During the COVID-19 pandemic, fear of missing out (FOMO) on social activities may have negatively affected the mental health of adults at high risk of serious disease, according to a new study from Rice University and Baylor University. “Fear of missing out and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic” was published June 29 in Social and Personality Psychology Compass and is authored by Angie LeRoy, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor; Vincent Lai, a Ph.D. student at Rice; Arya Tsay-Jones, who participated in the research as a Rice undergraduate; and Chris Fagundes , a professor in Rice’s Department of Psychological Sciences. The acronym “FOMO”—short for the “fear of missing out” one might feel about not being able to take part in events or experiences that could make one’s life better—refers to a phenomenon that has become more mainstream in the last decade as social media use has ...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a complete response letter (CRL) for Alvotech’s Humira biosimilar AVT02, further delaying the company’s plans to launch the drug in a landmark year. The agency rejected the drug’s biologics licence application (BLA) over deficiencies seen at one of the company’s manufacturing facilities in Reykjavik, Iceland, according to Alvotech’s press release on 28 June. While the FDA did not make a note of any other deficiencies in the BLA, issues related to the Reykjavik facility need to be resolved to facilitate the drug’s potential approval. This marks the second time that the FDA has rejected AVT02’s BLA this year. In April, the regulator issued a CRL to Alvotech, which also noted the deficiencies seen in the company’s Reykjavik plant. Prior to that, the company received a CRL from the FDA over deficiencies in the plant in September 2022. Alvotech plans to resubmit ...
GLORIA trial shows increased survival levels among newly diagnosed brain cancer patients TME Pharma – a company concentrating on the development of therapies for treating cancer – has announced a positive update on the survival of first-line glioblastoma patients taking part in the company’s GLORIA trial. Across the wider GLORIA clinical trial, TME is researching the effectiveness of NOX-A12 among newly-diagnosed brain cancer patients who will not benefit from standard chemotherapy. Meanwhile, the expanded arm of the study is focusing on the candidate – a CXCL12 inhibitor – in combination with standard of care radiotherapy and bevacizumab. Following 15 months of the research, 83% of trial patients (five out of six) were still alive. Furthermore, as long as treatment or follow-ups for these patients continues, median overall survival will improve. The expected median overall survival for patients under existing standard of care, with chemotherapy refractory tumours – and whose tumour ...
Bayer AG and its subsidiary, BlueRock Therapeutics LP, have announced positive topline results from an early-stage study of an experimental Parkinson’s disease stem cell therapy. In the phase 1 study of bemdaneprocel, the treatment was shown to be well-tolerated in all 12 patients involved in the study, and transplanted cells grew as intended in the patients’ brains at one-year post-transplant. The companies said that, based on these positive results, planning is already underway for a phase 2 study that is expected to begin enrolling patients in the first half of 2024. There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, a progressive and chronic neurological disorder that affects an estimated ten million people worldwide. The disease is caused by nerve cell damage in the brain, which leads to decreased levels of dopamine. The loss of these dopaminergic neurons results in a progressive decline of motor function and symptoms such as tremors, muscle ...
After an initial rejection in 2020 and a review delay earlier this year, BioMarin’s Roctavian has finally got the FDA go-ahead to introduce a gene therapy for a not-so-rare disorder.The FDA has cleared Roctavian as a one-time therapy for adults with severe hemophilia A, BioMarin said Thursday. The news comes seven months after the FDA greenlighted CSL Behring’s hemophilia B gene therapy Hemgenix, which bears a list price of $3.5 million and is currently the most expensive drug in the world. BioMarin is pricing Roctavian at a wholesale acquisition cost of $2.9 million, BioMarin’s chief commercial officer Jeff Ajer said during a call Thursday. It’s also setting up an outcomes-based warranty program. The warranty will reimburse government and commercial payers up to the full cost if Roctavian doesn’t live up to its treatment expectations. Partial reimbursement will be granted if an individual loses response to the therapy in the first four ...
