Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Drugmakers Hope To Give Peace Of Mind To People With Peanut Allergies -- And Rack Up Big Bucks
Stat: Two Biotechs Vying For The First Peanut Allergy Treatment Have Readouts Coming Soon. Here’s What To Expect
Two drug makers — Aimmune Therapeutics (AIMT) and AnaptysBio (ANAB) — are developing different methods to protect people against severe peanut allergy and will disclose important clinical trial results within the next two months. Anyone with school-age children knows peanut allergy is a serious and prevalent health problem. It’s estimated that between 1.5 million to 2 million people under 18 in the U.S. have peanut allergy. Apart from scrupulous peanut avoidance, there are no approved treatments for people at risk for severe allergic reaction if exposed to even trace amounts of peanut protein. (Feuerstein, 1/23)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Stat: Dr. Reddy's Fined For Knowingly Shipping Drugs That Were Not Child Resistant
Six years after an embarrassing episode came to light, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has agreed to pay a $5 million fine for knowingly distributing medicines in blister packs that were not child resistant as required by federal law. In disclosing the settlement, the U.S. Department of Justice noted that packaging engineers at the company’s subsidiary in New Jersey prepared a report in 2011 detailing how child-resistant blister packs for several medicines did not meet federal standards. Despite being urged by its own employees to test the packaging, the company shipped the generic medicines anyway, according to court documents. (Silverman, 1/22)
