Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
How Common Is Drug Cross-Contamination? More Than You Think
Bloomberg: Big Pharma's Little Secret: Drug Cross-Contamination Is Rampant
Brady Ellison, a three-time U.S. Olympic medalist in archery, is going for gold in Tokyo, though he was almost disqualified. Pills he takes for a thyroid condition contained traces of a drug banned by anti-doping authorities. “I had absolutely no clue,” says Ellison, 32. While few have access to Olympics substance testing, many would find themselves in a similar situation if they did. The trillion-dollar prescription-drug industry has a problem it doesn’t like to talk about and doesn’t fully understand. Manufacturers stamp out pills for one condition on the same machines they use to stamp out pills for a different one, and while they’re supposed to clean between production rounds, trace contamination is common and, some argue, inevitable. (Edney, 7/26)
CNBC: How Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy With MDMA And Psilocybin Works
Investors are opening their minds and wallets to the possibilities of psychedelic-assisted therapies. Three biopharmaceutical companies aiming to make psychedelic drugs to treat mental health disorders have gone public in recent months: Peter Thiel-backed Atai Life Sciences IPO’d in June and now has a market cap of $2.6 billion; MindMed went public in April and now has a market cap of more than $1 billion; and Compass Pathways IPO’d in November, with a current market cap of nearly $1.5 billion. (Stieg, 7/24)
Stat: Microbiome Therapy Companies Face The Fallout Of Failed Seres Trial
A frost may be setting in across the microbiome therapeutics space after another clinical trial failure announcement from Seres Therapeutics, this time with an ulcerative colitis treatment. Not only has Seres’ share price fallen more than 60% since Thursday, the stock prices of rival microbiome therapy makers Finch Therapeutics, Evelo Biosciences, and Kaleido Biosciences were down by roughly 20%. (Sheridan, 7/26)
Axios: Synthetic Biology And AI Drug Discovery Platform Absci Goes Public
Absci — a company that uses synthetic biology and machine learning to help pharmaceutical companies rapidly identify new drugs — went public Thursday. Discovering a new drug usually takes years of trial and error and huge amounts of investment. Also, more often than not, a candidate will never make it to market. Approaches that mine the intersection of AI and biology should help accelerate that timeline. (Walsh, 7/23)
CNBC: Large Shareholder Group Calls For A Board Overhaul At Pharma Company CytoDyn
CytoDyn is a late-stage biotechnology company. The company focuses on developing treatments for multiple therapeutic indications based on leronlimab, a novel humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the CCR5 receptor. Its leronlimab is in a class of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies designed to address unmet medical needs in the areas of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cancer, immunology, and novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19). It has completed a Phase 3 pivotal trial with leronlimab in combination with antiretroviral therapies in HIV-infected treatment-experienced patients, as well as completed a Phase 3 investigative trial with leronlimab as a once-weekly monotherapy for HIV-infected patients. (Squire, 7/24)
AP: Georgia Board Picks 6 Companies To Sell Medical Marijuana
A Georgia board tasked with overseeing the state’s efforts to get patients access to medical marijuana has approved the six companies that will be allowed to sell the drug, a major step to finally getting patients legal access to the medication. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission voted Saturday to pick six companies from 69 that had applied for licenses. Specifically they’ll be able to sell medical marijuana oil that contains no more than 5% of the THC compound that is found in marijuana and which makes users high. (7/25)
