Moderna on Tuesday said it expects to see between $8 billion and $15 billion in sales from its Covid, RSV, flu and other respiratory vaccines in 2027. The biotech company said it sees a corresponding operating profit in the range of $4 billion to $9 billion. Those respiratory product estimates are supported by additional research investments of $6 billion to $8 billion “over the next few years,” Moderna added. The announcement came ahead of Moderna’s Vaccine Day on Tuesday. At the annual event, the company presented updates on its vaccine portfolio to investors and analysts eager to see how the company will navigate its post-pandemic boom. Moderna said earlier this year it expects $5 billion in mRNA Covid vaccine sales in 2023, a steep drop from the $18 billion the shot raked in last year. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company’s Covid vaccine remains its only commercially available product. ...
By LabMedica International staff writers One of the methods for treating bladder cancer involves the use of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, followed by a radical cystectomy only for patients who do not achieve a complete response. Those who do achieve a complete response are closely monitored following chemotherapy and/or radiation and undergo radical cystectomy if cancer reoccurs. However, radical cystectomy is a significant operation that necessitates urinary diversion, leading to life-altering consequences. Now, a new blood test may enable bladder cancer patients to avoid a precautionary cystectomy after immunotherapy treatment. Scientists at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI, Amsterdam, Netherlands) in collaboration with Inivata (Cambridge, UK) have demonstrated that a novel technique can improve the prediction of tumor recurrence. In the study, the scientists examined the blood of bladder cancer patients who had undergone immunotherapy. These patients were part of a high-risk group with an increased likelihood of disease recurrence, placing ...
The International Federation on Ageing (IFA) is proud to release findings from a recent study entitled Driving the Agenda of Pneumococcal Pneumonia Vaccination in At-risk Populations in Community and Long-term Care. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the brutal nature and impact of respiratory infections on people of all ages and particularly amongst those at-risk of serious complications, such as older adults in long-term care (LTC) settings. Though several respiratory infections and other vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) can be prevented, or their severe symptoms reduced through receiving vaccines, current vaccination uptake rates for pneumococcal disease among older adults in LTC are below national targets. This study conducted by the IFA looked at the status of existing public health policies and campaigns on pneumococcal disease in Canadian LTC settings and investigated the policy gaps that have resulted in poor vaccine uptake. One of the main findings from this study is that within LTC ...
Through data-analysis, researchers found that people taking long siestas had higher body mass indexes and were more likely to have metabolic syndrome than those who did not take siestas. It is a common custom in some countries for individuals to take a siesta or midday nap. Sleeping during the middle of the day has the potential to affect sleep quality, cognitive function, and metabolic processes. However, the relationship between siestas and metabolic health is not well understood. A new study led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, assessed more than 3,000 adults from a Mediterranean population, examining the relationship of siestas and siesta duration with obesity and metabolic syndrome. The researchers found that those who took siestas of 30 minutes or longer (long siestas) were more likely to have a higher body mass index, higher blood pressure, and ...
Pfizer on Thursday gained U.S. approval of its newest pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for use in children and infants, helping it compete with a rival shot from Merck & Co. that won a similar OK last year. Pfizer’s vaccine, called Prevnar 20, is designed to protect against infection by 20 strains of the bacteria — seven more than the company’s prior Prevnar 13 version. It has been approved in adults since 2021. Last July, Merck won approval in children of its Vaxneuvance vaccine, which protects against 15 strains. Both companies could soon face more competition as the market has sparked interest from other drugmakers. While vaccines for the bacterial infection are widely available, thousands of cases still lead to hospitalization and death in the U.S. each year. In response, Pfizer, Merck and others have worked to develop new shots that offer better protection, particularly against strains that weren’t ...
Disease detectives with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating a cluster of rare and serious brain abscesses in kids in and around Las Vegas, Nevada, and doctors from other parts of the country say they may be seeing a rise in cases, too. In 2022, the number of brain abscesses in kids tripled in Nevada, rising from an average of four to five a year to 18. “In my 20 years’ experience, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Dr. Taryn Bragg, an associate professor at the University of Utah who treated the cases. Pediatric neurosurgeons like Bragg are rare. She is the only one for the entire state of Nevada, and because she treated all the cases, she was the first to notice the pattern and to alert local public health officials. “After March of 2022, there was just a ...
Omar Ford Quest Diagnostics is diving into a quickly growing segment of liquid biopsy with its latest M&A prospect. The Secaucus, NJ-based company announced a definitive agreement to acquire Haystack Oncology in an all-cash equity transaction. Quest will pay $300 million in cash at closing and Haystack has the potential to obtain up to an additional $150 million in performance milestones. If the deal were to close, then Quest would inherit Baltimore, MD – based Haystack’s minimal residual disease testing technology. MRD testing is a specific category of liquid biopsy that identifies circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the bloodstream of patients following surgery and treatment for cancer. In a prospective, multi-institution study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in June 2022, an earlier version of the Haystack technology demonstrated the ability to better identify patients with residual disease for adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery for stage II colon cancer, thereby reducing ...
By LabMedica International staff writers Bladder cancer is often fatal, and survival rates have not improved in the past 30 years. Although immunotherapy has revolutionized bladder cancer treatment, it has significant limitations, as most patients do not respond to the therapy. Checkpoint immunotherapy drugs, which enable the body’s immune system to recognize tumors, are effective for only about 20% of bladder cancers. However, it is unclear which patients will benefit and why these drugs are not more effective for all patients. In a breakthrough that could enhance bladder cancer patients’ survival, researchers have now developed a biomarker signature test to predict which tumors will be responsive to immunotherapy. In the new study, scientists at Northwestern Medicine (Chicago, IL, USA), along with multiple international collaborators, identified three types of tumors that could respond to immunotherapy and two that could not. By employing a combination of gene expression profiling, mutations, and spatial ...
Medicare will cover the new Alzheimer’s treatment Leqembi for all patients eligible under the medication’s label if the Food and Drug Administration fully approves the drug in July, a federal official told members of Congress on Wednesday. The official, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure testified before Congress Wednesday for the first time since her confirmation as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Brooks-LaSure faced pointed criticism from Democrat and Republican members of the House Subcommittee on Health over Medicare’s controversial coverage policy for new Alzheimer’s treatments. The Food and Drug Administration approved Leqembi, which is a collaboration by Biogen and Eisai antibody treatment, on an expedited basis in January. Twice-monthly intravenous infusions of the drug, generically known as lecanemab, have shown promise in slowing the progression of early Alzheimer’s disease. But Medicare, which primarily provides health coverage to senior citizens, currently will only cover the ...
Adults facing wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME) fear their world getting smaller due to loss of eyesight. Roche’s Genentech addresses that issue head-on in its first DTC ad for Vabysmo. The new “Open up your world with Vabysmo” campaign was developed with input from patients, caregivers, advocacy groups and the retinal community impacted by wet AMD and DME. “One of the critical insights was that many of these patients felt when they were losing their vision it made their world feel really small—they didn’t get to go out as much, they weren’t necessarily doing their daily activities of living because they felt like they were losing their sight and therefore inhibiting that ability,” Jennifer Kim, Genentech’s vice president and head of ophthalmology, said. “So that’s how we developed that concept around open up your world. The idea of the campaign is ...
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