Mixing and matching vaccines?

Britain is looking at the possibility of mixing and matching Covid-19 vaccines — to see if a first dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford would work with a second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech version. That might make getting those second doses a lot simpler.

Some vaccines work better if a different vaccine is used for the booster shot, which is known as heterologous boosting. Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, which early studies indicate to be 92% effective at preventing Covid-19, makes use of the principle. It uses of a different modified virus in each shot to carry the immunity-conveying instructions into the body.

Charitable pharmacy opens in DeKalb

A new pharmacy’s been opened in DeKalb, but it’s a bit different. The Charitable Community Pharmacy is meant to help people who can’t afford their medications. It’s run by volunteers and…

…plans to stock medications to address diabetes, cardiovascular conditions and mental health conditions. It’ll also have medications for chronic conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Mrs Peel, we’re needed

Picture the scene: A small, wooded island. Log cabin. Smoke from the chimney. In front, a person is chopping wood on a stump, wearing plaid and a well-worn baseball cap.

Suddenly, a helicopter appears and lands in the open field. A soldier jumps out, holding his hat down against the draft from the chopper. “Hey, doc!” he shouts, “We know you’re retired, but we need you to come back! Your country needs you!”

“APhA Urges Biden Administration to Use Retired Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians in COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign”.

Our number two story

So you’ve got patients with melanoma who responded well to immunotherapy. And you’ve also got patients who didn’t respond to it. Get this: According to University of Pittsburgh immunologists, transplanting poop from the first group to the second could allow immunotherapy to work on those ‘non-responsive’ people .

After the transplant, six of the 15 patients responded to immunotherapy for the first time, showing either tumor reduction or disease stabilization that lasted more than a year.

But why? The answer might be — might be — in having gut bacteria that promote the secretion of the interleukin-8 (IL-8) protein. The fact that gut bugs made such a difference, though, opens up a whole new avenue for research.

Was that you?

President Biden’s potential pick for FDA commish was a senior regulator at the agency for two decades, right when all those opioids were being approved, leading to the crisis. And that’s got a lot of health folks concerned.

But while Dr Woodcock is widely respected as a scientist and doctor, many campaigners say she failed to take into account the public safety implications of new opioids that were approved under her watch.

It’s not just pharma companies on the hook

Consulting firm McKinsey & Co will be paying at least $573 million to more than 40 states for its role in advising Purdue Pharma on how to increase OxyContin sales.

Of course, this is still just a speck compared to the 3,200+ lawsuits that are still pending.

Propecia problems

Newly unsealed documents show that Propecia seems to have a long record of causing both sexual dysfunction and suicidal thoughts — including at least 100 deaths. The drug’s label was updated in 2011, but without mention of potential suicide, although both EU and Canadian versions of finasteride do require a warning of suicidal thoughts.

And Merck’s take? It’s not the Propecia, it’s the hair loss that’s the problem.

It also has argued in court that “premature hair loss itself, the very condition for which Propecia is prescribed, is associated with low self-esteem, poor body image, and depression.”

Xeljanz problems

The FDA is a bit concerned about Xeljanz (and not just because saying it three times under a full moon can awaken evil spirits). It seems that…

[P]reliminary results from a safety clinical trial show an increased risk of serious heart-related problems and cancer with the arthritis and ulcerative colitis medicine Xeljanz.

The final results, which will also include testing for the risk of blood clots in the lungs and death, are not yet available.

One mysterious disease is missing this year

Remember that “mysterious polio-like syndrome” that was affecting some kids back in the Before Times? Acute flaccid myelitis? Likely caused by an enterovirus, it showed up every other year since 2014 — but not in 2020.

But then came masks, physical distancing, activity restrictions, and, in many communities, still-shuttered schools. The result: There were just 30 confirmed AFM cases in 2020, compared to 238 in 2018 and 153 in 2016.

What does that tell us? First, that Covid restrictions seem to keep other diseases at bay, but also that Covid-19 is “just so much more contagious.”