Pfizer has launched a new digital platform, PfizerForAll, aimed at simplifying the process of accessing healthcare for millions of Americans. The platform provides an integrated experience for managing health and wellness, particularly for those affected by common illnesses and seeking adult vaccinations. PfizerForAll consolidates critical resources and services, enabling individuals and families to take health actions such as obtaining care, filling prescriptions and finding potential savings on Pfizer medicines. The platform operates within the US healthcare system and is developed in partnership with healthcare organisations. Patients using PfizerForAll can leverage their existing insurance and pharmacy programmes while benefiting from new direct services from partners such as UpScriptHealth, Alto Pharmacy and Instacart. At its inception, PfizerForAll offers same-day appointments with healthcare professionals for in-person or telehealth consultations, home delivery of prescription medicines, and scheduling for adult vaccinations against Covid-19, flu, RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] and pneumococcal pneumonia. The platform will also ...
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved Astellas Pharma’s Vyloy (zolbetuximab) as part of a first-line combination treatment for a subset of gastric cancer patients. The monoclonal antibody has been authorised for use alongside chemotherapy to treat adults with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma whose tumours are claudin 18.2 positive. In the UK, adenocarcinomas, which develop from cells in the innermost lining of the stomach, account for most cases of gastric cancer, with around 6,600 people diagnosed every year. Most cases go undetected until an advanced stage, as the disease rarely causes early symptoms and tends to develop slowly over a number of years. Vyloy is now the only licensed treatment to target the claudin 18.2 protein, which is expressed in gastric, oesophageal, lung and ovarian tissues, and is administered intravenously every two to three ...
Using a genomic approach, researchers have developed a way to simultaneously track the spread of multiple common antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals. Current methods culture and sequence all pathogens separately so the new sequencing technique could help to prevent and manage hospital infections more quickly and effectively. Published in the Lancet Microbe, the proof-of-concept study from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Oslo, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo in Italy and collaborators captured the whole population of pathogenic bacteria found in the gut, upper airways and lungs of patients in multiple hospital intensive care units (ICUs) and ordinary wards during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The team found that, with most ICU patients colonised by several treatment-resistant bacteria and all patients colonised by at least one, they were able to determine which type of bacteria each patient had. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi ...
Lung cancer ranks among the most prevalent and fatal cancers worldwide. Current treatment strategies for lung cancer patients rely on pathological examinations, which can reveal genetic mutations specific to the patient’s cancer, facilitating personalized treatment approaches. Over the last few years, pathology has evolved dramatically due to digital advancements, making traditional microscopes obsolete. Tissue samples are now digitized and analyzed via computer screens, which is essential for employing sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI)-based analytical methods. These AI technologies can extract additional insights from pathological tissue sections that were previously unattainable. A team of researchers at the University of Cologne (Cologne, Germany) has developed an AI-driven digital pathology platform that can revolutionize the analysis of lung cancer tissues. This platform utilizes newly developed algorithms to perform fully automated examination of digitized lung cancer tissue sections, offering faster and more precise analyses than traditional methods. Detailed in their publication in the journal Cell ...
In the field of cardiovascular health, some individuals fall into an ambiguous “intermediate zone” of risk for heart attacks or strokes—neither distinctly low nor high-risk, yet potentially on the cusp of heart disease. This grey area calls for improved methodologies for accurate risk prediction. Traditionally, risk assessments like the widely recognized Framingham Risk Score have utilized factors such as levels of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol to categorize individuals into risk groups. However, these conventional tools have several limitations, especially in identifying the risks for those in this intermediate category. This oversight is particularly critical as heart disease can progress silently, making early detection crucial to avoid late-stage interventions that are less effective. Now, scientists have developed and validated a novel, blood-based risk score based on lipids (fats in the blood). The tool, outlined in a paper published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, was developed by scientists ...
Bronchiectasis is the third most common lung condition in the UK but despite this, it is sometimes seen as a ‘hidden’ disease due to a lack of public awareness, investment and research. Now a multi-million-pound clinical trial is set to start in September to investigate whether existing drugs could be used to treat the debilitating lung disease. The disease results in persistent breathing difficulties and repeated lung infections when bronchi – tubes in the lungs – become permanently damaged and widened. There is currently no treatment or cure and, with an ageing population, numbers are increasing. Currently the disease affects one in 200 people in the UK (approximately 200,000), with an increase of 40% over the last ten years and an expected increase of a further 20% over the next decade. Researchers from EMBARC, the European Research Network for bronchiectasis, are working on the AIRNET (Anti-Inflammatory Repurposing Network) project to ...
Oxford-based SynaptixBio has been awarded a £2m BioMedical Catalyst grant from Innovate UK to support first-in-human clinical trials of its therapeutic targeting H-ABC, the most severe form of TUBB4A leukodystrophy. In November 2023, SynaptixBio received an earlier grant from Innovate UK to expand its search for rare disease therapies. The company was given a second Orphan Drug Designation from the US FDA in February this year for a therapy targeting Isolated Hypomyelination – a less severe form of TUBB4A leukodystrophy. In the UK, a rare disease is defined as a condition that affects fewer than one in 2,000 in the population and SynaptixBio is the only company licensed to commercialise a treatment for this rare, deadly and currently incurable disease. Currently, there is no cure for TUBB4A-related leukodystrophies, a group of rare neurodegenerative caused by mutations in the TUBB4A gene. The diseases result in disruption to the signals between nerve ...
The European Commission (EC) has approved Celltrion‘s SteQeyma (CT-P43), a biosimilar to Stelara (ustekinumab), for treating various chronic inflammatory conditions. This approval, which encompasses gastroenterology, dermatology, and rheumatology indications, follows a positive recommendation from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in June this year. SteQeyma, previously known as CT-P43, acts as an antagonist to human IL-12 and IL-23, addressing multiple immune-mediated diseases. It is available in subcutaneous and intravenous formulations, with the subcutaneous injection offered in 45mg/0.5ml or 90mg/1ml strengths in a single-dose, prefilled syringe. The intravenous infusion is available as a 130mg/26ml (5mg/ml) solution in a single-dose vial. Stelara, the reference product for SteQeyma, is a biologic therapy targeting interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-23 cytokines, crucial in inflammatory and immune responses. The EC’s decision is grounded on comprehensive evidence, including a Phase III trial in adults with moderate to severe plaque ...
The European Commission (EC) has granted approval to Merck & Co’s (MSD) Winrevair (sotatercept) to be used as a combination therapy for the treatment of adults with functional class II or III pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The approval was awarded based on data from STELLAR, a Phase III study (NCT04576988) that evaluated 323 adult participants with functional class II or III PAH, as determined by the World Health Organization (WHO), as per the 26 August press announcement, The European approval for the subcutaneously administered therapy follows one from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March 2024 for the same group of PAH patients. According to GlobalData’s consensus forecasts, Winrevair is expected to generate total sales of $6.3bn in 2030. GlobalData is the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology. Notably, a day before the approval of Winrevair, the FDA granted approval to Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) Opsynvi (macitentan + tadalafil). ...
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease that can spread easily between people and from infected animals. The mpox virus was first detected in laboratory monkeys in 1958. The virus is, however, assumed to be transmitted from wild animals such as rodents to people — or from human to human. Symptoms of mpox include fever, chills, headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, and a painful rash that characteristically appears as raised bumps on the skin and tends to be distributed on the face, extremities and genitals. As the disease progresses, these bumps fill with pus and fluid and become umbilicated. They will eventually ulcerate, scab, and fall off. Mpox was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) on August 14, 2024. Roche (Basel, Switzerland) has announced that it is supporting the international response to the mpox global health emergency with ...
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