing, Moderna and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Peter Schacknow | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Boeing (BA) – Boeing rose 2.2% in premarket action after United Airlines (UAL) announced a 200-jet order that includes 100 787 Dreamliners and 100 737 Max jets, with options for further purchases. Moderna (MRNA) – The drugmaker announced that its experimental melanoma vaccine combined with Merck (MRK) cancer treatment Keytruda cut the risk of skin cancer recurrence by 44% compared with a treatment of only Keytruda. First Solar (FSLR) – First Solar rose 1.1% in premarket trading following news that it will replace Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBHS) in the S&P 500. Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX) – Mirati Therapeutics surged 8.6% in premarket trading after the drugmaker's new lung cancer treatment adagrasib received Food and Drug Administration approval. Fiverr (FVR) – Fiverr added 1.1% in premarket trading after Citi initiated coverage of the stock with a "buy" rating.

☆ POTS, a debilitating heart condition, is linked to Covid and, to a lesser degree, vaccines
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Berkeley-Lovelace-Jr.Jpg | Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Research published Monday has confirmed a link between a Covid infection and a debilitating heart condition called POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, that has been diagnosed in some patients with long Covid. POTS was also linked, to a lesser degree, to Covid vaccination with an mRNA vaccine, according to the new study. He also said that the link between POTS and Covid vaccination needs to be confirmed with further studies. Other vaccines have also been linked to POTS in early accounts, but further research did not establish a causal link. The link between an infection — including Covid — and POTS, however, is more well-established.

☆ Children as young as 6 months old are now eligible for omicron Covid vaccines
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday signed off on omicron vaccines for children as young as 6 months old, giving pharmacies and physicians the green light to start administering the shots. Children ages 6 months through 5 years old who received the two-dose Moderna primary series can now get an omicron booster two months after their second dose. Meanwhile, kids ages 6 months through 4 years old who are completing their Pfizer primary series will received the omicron shot as their third dose. "Vaccines remain the best defense against the most devastating consequences of disease caused by the currently circulating omicron variant, such as hospitalization and death," Marks said. "Parents and caregivers can be assured that the FDA has taken a great deal of care in our review."

☆ S&P 500, Nasdaq snap losing streaks after jobless claims rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( David French | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Wall Street's main indexes had come under pressure in recent days, with the S&P 500 shedding 3.6% since the beginning of December on expectations of a longer rate-hike cycle and downbeat economic views from some top company executives. Such thinking had also weighed on the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), which had posted four straight losing sessions prior to Thursday's advance on the tech-heavy index. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 7, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidNine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose, led by a 1.6% gain in technology stocks (.SPLRCT). The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and three new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 82 new highs and 232 new lows.

☆ FDA authorizes updated Covid booster shots for kids under 5
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. regulators on Thursday cleared doses of the updated Covid-19 vaccines for children younger than age 5. Omicron-targeted booster shots made by Moderna and Pfizer already were open to everyone 5 and older. Children under 5 who already got all three Pfizer doses aren’t yet eligible for an updated booster. “Vaccines remain the best defense against the most devastating consequences of disease caused by the currently circulating omicron variant,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said in a statement. The CDC last month released the first real-world data showing that an updated booster, using either company’s version, does offer added protection to adults.

☆ Fact Check-A video of news headlines over time is not proof COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective or a ‘scam’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Users on social media are sharing a video of news headlines and portions of articles on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness over time without context to question whether the vaccines ever worked. Initial clinical trials for Pfizer’s vaccine showed 95% efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 (here) while Moderna trials showed 94% efficacy (here). CONTEXT COUNTSEarly in the viral video, headlines touting 100% efficacy refer to small trials or specific outcomes. He added that these results are not indicative of vaccine effectiveness for all groups of people, which can vary. A video of news headlines is not proof the vaccines are ineffective or a scam.

