Delilah AlvaradoAssociate Editor A general view of the Pfizer Headquarters sign on November 10, 2020 in Tadworth, England. Dan Kitwood via Getty Images Dive Brief: 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. Dive Insight: While vaccines for the bacterial infection are widely available, thousands of cases still lead to hospitalization and death in the ...
Immunotherapy with blinatumomab leads to a strongly improved survival rate—from 66% to 93%—for children with an aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). They also had fewer side effects from the treatment. Based on the results, blinatumomab will now become standard treatment worldwide for babies with this aggressive form of leukemia. Three quarters of babies with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)—three babies a year in the Netherlands—have a particular fault in the DNA of their leukemia cells. This so-called KMT2A rearrangement leads to an aggressive form of ALL with a poor prognosis. Despite intensifying chemotherapy, the prognosis for these babies has not improved in recent decades. Intensive chemotherapy works very well for half of the babies. But in the other half of the children, the disease returned within two years, or children died from the disease or sometimes from the side effects of the therapy. 90% of recurrences—when the cancer comes ...
by Center for Genomic Regulation Researchers have developed a new method to distinguish between cancerous and healthy stem cells and progenitor cells from samples of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a disease driven by malignant blood stem cells that have historically been difficult to identify. The findings, published today in the journal Cell Stem Cell, pave the way for the development of new techniques to predict whether patients will respond to chemotherapy. AML is a type of cancer characterized by the rapid growth and accumulation of abnormal white blood cells. It is thought to develop when blood progenitor cells, which normally turn into all other types of blood cells, fail to mature properly and become abnormal. In this process, blood stem cells carry a special importance because they give rise to progenitor cells and are thought to be the cell type in which leukemic mutations occur. Leukemic stem cells are thought ...
Researchers at UC Davis are the first to report how a specific type of brain cells, known as oligodendrocyte-lineage cells, transfer cell material to neurons in the mouse brain. Their work provides evidence of a coordinated nuclear interaction between these cells and neurons. The study was published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. “This novel concept of material transfer to neurons opens new possibilities for understanding brain maturation and finding treatments for neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease,” said corresponding author Olga Chechneva. Chechneva is an assistant project scientist at UC Davis Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine and independent principal investigator in the Institute for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine at Shriners Children’s Northern California. What are oligodendrocyte-lineage cells? Oligodendrocyte-lineage cells, also called oligodendroglia, are a type of glial cells found in the central nervous system. From birth onward, these glial cells arise to support neural ...
Before undergoing surgeries and other invasive medical procedures, patients typically undergo anesthesia. Anesthesia consists in giving patients a class of drugs (i.e., anesthetics) that cause them to lose feeling in specific areas of the body (i.e., local anesthesia) or fully lose awareness during a procedure (i.e., general anesthesia). These anesthetics can be administered to patients via injection, inhalation, skin-numbing lotions, and other means. In the past, doctors and medical researchers viewed general anesthesia as a passive process that could not be influenced or interrupted once anesthetic drugs were administered. More recently, however, studies showed that it is in fact an active brain process that can be experimentally controlled and acted on. A research team at the Southern University of Science and Technology in China recently carried out a study investigating the processes underpinning brain states while under general anesthesia and those associated with the subsequent re-emergence of awareness. Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, highlight possible strategies that could help anesthesiologists to extend ...
U.S. neurologists are “cautiously optimistic” about using Eisai’s Leqembi in Alzheimer’s disease as concerns about safety and the need for the FDA’s full green light for the drug remain high barriers to uptake. That’s according to a new survey and report out by drug launch analyst Spherix Global Insights, which in March asked 73 neurologists working in the U.S. about their use and receptivity of Leqembi, which was partially approved by the FDA at the start of the year. Now launched, the drug finds itself at a strange junction. It still does not have a full FDA approval; that isn’t set to come until early July. While there is another new drug on the market for Alzheimer’s—namely Aduhelm, which Eisai helped create with Biogen—that drug is commercially dead in the water. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) refused to cover payments of Aduhelm, which was ...
Chiesi Farmaceutici has completed the previously announced acquisition of global, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company Amryt Pharma. The definitive agreement between the companies was initially signed in January this year. The total deal value at close is nearly $1.2bn in upfront consideration and contingent value rights (CVRs) representing an additional potential consideration of around $225m. Chiesi Global Rare Diseases head Giacomo Chiesi said: “Amryt has unique and clinically differentiated products and additional promising drugs in its pipeline, and, as a benefit corporation certified B Corp, Chiesi has a patient-centric and sustainable model in place to make these treatments available to even more patients who need them.” With this acquisition, Chiesi will be able to expand patient access to approved treatments and also advance efforts for the development of new treatments for individuals with rare diseases. Chiesi Group CEO Giuseppe Accogli said: “This acquisition reflects Chiesi Group’s commitment towards patients. ...
by Howard Hughes Medical Institute Overview of GCaMP calcium indictors for neuronal imaging. When they sense calcium, GCaMP indicators cause neurons to produce green fluorescent light, allowing scientists to see which neurons and synapses are activated in living animals as they perform a task. Credit: Yan Zhang New ultra-fast sensors developed at Janelia can detect calcium ions nearly as fast as they are released from neurons, allowing scientists to tease out the individual, milliseconds-long signals passing between brain cells. Genetically encoded calcium indicators dubbed GCaMPs are used to track the activity of large populations of neurons in living animals by revealing the calcium ions that are released as signals pass between neurons. When they sense calcium, GCaMP indicators cause the neurons to produce green fluorescent light, allowing scientists to see which neurons and synapses are activated in living animals as they perform a task. GCaMP indicators have become brighter and more sensitive since ...
Cancer drug information leaflets for patients in Europe frequently omit important facts, while some are “potentially misleading” when it comes to treatment benefits and related uncertainties, researchers have found. Cancer is the biggest killer in Europe after heart conditions, with more than 3.7m new cases and 1.9m deaths every year, according to the World Health Organization. Medicines are a vital weapon against the disease. But critical facts about them are often missing from official sources of information provided to patients, clinicians and the public, according to a study led by researchers from King’s College London, Harvard Medical School and the University of Sydney, among others. “Regulated information sources for anticancer drugs in Europe fail to address the information needs of patients,” the study’s authors wrote in The BMJ journal. “If patients lack access to such information, clinical decisions may not align with their preferences and needs.” To receive and participate in medical care, patients ...
Pfizer and European Commission officials have waded through months of pushback over a large, controversial COVID-19 vaccine supply deal in Europe. They’ve now reportedly hashed out a new supply agreement—but there’s a catch. Under the terms of a revised deal, Pfizer agreed to extend the European supply contract from 2023 out to 2026, the Financial Times reports based on two people with knowledge of the talks. Given the drop in vaccine use, Pfizer also agreed to cut the total number of doses to be supplied by 40%, but the company is also pushing for payment for the doses that will never be manufactured, according to the publication. Pfizer and the European Commission (EC) inked their large vaccine supply deal in May 2021. The agreement covered 900 million vaccine doses for delivery split between 2022 and 2023, with the option for the EC to order another 900 million doses in the future. In December 2021, European officials exercised part of ...
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