Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Database Project Aims To Monitor Drug Supply Chain From Start To Finish
CIDRAP: RDSP Maps Medicine Supply To US To Predict, Prevent Shortages (Part 2 Of 2)
The Resilient Drug Supply Project (RDSP) has built the world's largest database on pharmaceutical manufacturing, procurement, and distribution. Composed of more than 60 public and proprietary datasets, it can monitor the drug supply chain from start to finish and predict likely shortages of essential drugs affecting the United States. Begun in 2018, this far-reaching project is one focus of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), publisher of CIDRAP News. (Van Beusekom, 4/18)
In vaccine news —
CIDRAP: Survey Data Link Suspicion Of Vaccines With Low Antibiotic Knowledge
Data from the Wellcome Monitor survey of UK citizens reveal that negative views of vaccination are tied to having poor knowledge about the role of antibiotics for treating infections, according to a study today in Vaccine. ... The key antibiotic question involved choosing which of a list of conditions (viral infections, fungal infections, bacterial infections, cold, flu, or allergic reactions) could be effectively treated with antibiotics. (4/15)
CIDRAP: Israeli Study Shows Mild Side Effects In Recipients Of Pfizer Booster Dose
A study based on the first recipients of a third (booster) Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine dose in Israel had only mild side effects, with only 11% of recipients reporting their side effects were worse than those experienced after the first or second doses. The findings were published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. (4/19)
In other pharmaceutical news —
New England Journal of Medicine: Continuation Of Bisphosphonate Therapy For Osteoporosis Beyond 5 Years
A 71-year-old postmenopausal woman presents to you, her primary care physician, for follow-up. She received a diagnosis of osteoporosis at the age of 66 after dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for routine screening showed a T score of −2.7 at the femoral neck. She has not had any fractures and does not have a history of falling. Although she has a 20 pack-year history of smoking, she quit smoking nearly 10 years ago and is otherwise healthy. She takes an over-the-counter calcium–vitamin D supplement, abstains from alcohol intake, and walks around her neighborhood for an hour daily. (Chang, M.D., et al, 4/14)
CIDRAP: Analysis Shows Benefit Of 7-Day Antibiotics For Bloodstream Infections
Both short and conventional durations of antibiotic therapy provide comparable clinical outcomes when assessed using desirability-of-outcome ranking (DOOR) to consider benefits and risks of treatment options for gram-negative bloodstream infections (GNB), US, Israeli, and Italian researchers reported late last week in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. Although a 7-day antibiotics course has been demonstrated to be non-inferior to a conventional, 14-day course in terms of mortality and infectious complications for GNB, the researchers sought to explore whether the shorter treatment yields a better overall clinical outcome. (4/15)
Stat: Private Equity Giant Carlyle To Acquire Biotech VC Firm Abingworth
The Carlyle Group will acquire Abingworth, one of biotech’s oldest venture capital groups, it announced Monday. The financial terms of the deal, which will close later this year, were not disclosed. Abingworth, which just raised about $1 billion last year for two new funds, was ranked 12th in STAT’s 2020 ranking of 17 biotech venture investors; the firm was not included in the 2021 rankings. (Sheridan, 4/11)