☆ U.S. FDA authorizes bivalent COVID shots for kids as young as 6 months old
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The amended authorization on Thursday from the Food and Drug Administration allows use of Moderna's bivalent shot as a booster in children 6 months through 5 years of age, two months after their initial vaccination. Children who have completed their initial three-dose vaccination with Pfizer's original shot are not yet eligible to receive the bivalent booster, the agency said. The regulator added that data supporting use of Pfizer/BioNTech's bivalent shot as a booster in this age group is expected in January. Moderna's vaccine for children under 6 is a two-dose, 25 microgram vaccine, with the shots given about four weeks apart. Overall, 39.7 million people in United States have received a bivalent booster as of Nov. 30, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed.

☆ Children as young as 6 months can now receive an updated Covid-19 vaccine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Jamie Gumbrecht | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Children as young as 6 months are now eligible to receive an updated Covid-19 vaccine. The US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized updated Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech for use in children from ages 6 months through 5 years. Not all young children are eligible to receive an updated vaccine:Children age 6 months through age 5 who received the original, two-dose Moderna vaccine are eligible to receive a single booster of the updated bivalent Moderna vaccine two months after completing the primary vaccine series. Children age 6 months through 4 years who haven’t started their three-dose primary series of the Pfizer vaccine or received the third dose will receive the updated Pfizer vaccine as the third dose of the primary series. The data to support giving an updated bivalent booster dose for these children are expected in January.

☆ FDA authorizes Covid omicron vaccines for children as young as 6 months old
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Shannon StapletonThe Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized updated Covid shots that target the omicron variant for children as young as 6 months old. The eligibility rules vary depending on whether children received Moderna's or Pfizer's original vaccines as their primary series. The new shots target the omicron BA.5 subvariant and the original Covid strain. U.S. health officials expect the new shots to provide superior protection compared to the original vaccines, which only target the original Covid strain. The FDA authorized the shots based on adult immune response data for similar vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna that target the original omicron BA.1 variant.

☆ Fact Check-False claims Moderna CEO was executed at Guantanamo Bay stem from widely-debunked website
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An article from a website regularly debunked by Reuters Fact Check for spreading fake news articles falsely claims that Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel was executed on Nov. 18, 2022 by the “U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps.” There is no evidence to support this claim. Bancel has made public appearances and spoken publicly since Nov. 18 (here), (here). No reference to the incident exists on the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corp website (www.jag.navy.mil/news.htm) or Moderna’s website (here). Claims that Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel was executed on Nov. 18, 2022 by the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps originate from a website that publishes satire and fake news.

[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."

☆ Pfizer rejects Moderna claim it copied Covid vaccine, accuses rival of rewriting history
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine labels are seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021. Pfizer has rejected allegations made by rival Moderna that its Covid-19 vaccine is a copy, accusing the Boston biotech company of rewriting history to lay claim to technology developed by a field of scientists over many years. Pfizer asked a federal court in Massachusetts on Monday to dismiss Moderna's lawsuit seeking monetary damages for alleged patent violations related to the Boston company's Covid vaccine. "The Moderna inventions that Pfizer and BioNTech chose to copy were foundational for the success of their vaccine," the company claimed. Pfizer and BioNTech did not copy Moderna's technology," Pfizer said in its response.

☆ Britain's health regulator backs COVID vaccine for infants from six months
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File PhotoLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Britain's health regulator on Tuesday authorised a COVID-19 vaccine for infants as young as six months, opening the door for vaccinating the country's youngest children once the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) agrees. Whether the vaccine is eventually deployed in this age group depends on a recommendation from the JCVI, which advises UK health departments on which shots should be used as part of the national vaccination programme. The vaccine is tailored for use in this age group - it is a lower dose version than the one used in children aged five to 11 years. U.S. officials rolled out this version of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot for the same age group earlier this year. Months ago, EU regulators also endorsed the use of COVID vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna (MRNA.O) for under-fives.

