A new solution, known as E-MOTIVE, could provide a major breakthrough in reducing deaths from childbirth-related bleeding, according to a landmark study published today (May 9) in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Birmingham. Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH)—defined as the loss of more than 500 mL of blood within 24 hours after birth—is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide. It affects an estimated 14 million women each year and results in around 70,000 deaths, mostly in low and middle-income countries, equivalent to one death every six minutes. “Postpartum hemorrhage is scary, not always predictable, but absolutely treatable. Nonetheless, its impacts around the world are tragic,” said Dr. Pascale Allotey, Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research at WHO and head of the United Nations’ Special Program of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP). ...
Animal studies indicate that a new COVID-19 vaccine developed at Rutgers may provide more durable protection against SARS-CoV-2 and its emerging variants than existing vaccines. “We need a better vaccine, one that provides years of robust protection with fewer booster shots against a variety of SARS-CoV-2 strains. Our data suggest this vaccine candidate might be able to do that,” said Stephen Anderson, associate professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in SAS, resident member of the Rutgers Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and senior author of the paper in Vaccines. Existing COVID vaccines often provide some protection against serious disease and death. However, these vaccines typically elicit temporary bursts of protective antibodies that rapidly wane, even after booster doses, leaving most individuals vulnerable to potentially dangerous repeat infections. This new vaccine, dubbed MT-001, might provide longer-lasting protection against many COVID-19 varieties. “Thankfully, the current vaccines saved many lives, but they’re ...
EQRx, a high-profile startup that attempted to build a new pharmaceutical business model, will lay off a large portion of its staff and discard much of its drug pipeline in a large-scale reset announced Monday. Launched by veteran biotech venture capitalist Alexis Borisy, EQRx started up in early 2020 with grand plans to reimagine how prescription drugs are developed and priced. The company claimed it could invent or license similar, but more effective competitors to top-selling specialty medicines, such as those for cancer, and sell them for less — a vision EQRx executives used to raise more than $2 billion in funding. EQRx made some progress, licensing several cancer drugs from Chinese companies and advancing them into late-stage clinical testing. But its near-term plans were thrown into disarray by the Food and Drug Administration, which set out stricter approval standards for drugs developed and tested in China. EQRx pivoted ...
After raking in billions with its Pfizer-partnered vaccine, BioNTech is turning to new ventures as its revenues plummet. BioNTech reported first-quarter revenues of €1.27 billion (1.4 billion), a far cry from 2022’s first-quarter haul of €6.37 billion ($7.03 billion). Despite the downturn, the quarter went “fully to our expectations,” CFO Jens Holstein said on a conference call. Sales-wise, the current quarter should be the weakest of 2023, Holstein said. The company’s COVID-19 vaccine revenue guidance for 2023 stands at €5 billion ($5.4 billion), which is “something we can live with,” the CFO added. Meanwhile, BioNTech believes the United States’ transition to a commercial COVID-19 vaccine market could provide new growth opportunities. But as its pandemic-related business struggles, BioNTech is busy advancing its pipeline as it looks for its next big growth driver. The company’s pipeline includes multiple oncology ventures, including an HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that it’s working on with ...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has successfully inspected Nexus Pharmaceuticals’ pharmaceutical manufacturing facility located in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, US. The inspection will allow the company to commence commercial operations at the three-storey, 84,000ft² manufacturing facility. Nexus Pharmaceuticals stated that the regulatory approval process validates facilities’ compliance with stringent quality and safety standards. Equipped with advanced isolator technology, the Pleasant Prairie facility adheres to the highest current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) standards. It is designed to manufacture a broad range of injectable medications and will provide hospitals and clinicians access to affordable, safe, and critical-need medicines. Nexus Pharmaceuticals President and CEO Usman Ahmed said: “We are thrilled to receive the EIR for our Pleasant Prairie facility. “This is a major milestone for our company and reflects our commitments to reshoring sterile pharmaceutical manufacturing to the US. “We are proud of our team’s hard work and focus on achieving a ...
