CVS has an oopsie

What’s 204 gigabytes and includes more than a billion-with-a-B customer records? If you said “The amount of CVS’s information exposed on the Internet when someone at the company accidently posted it online and made it available to everyone.

STOP RIGHT THERE! Luckily we read past the headline (“CVS Health database leak left 1B user records exposed online”) to see that these were not health records.

The data exposed online included customer email addresses, user IDs and customer searches on CVS Pharmacy websites for COVID-19 vaccines and other medications, according to the report.

But still, it’s information that can be connected to individuals and used for nefarious purposes, like marketing.

Last chance to bid — at the beach or on your screen!

Today is your last chance to bid on the hot items in the Georgia Pharmacy Foundation’s Bid at the Beach fundraiser. Even if you’re not at the Georgia Pharmacy Convention, you can still join in and win cool goodies while benefitting the foundation!

All you need to do is click here to register, view the items, and start bidding — and every time you bid, you’re supporting the foundation!

You don’t need to worry about snipers*, either. The auction software can bid for you — just set the max you’re willing to spend. (We recommend $15,000.) And don’t forget to arrange for someone to pick up your loot.

What’s up for auction? From wine bottles to vintage pharmacy equipment to porch furniture to tickets to stuff that will surprise you.

Stop reading, start bidding! The auction ends promptly TODAY, June 18, at 6:00:00 pm EDT!

All proceeds will help fund GPhF initiatives, including scholarships to student pharmacists attending Georgia’s pharmacy schools.

* The chuckleheads who wait till the last half-second before swooping in with a high bid [shakes fist]

Covid updates

Delta looks different

The Covid variant is now firmly entrenched in the U.S. of A. (about 10 percent of cases), and reports are showing that people report some different symptoms and may not realize they’ve even got it.

“Since the start of May, we have been looking at the top symptoms in the app users and they are not the same as they were. The number one symptom is headache, then followed by sore throat, runny nose and fever.” More “traditional” Covid symptoms such as a cough and loss of smell were much rarer now.

CureVac flops

German drugmaker CureVac’s Covid-19 vaccine was only 47 percent effective in a large clinical trial. So don’t expect to see it very soon, unless the FDA suddenly starts approving drugs that don’t necessarily work.

You can get it again

A study of British healthcare workers who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 found that, sorry, it doesn’t seem to confer long-term immunity — at least not past a few months.

Guts, meat, and strokes

A new addition to the “things that the gut biome can affect”: strokes. As in, how severe they are, and how much a victim is likely to be impaired afterwards.

Certain microbes produce byproducts depending on the foods they digest, and at least one is dangerous, stroke-wise: trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a waste product of some bacteria that digest red meat. If you’ve got microbes that make it, your risk goes up.

“Remarkably,” said the Cleveland Clinic researcher leading the study, “simply transplanting gut microbes capable of making TMAO was enough to cause a profound change in stroke severity.”

Much ado about nothing

Trump administration: We want to allow importing of drugs from Canada, at those lower Canadian prices.

HHS and FDA: By your command. [implements section 804 of FD&C Act; dramatic music plays]

Pharma companies: Nooooooo! We’re suing to stop it because it could cut into our profits! Um, we mean because Canadian drugs are unsafe!

Biden administration: Sheesh, circuit course, dismiss this suit. This is all hypothetical, they can’t claim damage, and it’s probably not going to happen anyway.

Canadians: Has anyone asked us?

[crickets chirp]

Switzerland goes to bat

Banks, chocolate, cheese, and sharpshooting* — all things the Swiss are known for. And now … bats. Bats that harbor viruses that can jump to humans, Chinese-marketplace-style. And just to make it more interesting, one of those viruses is a new kind of MERS. Remember that one?

This genomic analysis revealed the presence of 39 different families of viruses, including 16 families previously found to be able to infect other vertebrates, and which therefore could potentially be transmitted to other animals or humans.

* And a flag that’s a big plus.

Today’s causal-connection

Higher BMI does seem to lead to a higher risk of psoriasis — in fact, per a study by dermatologists and pharmacists at Hofstra University, “There appears to be a graded association between BMI and risk of psoriasis.”

Of note: BMI affects the risk, but not necessarily the severity.

Science marches on

Who among us hasn’t woken in the middle of the night wondering, “Can honeybees become alcoholics?” Polish researchers finally have the answer. Yes, if you give honeybees alcohol, then stop, the bees get withdrawal symptoms. Now you know.

The Long Read: A Good Side Effect edition

Having a global pandemic has apparently made more people aware of their mortality — and their health. Stat News calls it “A surprising pandemic side effect”.