☆ Myocarditis after Covid vaccine low among teens and young adults, large study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Berkeley-Lovelace-Jr.Jpg | Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The incidence of myocarditis and pericarditis after Covid vaccination is low and most patients make a full recovery, a large international study from Nationwide Children’s Hospital found. The findings confirm earlier studies that found myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, an inflammation of the outer lining of the heart, following Covid vaccination are rare. The review included more than 800 teens and young adults who developed myocarditis and pericarditis following Covid vaccination. The heart-related conditions usually occurred within four days after the second dose of a Covid vaccine, the study found. Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins University, said he would still like to see estimates of myocarditis risk by age, gender, vaccine type and spacing between doses.

☆ Fauci says China has done a bad job of vaccinating the elderly and their shots are not very effective against Covid
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., criticized China's Covid lockdowns as "draconian" and said the Beijing government should focus on vaccinating the elderly. Fauci said lockdowns are only justifiable as a temporary measure to serve a larger public health goal that will make society safer when it reopens. But China's strict Covid controls don't seem to have any endgame, he said. Rare protests broke out across China over the weekend against Covid lockdowns and strict quarantine procedures. "The efficacy of the China-made vaccines are not at the level of the vaccines that have been used in the United States, particularly the mRNA vaccines of Moderna and Pfizer," Fauci said.

☆ An early-stage HIV vaccine is showing positive results. If it works, it would be first successful HIV vaccine after almost 40 years of research.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Sarah Braner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An early trial for an experimental HIV vaccine candidate has shown promising results. 97% of recipients in a phase 1 study showed immune system activity in response to the vaccine. Researchers have been trying to create an HIV vaccine for nearly 40 yearsHIV is notoriously difficult to vaccinate against. By evolving and changing quickly, it can avoid the immune system by making itself harder to recognize. "That's sort of a whole new way of thinking about how to make a vaccine," Schief said.

☆ Moderna exec says COVID trials improved diversity recruiting
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Caroline Humer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/4] Chief Medical Officer of Moderna Paul Burton attends the Reuters NEXT Newsmaker event in New York City, U.S., November 30, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidNEW YORK, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Moderna Inc's top scientist said on Tuesday that the vaccine maker has learned how to better recruit from diverse populations for its clinical trials from running its COVID-19 vaccine studies. Moderna has worked to match that diverse enrollment in its other ongoing trials, Burton said. He said enrollment of people of color in its Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine trials was probably over 35%. To view the Reuters NEXT conference live on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, please click here.

While the protests were largely tamped down, there continued to be scattered incidents of unrest. Experts say China will have a tough time navigating its way out of the pandemic without getting more people inoculated. The National Health Commission said Tuesday that it was especially focused on increasing vaccinations among people older than 80, though it did not announce a mandate. With new, mostly asymptomatic infections still being reported across China — 38,421 on Tuesday, down from a record 40,052 the day before — some Covid restrictions are still tightening. An opinion article Tuesday in People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, said officials at all levels must “unswervingly implement” the government’s Covid policies.

But it still refuses to use Western mRNA vaccines to innoculate the population more quickly. China's hesitancy to use Western vaccine technology is contributing to the mass protests against its COVID-19 restrictions. Despite that, China is still refusing to approve and distribute Western vaccines to innoculate its citizens. In lieu of the Western vaccines, which are based on mRNA, China has been relying on its own brand of jabs, which rely on inactivated, or killed, virus. Germany this week suggested China should use Western vaccines to speed up the process and protect the country from the virus, Politico reported.

☆ Apple has seen $114 billion in market value erased as investors grow concerned about building iPhone shortages due to China Covid protests
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Apple is facing growing iPhone shortages due to protests in China over the government's zero-COVID lockdown policies. The company has seen $114 billion in market value since erased last week on concerns of weak holiday sales. Last week, violent protests erupted at the Foxconn iPhone factory due to the stringent lockdown policies. "The zero China COVID policy has been an absolute gut punch to Apple's supply chain with the Foxconn protests in Zhengzhou a black eye for both Apple and Foxconn. "Now is the painful waiting game to see what ramped production looks like over the next week for Apple to ease some iPhone shortages that are building globally."

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