Going beyond pregnancy and COVID-19, the world could someday soon come to rely on at-home tests for many diseases thanks in part to AI-fueled improvements. University of Florida scientists have used artificial intelligence tools to simplify a test that works for both hepatitis C and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The simplified test happens in one small test tube in just a few minutes. With further refinement, it could come to doctor’s offices soon and, one day, even home tests that are as easy as a pregnancy test. “We are trying to build a home-based test that is as reliable as a lab-based test,” said Piyush Jain, a UF professor of chemical engineering who led the latest research. “We are trying to make the test simple, eliminate the need for expensive equipment and provide results in just 10 to 20 minutes.” To accomplish those goals, Jain’s group is innovating ...
Researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at UCLA and the National Institutes of Health have developed a zebrafish model that provides new insight into how the brain acquires essential omega-3 fatty acids, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and linolenic acid (ALA). Their findings, published in Nature Communications, have the potential to improve understanding of lipid transport across the blood-brain barrier and of disruptions in this process that can lead to birth defects or neurological conditions. The model may also enable researchers to design drug molecules that are capable of directly reaching the brain. Omega-3 fatty acids are considered essential because the body cannot make them and must obtain them through foods, such as fish, nuts and seeds. DHA levels are especially high in the brain and important for a healthy nervous system. Infants obtain DHA from breastmilk or formula, and deficiencies of ...
For Catalent, the hits keep coming. After an April communique warning of reduced sales and productivity issues at three separate plants, the CDMO juggernaut delayed the release of its earnings for the third fiscal quarter. The report was originally scheduled to roll out Tuesday. Catalent said in a release Monday it’s now angling to unveil is quarterly report on May 15. Last month, Catalent said manufacturing hurdles at three major production sites—including two of the contract manufacturer’s largest—were expected to put a squeeze on third-quarter earnings and weigh on the company’s outlook for the entire fiscal year, which runs through the first half of 2023. Now, in addition to those “operational challenges,” Catalent says it has “also since identified significant issues with its forecasts over the past year.” With that mix of operational and productivity hangups, plus “prior forecasting challenges,” Catalent expects to “significantly reduce” both its 2023 revenue and EBITDA ...
Children and adolescents face greater risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) when exposed to antibiotics or a Western diet at early ages, or when their family has higher socioeconomic status, according to a study being presented today at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2023. “Pediatric IBD cases are rising globally, and approximately 1 in 4 of all IBD cases are now diagnosed before age 21,” said Nisha Thacker, the study’s lead author and a gastrointestinal dietitian. A unique concern about pediatric IBD is the impact that the inflammation has on a child’s growth and the progression of puberty, so parents should be aware of this condition and the modifiable factors that influence it. As a part of her PhD studies, at The University of Newcastle in Australia, she conducted a meta-analysis of 36 observational studies representing approximately 6.4 million children. Thacker found that any exposure to antibiotics before age 5 was ...
For individuals with depression, the most common causes of hospitalization are endocrine, musculoskeletal, and vascular diseases, according to a study published online May 3 in JAMA Psychiatry. Philipp Frank, Ph.D., from University College London, and colleagues examined the association between depression and physical conditions requiring hospitalization in a prospective multicohort study. The primary analysis was based on data from the U.K. Biobank (130,652 individuals), and analyses were repeated in an independent dataset of two cohorts in Finland (109,781 individuals). The researchers found that severe/moderately severe depression was associated with the incidence of 29 nonoverlapping conditions requiring hospital treatment during five years of follow-up in the main analysis. After adjustment for confounders and multiple testing, 25 of these associations remained (adjusted hazard ratio range, 1.52 to 23.03) and were confirmed in the independent dataset. The highest cumulative incidence was seen for endocrine and related internal organ diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, and diseases of the circulatory system and blood (245, ...
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