How smart is your insulin?

Those shifty Danes weren’t satisfied with smart insulin pumps that regulate the dosage. No, they’ve gone ahead and developed an insulin molecule that self-regulates.

Yes, you read that right.

The researchers behind the study developed a type of insulin with a built-in molecular-binding that can sense how much blood sugar is in the body. As blood sugar rises, the molecule becomes more active and releases more insulin. As blood sugar drops, less is released.

It’s been tested successfully on rats, after some tweaking they hope to begin human testing.

Time to start thinking about survivors

The pandemic’s end may be in sight, but let’s not forget that for many people, Covid-19 is going to leave long-term health issues. At the moment they’re called “long-haulers,” and we’re going to need to deal with their heart, lung, and possibly even brain damage.

While the number of people affected is still unknown […] if long-term symptoms afflict even a small proportion of the millions of people infected with the coronavirus, it is “going to represent a significant public health issue.”

Rochon takes over at Pace

Jeffrey Rochon has been named president and CEO of Pace Alliance, effective January 1, 2021 — he leaves his post as CEO of the Washington State Pharmacy Association to take the position. He’s served on the Pace board of directors for the past 11 years (including three years as chair). He’s replacing Curtis Woods, who will be retiring.

ICYMI

President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Xavier Becerra, currently attorney general of California, as his nominee for HHS secretary.

He has chosen Dr. Rochelle Walensky, currently chief of infectious diseases at Mass General Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, to lead the CDC.

That is all.

Swiss cheese defense

Not a fancy chess strategy — it’s a way of looking at protecting yourself from an airborne virus. (Can you think of one off hand?)

An Aussie virologist came up with a nifty graphic that shows how small ‘slices’ of protection, none perfect, add up to solid protection:

Good plan, limited results

Remember that plan to tie what Medicare Part B would pay for drugs to the (lower) prices paid by other countries? The promise was that it would lower out-of-pocket costs for people on Medicare. But the reality, an analysis found, is that it will make little difference to patients for a very simple reason:

[T]he vast majority of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries won’t see any reduction to their out-of-pocket costs from the rule because they already get supplemental coverage.

Yep, fewer than one percent of Medicare beneficiaries will see their payments decrease because they’re already paying very little.

BUT … the study does not say whether the rule will save taxpayers money. Nor does it reflect how Part B insurers might pass the cost savings down to consumers.

Sepsis creates a whole new blood particle

People with sepsis have a new, never-before-seen particle in their blood — so report La Jolla Institute for Immunology researchers, who have named the particles “elongated neutrophil-derived structures” or ENDS. They apparently start as pieces broken off immune cells, but then take on a (short) life of their own.

ENDS don’t live long, but they do seem to help cause inflammation. (They’re new, so there are lots of unanswered questions.) At the moment they only seem to serve as a biomarker for sepsis, but the LJI team is hoping they might lead to a target to fighting septic shock.

It’s OK, I’m on the pill — no, not that pill

Georgia State researchers have found a drug — molnupiravir — that apparently “completely suppresses virus transmission” of SARS-CoV-2 … in ferrets.

Still, it’s potentially big news. While molnupiravir doesn’t treat Covid-19, it seems to act like a chemical mask to prevent it from being transmitted.

“We noted early on that [molnupiravir] has broad-spectrum activity against respiratory RNA viruses and that treating infected animals by mouth with the drug lowers the amount of shed viral particles by several orders of magnitude, dramatically reducing transmission.”

Bonus: Yes, someone used the phrase “game-changer.”

Today’s research shocker

“[E]very week of lockdown increases binge drinking” — courtesy of the University of Texas.

The Long Read: Pharmacy … in Spaaaaaaaaace

“Pharma Looks to Outer Space to Boost Drug R&D”

[P]harma research of the future may take advantage of independent initiatives developed by a growing community of companies working to make conducting experiments in sustained microgravity cheaper, faster, and more accessible for life scientists.