By David Adam Pictured: Person holding a cell phone in front of computer with stock data/iStock The release of positive topline results Thursday from the Phase III trial of BioXcel Therapeutics’ Alzheimer’s-related agitation treatment was overshadowed by disclosures to the SEC about fabricated email correspondences pertaining to the study’s safety data. In a Thursday SEC filing, BioXcel said that a trial site’s principal investigator—who enrolled 40% of the study participants at that site—was found to have fabricated email correspondences related to the timing of the filing for a serious adverse event (SAE) with the company’s vendor responsible for the monitoring of drug safety. The adverse event occurred in a subject in the placebo arm, the company said. In May 2023, it “came to the company’s attention that this same principal investigator in the TRANQUILITY II clinical trial may have fabricated email correspondence purporting to demonstrate that the investigator timely submitted ...
By Lucy Miguel Pictured: A photograph of an empty board room with laptops at each seat/iStock, ismagilov Biopharmaceutical company Alkermes announced on Thursday that, at the company’s 2023 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, seven of Alkermes’ director nominees were re-elected. All of Sarissa Capital Management candidates, Alexander Denner, Patrice Bonfiglio, and Sarah Schlesinger, did not receive enough votes for the election. Denner, Sarissa’s founder nominee, lost just after he stepped down from the board at Biogen, where he has sat since 2009, and from an additional role on Biogen’s board nominating committee. This action was taken to remove possible conflicts of interest with Alkermes. However, his replacement at Biogen was Susan Larger, his romantic partner, a fact not disclosed to shareholders and that became an obstacle to his election. Sarissa, one of Alkermers’ largest investors since 2019, has criticized how management has been running and the stock price has performance. ...
Dive Brief A former DePuy Synthes sales representative and team lead was arrested this week for allegedly defrauding a Boston area hospital and lying to federal authorities investigating whether he interfered with the hospital’s sterilization processes. Matthew Capobianco, 45, of Winchester, Massachusetts, was indicted on eight counts of wire fraud and one count of making material false statements, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston. Johnson & Johnson unit DePuy Synthes, in an emailed statement, said all government claims against the company in the matter have been resolved. Dive Insight According to the Department of Justice indictment, Capobianco defrauded the hospital out of hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of spine products that he falsely represented as used in surgeries from January 2016 through June 2017. The Boston area hospital was not named in the DOJ’s statement. To boost his sales numbers and his compensation, Capobianco falsely represented on ...
Dive Brief Teleflex’s recall of its Arrow Endurance Extended Dwell Peripheral Catheter System was categorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a Class I event, the most severe type of recall. The company began the recall in May after receiving 83 complaints, including 18 reports of injuries. If the catheter separates while in a blood vessel, fragments could spread to other parts of the body and cause adverse events including heart attack and death, the FDA said in a notice. Hospitals should check if they have any of the 262,016 devices recalled in the U.S. and stop using the affected products. Teleflex is asking clinical staff overseeing patients who are currently using an affected product to weigh the risks and benefits of removing and replacing the device. Dive Insight Teleflex acquired Arrow International in 2007 to gain control of a portfolio of vascular access devices. That portfolio now ...
BBC NEW Florida and Texas are seeing some locally acquired cases of malaria – the first spread of the mosquito-transmitted disease inside the US in 20 years, officials warn in a health alert. Active surveillance for more cases is continuing, the Centres for Disease Control says. The risk of catching malaria in the US remains extremely low, it says. All five patients – four in Florida, one in Texas – have now had treatment. Malaria is caused by being bitten by an infected mosquito. People cannot catch it from each other. But the insects catch it from infected people – and the cycle continues. It is common in large areas of Africa, Asia and Central and South America but not the US. However, Anopheles mosquitoes, found throughout many parts of the US, can transmit malaria, if they have fed on an infected person. The risk is higher in areas where: ...
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