Bro, do you even phage?

Here at Buzz we love phages — the idea that the world has a built-in way to kill bacteria. They have a bunch of advantages over chemicals (notably the ability to evolve along with the bacteria, making resistance futile, at least in the long run).

But they could still be better, and a grad student at UC San Diego is all over that. His idea is to train the phages, Rocky style, to be better prepared. And whatd’yaknow:

The bacteria […] predictably moved to counter the phage attack. The difference was in preparation. Phages trained for 28 days, the study showed, were able to suppress bacteria 1,000 times more effectively and three- to eight-times longer than untrained phage.

Convention: Live or virtual — your choice!

Just eight days (!) to go till the biggest event all year for Georgia pharmacy pros! And a big announcement: We’re offering the Georgia Pharmacy Convention both LIVE and VIRTUALLY!

That’s right! We learned a lot over the last year, and we’ve got this virtual thing down pat. So …

Can’t travel to Amelia Island? NO worries! You can still participate in the general sessions and nab those 30¾ hours of sweet, sweet, continuing ed. In fact, the content will be available through Bastille Day (July 14).

It’s only $425 for GPhA members or $595 for non-members*. Head over to GPhAconvention.com/virtual for the details!

* We love you anyway!

This is not useful information

Israeli researchers decided to figure out — sorry, to study — the answer to the question, “How much does all the SARS-CoV-2 in the world weigh?”

Saving you a click: No more than 22 pounds.

[A]ll of the SARS-CoV-2 viruses currently infecting people around the world — which has been about 1 million to 10 million infections at any given time during the course of the pandemic — have a collective mass of somewhere between 0.22 and 22 pounds (0.1 and 10 kilograms).

Behemoth Watch

We know you don’t like to hear about the gorillas, but you ought to know what they’re up to: “Amazon and Walmart try—again—to upend prescription drug prices [but] Prescription drug market has proven hard to change”.

AIDS prep

As we move out of the Covid-19 pandemic and can turn to eradicating AIDS, some good news: Leronlimab — “An experimental, lab-made antibody” — completely prevented rhesus macaques from infection with SIV (the simian equivalent of HIV).

Leronlimab is already in phase three trials as an AIDS treatment, but this new info shows it might work as a pre-exposure prophylactic instead (or in addition). Unlike some existing PrEPs, this would be self-injected every three months — and hopefully have fewer side effects.

Human trials are expected to start soon.

Poll results

Well, (whew)! It seems we’ve got it right. Asking yesterday about the mix of pharma and non-pharma stories in Buzz, about 87% of people said we’ve got the right mix. (A bit less than 5% want more non-pharma stories, and about 3.5% want just pharmacy.)

Thank you for taking that worry away.

Captain Obvious zips along

A German study found that “E-Scooter Accidents Most Common on Summer Weekends”. (They also noted that, when it comes to scooters, “Alcohol consumption was associated with traumatic brain injury.”)

The Long Read: Uplift edition

Meet Robin Cavendish. “Paralyzed By Polio, This British Tea Broker Changed the Course Of Medical History Forever”.