mRNA: For my next trick….

Seeing how mRNA technology worked so well for Covid-19, Moderna is turning next to the flu, with human trials of a flu vaccine targeting four strains of influenza.

The Big Deal isn’t just how effective mRNA vaccines seem to be, but how quickly they can be developed. Current flu vaccines have to be made nine months ahead (thanks, Australia, for the warnings!) based on a best guess for that year’s strains. An mRNA vaccine could be better targeted.

But wait, there’s more. Moderna figures if it’s giving you a shot for one respiratory virus, why not give you a shot for a bunch at once? Per the CEO:

“Our vision is to develop an mRNA combination vaccine so that people can get one shot each fall for high efficacy protection against the most problematic respiratory viruses [such as influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and RSV].”

Well this should help. Not.

Bowing to pressure for its unexplained decision to approve Biogen’s Aduhelm Alzheimer’s treatment, the FDA is clarifying it. A little.

The new label specifies that “there are no safety or effectiveness data on initiating treatment at earlier or later stages of the disease than were studied.”

Then again, if it’s approved, it’s approved — the FDA can’t stop a prescriber from giving it to a patient who begs for it.

Another interesting pharma lawsuit

Pfizer wants to give Medicare patients copay assistance for its Vyndaqel and Vyndamax (aka tafamidis) heart meds. The feds say that’s a kickback — and, worse, that it would encourage more patients to take the $225,000/year (!) drug. Not a good thing when Medicare is forced to pay whatever Pfizer demands.

“As soon as, for the patient and the physician, it appears that the drug is effectively free … Pfizer is able to price the drug whatever it wants. It could say $225,000 this year, and next year it is going to increase it to $500,000, the next year to $2 million.”

Even worse, if copay assistance like that is allowed, it would open the gates for every company to do it. As one expert put it: “Because the federal government can’t negotiate [drug prices], the only economic check on the list price is a patient’s cost-sharing.”

But Pfizer, not surprisingly, disagrees — and is in federal court arguing its point.

No, vaping isn’t safe

“Women who vape are more likely to have low-birthweight babies, study shows” — about 33 percent more likely, in fact, based on data from 80,000 mothers. In fact, that’s worse than people who also smoked regular cigarettes.

• Didn’t vape or smoke: 6.1% low-birthweight babies
• Vaped and smoked: 8.1%
• Vaped exclusively: 10.6% (and 12.4% pre-term births)

Snot expected

A phrase you probably thought you’d never hear: “Danish artificial mucus.” And yet that’s exactly what those shifty Danes have come up with. What’s the point?

The idea is that mucus forms a first-line defense against bacteria, so it might be possible to design a better mucus — one that’s designed to kill a particular infection.

“We imagine that instead of using antibiotics, you might produce for example eye drops with the mucin that normally removes the bacteria in the treatment of eye infections.”

Chew your food!

Kids who eat too quickly are likely to be more impulsive. Kids who are impulsive are likely to be “highly responsive to external food cues (the urge to eat when food is seen, smelled or tasted).” And that can lead to obesity.

The point, say psychology researchers at the University of Buffalo, is that we need to be aware of behaviors that can indicate a chain that leads to waddling through middle school.

“Future research should […] explore whether the relationship between temperament and eating behaviors is a two-way street. Could the habit of eating slower, over time, lead to lower impulsiveness?”

Sure, why not?

Dollar General is apparently getting into the healthcare business. It’s hired a chief medical officer. (I would make a joke, but something tells me this actually could amount to something.)

Says the CEO: “Our goal is to build and enhance affordable healthcare offerings for our customers, especially in the rural communities we serve.”

I blame the squirrels

Although adults with ADHD tend to be more interesting and better-looking than average*, a study out of Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet found that they’re also more likely to have a wide range of conditions, “including nervous system, respiratory, musculoskeletal, and metabolic diseases.”

The diagnoses most strongly associated with ADHD were alcohol-related liver disease, sleep disorders, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), epilepsy, fatty liver disease, and obesity.

Just those, huh?

But wait — then they throw in this curveball: “Full siblings of individuals with ADHD had significantly increased risk for most physical conditions.”

So it’s correlation, not causation. The same genetics that might give someone ADHD are also (somehow) responsible for all that other stuff.

* Prove me wrong.

Humira falls

…from the top spot in TV advertising. What you’re likely to see the most of now are Dupixent, Rinvoq, and Rybelsus. Yay.

Of note: AbbVie’s Botox just moved into the top 10.