Do inhale

Canadian immunologists have developed a Covid-19 vaccine that’s inhaled, proved that it works in animal models*, and begun a phase 1 clinical trial.

It’s not just a less stick-y alternative to existing vaccines, it actually may work better.

Because inhaled vaccines target the lungs and upper airways where respiratory viruses first enter the body, they are far more effective at inducing a protective immune response.

That’s because inhaling a vaccine also gets the mucus membranes of the respiratory system to produce an immune response, stopping the virus at the metaphorical doorway.

Not enough for you? Sheesh, tough crowd. Fine: It also works against all known variants, and it requires a much smaller dose, “meaning a single batch of vaccine could go 100 times farther.”

* The really good-looking animals that know how to strut through a laboratory

Another chance for APhA’s immunization program

If you’re giving immunizations, you want to be sure you’re doing it as well as possible. And you probably want your patients (and your boss) to know that too.

We’ll make it easy. Earn yourself an APhA immunization certificate through GPhA — one that lets you differentiate yourself, and one that nicely fills that empty space on your wall.

“APhA’s Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery: A Certificate Program for Pharmacists” is coming up fast — Sunday, May 22, from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm at GPhA’s World Headquarters in Sandy Springs. It is the big certificate course, and it’s the one you want.

Get to GPhA.org/immunization for the details and to register.

Not now, honey, I need a balanced diet first

Eating well during pregnancy is important — that’s both obvious and well known. But while that can limit gestational weight gain, it doesn’t always seem to affect Mom’s glucose levels … or her risk of gestational diabetes.

The twist: UC Irvine researchers found that Mom’s diet before conception is more likely to affect her diabetes risk. To keep her healthier, prenatal diet changes are too late. She needs to fix her perinatal diet — start eating healthy when that baby is barely a gleam in her eye.

A better clot-buster

If someone has an ischemic stroke, alteplase is the standard treatment to break up blood clots — if you can start the infusion within 4½ hours.

But now Chinese neurologists have developed a new drug — tenecteplase — that (in phase 2a studies) seems to have some major advantages: A “bioengineered variant of alteplase,” tenecteplase not only extends the treatment window to 24 hours, it also seems to work on large-vessel clots.

Next up: phase 2b trials, of course.

Nothing to see here

“Two cases of ‘eye bleeding’ Lassa fever found in UK”

Heart and sole

Scientists at Emory, Georgia Tech, (and Harvard) universities have created fish using human heart cells: “The ‘biohybrid’ fish swim by recreating the muscle contractions of a pumping heart.”

“Our ultimate goal is to build an artificial heart to replace a malformed heart in a child.”

(You can click the link above for the news story or watch the video, “An autonomously swimming biohybrid fish.”)

The Long Read: Placebos edition

Placebos are powerful drugs. Well, non-drugs. The point is, they’re more than just ways to trick people into believing something works. Read “In research studies and in real life, placebos have a powerful healing effect on the body and mind” for the deets.