Let me print that vaccine for you

Instead of transporting vaccines to a region that needs them right now, why not take advantage of 21st century technology and print them on site?

That’s what MIT engineers have come up with: a mobile vaccine printer, not much larger than an office printer, that could produce hundreds of vaccine doses every day.

The printer produces patches with hundreds of microneedles containing vaccine. The patch can be attached to the skin, allowing the vaccine to dissolve without the need for a traditional injection. Once printed, the vaccine patches can be stored for months at room temperature.

Microneedle patches aren’t new, and neither are 3D printers. The trick was creating a shelf-stable “ink” that contains the vaccine while also being sure to include the word “nano” in the description. In this case, they were able to use lipid nanoparticles to not only contain the bits of mRNA, but that also keep them stable for long periods of time at room temperature (or even higher).

The GPhA annual member survey is still waiting for you

Please don’t forget to give us a few minutes of your time so we can serve you better. Most importantly, we need to know how you practice and what you like and don’t like about what GPhA is doing.

It’s all in GPhA’s annual member survey and waiting for your input!

Trust me on this: Your answers are read and talked about, and they really do make a difference in GPhA’s priorities over the next year.

Anti-PBM alliance solidifies

Senators Bernie Sanders and Bill Cassidy, representing both side of the aisle in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, have reached an agreement for a package of bills that would…

… increase transparency for plans to use PBMs as well as impose transparency measures on PBMs, as well as ban spread pricing and mandate that PBMs pass 100% of the rebates collected from drug makers to the health plans.

And if the story has “as well as” twice, you know it’s a comprehensive package.

It’s not the only one; it follows on the heels of a separate plan out of the Senate Finance Committee has some of the same goals: increasing transparency and eliminating practices that increase drug prices. And the House has its own bills in process to rein in PBMs by, among other measures, eliminating spread pricing. Stay tuned.

More reasons to take Vitamin D

…if you’re pregnant

Low vitamin D levels during early pregnancy could result in obese boys, according to a study out of Spain.

…if you have allergic asthma

Being deficient in vitamin D could make asthma symptoms worse, found German researchers.

[C]hildren and adults who took vitamin D3 supplements had less pronounced asthma symptoms and presented with less severe asthma, at the same time as requiring fewer steroids for inhalation.

They “still do not fully understand how exactly this vitamin influences the cellular inflammatory reaction in the body,” but clues point to a protein called blimp-1, which can affect the response of some T cells.

I went to the immune cell to hide my face,
but the mAbtyrins called out, “No hiding place”

Some S. aureus bacteria is smarter than others, and when antibiotics come calling the smart ones drill into, hide inside, and eventually burst out of immune cells when the coast is clear. They become resistant to treatment: They’re MRSA.

But now NYU biotech researchers have developed a weapon — a new molecule called mAbtyrins — that combines a human monoclonal antibody (to mark the S. aureus for death) and proteins called centyrins that prevent the smart bacteria from doing their hiding trick.

By taking away one of the weapons the S. aureus uses to survive, it allows the immune system to take care of business while preventing the formation of resistant strains.

Dog eye therapy can help humans

The same gene that can cause one eye disease in dogs can cause a related condition in humans — one that leads to blindness. But now Michigan State veterinary researchers have developed a treatment for dogs that treats the gene (cyclic nucleotide-gated channel beta 1, or CNGB1). Ergo:

Because the gene therapy works in dogs with progressive retinal atrophy due to CNGB1 gene mutations, and because humans develop retinitis pigmentosa due to CNGB1 gene mutations, the therapy is now ready to be developed to help people with CNGB1-retinitis pigmentosa. (Emphasis ours.)

“Stupid is as stupid does” —F. Gump

1) No, despite what anti-vaxxers say, no one is putting Covid vaccines in the food supply. I mean, really?

1a) As a UGA prof points out, it couldn’t even work.

2) If you get your medical news from TikTok, you’re an imbecile*.

3) Someone should buy AP reporter Angelo Fichera a drink for taking the time to talk to experts to debunk a conspiracy theory that stupid.

* This statement does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Georgia Pharmacy Association, its staff, or its members.

Short Takes

Sometimes drugs aren’t the answer

Sure, Ozempic and other GLP-1 agonists are getting all the hype for weight loss, but, as the Atlantic points out, they’re a lot more expensive and not always successful as bariatric surgery.

Out of pocket, surgery costs $15,000 to $25,000—not cheap, but still cheaper than shelling out more than $1,000 a month indefinitely.

Weird science story of the week

Walking a dog on a leash is more dangerous than you might think. Sure (found Johns Hopkins University researchers) broken fingers were the most common injury, but sitting in second place is traumatic head injury. Shoulder sprain or strain was #3.

But for anyone age 65 and older, traumatic head injury was the most common injury. Oh, and “Notably, women with injuries related to dog walking were 50% more likely than men to sustain a fracture.”

Captain Obvious patiently awaits the McRib

“Junk food ads trigger positive emotions, healthy foods not so much”