RSV shot coming to the 50s set

Good news for people aged 50–59 at high risk from RSV: The FDA gave its stamp of approval to giving them GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine. Right now you have to be at least 60 to get it, but GSK says that ‘More than 13 million Americans ages 50 to 59 have a medical condition that increases their risk of having a severe RSV outcome.’

That doesn’t mean those folks can get it immediately. The CDC hasn’t blessed the vax yet, and it won’t until July at the earliest. And insurers, including Medicaid, won’t cover it without the CDC’s thumbs-up.

Coming soon: Moderna’s combo vax?

The idea of a combo Covid/flu shot has been floated ever since we realized we’ll probably need annual updates for both. Now good news from (and for) Moderna: The company says its combo mRNA vaccine elicited…

…‘significantly higher immune responses’ against a number of influenza strains, as well as against SARSs-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, after a single dose.

That’s compared to Moderna’s existing Covid vaccine and the Fluzone HD flu shot, so yeah — it’s better than what’s out there, and faster to produce, too.

Danger of a stronger nicotine

Vape makers are getting around nicotine regulations by creating nicotine variants — e.g., 6-methyl nicotine — that are more addictive than nicotine. That lets them skip FDA approval while still getting kids hooked on e-cigs.

Twist: That was brought to the FDA’s attention by legit e-cig companies including Altria (née Philip Morris) and British American Tobacco.

[Altria] urged the agency to evaluate the compounds and establish what authority it had over them, warning they posed a “new threat” to regulation of the sector.

In related news

The feds, it seems, are going to crack down on illegal e-cigarettes.

There are only 23 approved tobacco-flavored vapes, but you wouldn’t know that looking at what’s for sale in some places. So the FDA and the Justice Department have launched a new task force — it includes the ATF, US Marshals Service, and even the US Postal Inspection Service and the FTC — to ensure “vigorous enforcement of the tobacco laws” including “criminal and civil prosecutions, seizures, and forfeitures.”

Short Takes

Paxlovid fails against long Covid

Paxlovid might help shorten Covid symptoms, but it doesn’t help relieve long Covid. That’s the result of a study out of Stanford University, where they were hoping to find a treatment for the brain fog and exhaustion that affects a lot of people (10%?) who have recovered from the disease.

Another needle-free insulin candidate

This one consists of drops placed under the tongue. The trick is a “unique cell-penetrating peptide” developed at the University of British Columbia that allows the insulin to squeeze through the lining of the mouth and into the bloodstream. Still, it’s only in pre-clinical trials.

FDA committee backs Lilly’s Alzheimer’s drug

After a delay earlier this year, an FDA ad­vi­so­ry com­mit­tee gave an 11-0 thumbs-up to Eli Lil­ly’s Alzheimer’s drug do­nanemab. (That’s just the adcomm, though. The FDA still has to make the formal approval decision.)

When ferrets are canaries

Give ferrets the (human) seasonal flu, and they get sick. Give them the bird flu that infected a Texas dairy worker and they die. That’s not a good sign.

Ferrets are considered the best small mammal for studying influenza virus infection and transmission and are commonly used as a tool to inform public health risk assessments of emerging influenza viruses, according to the CDC.

The good news is that “The virus was less efficient than other influenza strains at spreading by respiratory droplets,” meaning it “would need to undergo changes to spread efficiently by droplets through the air.”

And really, what are the chances of a virus mutating like that?

News shocker: Pharmacies are closing

The Associated Press has just realized that a heck of a lot of pharmacies are closing, and that’s not good for anyone (especially rural areas and Black and Latino neighborhoods). Chains have shareholders to cater to, so they close less-profitable locations, while independents having fight tooth-and-nail to get fair reimbursements from PBMs.

Across the U.S., more than 7,000 pharmacies have closed since 2019, according to data from University of Pittsburgh researcher Lucas Berenbrok, who considers that estimate conservative. Of those pharmacies, 54% were independent drugstores.

Blame the closings on problems like sliding revenue and rising expenses. For years, the reimbursement that drugstores receive for filling most prescriptions has shrunk while things like utilities and employee pay continue to climb.