FTC to pharma: No more games

The Federal Trade Commission is Not Happy at All with the way it thinks pharmaceutical companies are gaming the patent system by (the agency says) “Improperly listing patents” to prevent competition from generics. It’s issued a formal policy statement putting those companies on notice: “[T]he FTC intends to scrutinize improper Orange Book^* listings to determine whether these constitute unfair methods of competition.”

From the statement (PDF):

Improper Orange Book listings may have played a role in distorting pharmaceutical markets for decades. The Supreme Court has observed that since the late 1990s there has been evidence that some brand drug companies were exploiting the Orange Book listing process “to prevent or delay the marketing of generic drugs.”

^* “the FDA’s official source for listing prescription (and nonprescription) drug products”

Covid’s Achilles heel?

Well well well. It seems that for all the damage the SARS-CoV-2 virus can do, all this time it’s been dependent on a human process to replicate.

We won’t go into the science in too much detail, but the gist is that after the virus’s DNA creates a protein, that protein needs to be tweaked (“post-translation modification”). And that SARS virus uses a human protein called “N” to make its protein behave badly.

This means, the UC Riverside researchers who discovered it say, that there could be an easy-to-exploit weakness not only of SARS-CoV-2, but of influenza A and B, both of which use the same human process to spread.

Nobody expects a new J&J logo

Possibly out of concern that too many young people can’t read cursive, Johnson & Johnson is giving up its iconic script logo in favor of one based on a plainer font that they likely paid millions to develop.

The new font, says the company, is “A modern take on our heritage script and updated for this next chapter, each letter is drawn in one pen stroke, creating a contrast that delivers both a sense of unexpectedness and humanity.” (Seriously.)

J&J has also updated its ampersand to a new design that “captures our caring, human nature. It represents the openness of our brand and the connections we make to bring our purpose to life.”

Ooooookay.

Covid-booster hesitancy falls

A year ago, only about 17% of Americans said they would be interested in getting a Covid booster in the fall of 2023. Today that number is about 50%.

The nationwide online poll […] showed that almost 30% of respondents were very interested in getting the vaccine and another 24% were somewhat interested. Almost 17% were not very interested and 30% were not interested at all.

The most-cited reason for wanting the vaccine: avoiding severe illness. The most-cited reason for not wanting it? Fear that the vaccine somehow isn’t safe … or believing that Covid doesn’t really make people sick.

Should we start worrying about the Nipah virus?

It’s spreading in India’s Kerala state, has a 40–75% mortality rate, and spreads from human to human. There’s no cure and no vaccine.

On the other hand, the “outbreak” has killed just two people and sickened five, it isn’t airborne, and it’s not India’s first rodeo with Nipah — it’s actually the fifth.

So no, probably not something to worry about unless a more-deadly strain emerges. As you were.

The Long Read: Phenylephrine History edition

As the FDA acknowledges that phenylephrine doesn’t work, the question is out there: How did it past the “effective” part of the “safe and effective” test? The Atlantic has the answer.

Fun fact: Did you know that the new method of making meth no longer uses pseudoephedrine? It doesn’t need to be behind the counter….