Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Covid Vaccines Violated Patent Rights, GlaxoSmithKline Contends In Lawsuit
Reuters: GlaxoSmithKline Sues Pfizer And BioNTech Over Covid-19 Vaccine Technology
GlaxoSmithKline sued Pfizer and BioNTech in Delaware federal court on Thursday, accusing them of infringing GSK patents related to messenger RNA (mRNA) technology in the companies' blockbuster COVID-19 vaccines. GSK said in the lawsuit that Pfizer and BioNTech's Comirnaty vaccines violate the company's patent rights in mRNA-vaccine innovations developed "more than a decade before" the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Brittain, 4/25)
Reuters: Acuitas, CureVac Settle Lawsuit Over COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Rights
Biotech company Acuitas Therapeutics and Germany-based CureVac have settled Acuitas' lawsuit demanding credit for inventions related to COVID-19 vaccines, according to a filing on Thursday in Virginia federal court. Acuitas sued CureVac last year in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, claiming its scientists should have been named as co-inventors of CureVac patents covering technology used in messenger RNA (mRNA)-based shots. CureVac told the court on Thursday that they had settled their dispute and will ask to dismiss the case. (Brittain, 4/25)
WGME: Maine Supreme Court Upholds EMS Authority For Covid Vaccine Mandate
EMS workers in Maine will still have to get Covid vaccine shots, with the Maine Supreme Court upholding that rule this week. A man filed a complaint in December 2022, claiming Maine EMS didn't have the authority to issue vaccination requirements. A court tossed out the lawsuit last year. The man appealed but on Wednesday, the Maine Supreme Court upheld that court, ruling Maine EMS does have the authority to require vaccinations for its first responders. (4/25)
More covid news —
CIDRAP: COVID May Have Eroded Doctors' Belief That They Are Obligated To Treat Infectious Patients
A systematic review posted in Clinical Infectious Diseases reveals that, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many physicians felt less ethically obligated to provide care to infectious-disease patients if they fear contracting the disease. A Duke University–led team reviewed 155 published studies exploring treatment obligation and refusal, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, and pandemics up to October 25, 2022. The included studies examined ethical treatment obligations for patients with HIV/AIDS (72.2%), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS; 10.2%), COVID-19 (10.2%), Ebola (7.0%), and flu (7.0%). (Van Beusekom, 4/25)
CIDRAP: Impaired Sense Of Smell Still Common 1 Year After COVID-19
Sense of smell—but not taste—was still impaired in some COVID patients at 1 year, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. The US-based cross-sectional study compared 340 people with and 434 without prior COVID-19, recruited from February 2020 to August 2023 from the social media website Reddit. (Soucheray, 4/25)
On the spread of mpox —
USA Today: Mpox Outbreak Reported In Cuyahoga County, Ohio: Symptoms, Risks, More
Health officials in Ohio have announced an mpox outbreak after 11 cases have been reported in recent months. Since February, there have been 11 reported cases within Cuyahoga County, which encompasses Cleveland and surrounding suburbs. ... Joyous Van Meter, disease and emergency preparedness supervisor, at Cuyahoga County Board of Health told USA TODAY all of the reported cases are men. (Forbes, 4/25)
