Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer Begins Trials For Next-Gen Covid Treatment, Pills Given At First Sign
Bloomberg: Pfizer Begins Human Trials Of New Pill To Treat Coronavirus
Pfizer Inc. said it has begun human safety testing of a new pill to treat the coronavirus that could be used at the first sign of illness. If it succeeds in trials, the pill could be prescribed early in an infection to block viral replication before patients get very sick. The drug binds to an enzyme called a protease to keep the virus from replicating. Protease-inhibiting medicines have been successful in treating other types of viruses, include HIV and Hepatitis C. (Langreth, 3/23)
Axios: COVID Infections Among Vaccinated People Are Very Rare
Fully vaccinated people can still get COVID, but it's pretty rare, according to a pair of studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine. One study published Tuesday found that only four out of 8,121 fully vaccinated employees at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas became infected. (Fernandez, 3/24)
CIDRAP: Infliximab Associated With Lower Likelihood Of COVID-19 Antibodies
People with COVID-19 infections who also used the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) drug infliximab had significantly fewer detectable antibodies than those who used vedolizumab, which treats IBD without the immune suppression, according to a study yesterday in Gut. Dubbed CLARITY (ImpaCt of bioLogic therApy on saRs-cov-2 Infection and immuniTY), the study looked at 6,935 patients ages 5 and above with IBD from 92 UK hospitals from Sep 22 to Dec 23, 2020, and researchers plan to follow them up to 40 weeks thereafter. About two thirds (67.6%) of the cohort took infliximab, while the remainder took vedolizumab. Patients' median age was 39 years. (3/23)
CNN: How Beards Fit In Masks May Affect Your Covid-19 Risk
Growing a beard may seem as harmless as committing to elastic waistbands, as far as pandemic trends go. But for some, choosing to forego shaving could impact one crucial method for ending the pandemic. An important part of wearing face masks to reduce the risk of contracting or spreading coronavirus is that the mask fits snugly. Depending on a beard's length and thickness, experts have said it may reduce the effectiveness of mask-wearing by creating more space between your face and the mask. (Rogers, 3/23)
