Bayer’s Non-Hormonal Drug Appears To Help Menopausal Hot Flashes; Bivalent Covid Vax Is A Winner In Kids

Stat: New Menopause Drug Shows Promise In Relief For Hot Flashes
More hopeful news on the menopause front: Bayer announced on Monday encouraging results in two Phase 3 trials for its non-hormonal drug candidate, elinzanetant, meant to treat hot flashes. The results follow the recent market launch of Veozah, Astellas Pharma’s groundbreaking non-hormonal treatment for hot flashes, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last spring and received approval in the U.K., under the name Veozah, in December. (Merelli, 1/10)

CIDRAP: Bivalent COVID Vaccine Very Effective Against Severe Illness In Children, Study Concludes 
Two new US studies suggest that the bivalent (two-strain) Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine offered children and adolescents good protection against severe outcomes such as hospitalization during Delta and Omicron predominance and that vaccine-induced antibodies can neutralize Omicron BA.2.86 but that the subvariant has features linked to severe symptoms. (Van Beusekom, 1/9)

CIDRAP: Linezolid Fails As Early Syphilis Treatment In Clinical Trial 
A randomized clinical trial conducted in Spain found that linezolid is not an effective treatment for patients with early syphilis, researchers reported yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (Dall, 1/9)

CIDRAP: Study Describes Success With Early Use Of Mpox Drug Among People With HIV 
Today JAMA Internal Medicine published a study demonstrating that people with HIV (PWH) who receive early tecovirimat (Tpoxx) after having mpox symptoms are less likely to experience a full-blow course of illness. (Soucheray, 1/8)

Also —

Reuters: Rite Aid Gets Court Approval For $575 Million Elixir Sale
Pharmacy chain Rite Aid Corp on Tuesday received bankruptcy court approval to sell its Elixir pharmacy benefit manager business for $575 million. Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy in October with an agreement to sell the Elixir business to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) MedImpact Healthcare Systems for that price. (Knauth, 1/9)

Stat: Doudna Institute Plans To 'Cure Hundreds Of Diseases' With CRISPR
A new effort from the Nobel Prize winner's nonprofit looks to use genome editing to help patients with diseases too rare for industry to care. (Mast, 1/9)

CIDRAP: Novo Nordisk Gives CARB-X $25 Million To Combat Antibiotic Resistance 
The Novo Nordisk Foundation today announced a $25 million, 3-year grant to CARB-X (the Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator) to support early-stage development of products to treat, prevent, and diagnose antibiotic-resistant infections. (Dall, 1/9)