Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
48% Of US Parents Say Multiple Vaccines Shouldn't Be Given In One Visit
CIDRAP: Poll: Nearly Half Of US Parents Believe Spacing Out Vaccines Is Healthier
Nearly half of US parents believe children are healthier when vaccines are spaced out and not given in one doctor’s visit, even as confidence in several well-established childhood vaccines remains high, according to a KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust. The poll, published today, also found partisan differences in parents’ views, with Republican and Republican-leaning parents more likely to endorse spacing out childhood vaccines and Democratic and Democratic-leaning parents more likely to say there is no strong evidence to support spacing. (Bergeson, 10/20)
CIDRAP: ‘Chaos In Communication’: How Shared Clinical Decision Making For Vaccines Adds Confusion
This summer, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requested public comment on categories of vaccine recommendations, with many questions focused on the idea of shared clinical decision making. The request came after an executive order directed the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines to come up with a plan for a new childhood vaccine schedule. (Holohan, 10/20)
Regarding hepatitis B and RSV —
MedPage Today: Not Just Moms Who Put Unvaccinated Infants At Risk Of Hepatitis B, Study Shows
For young children, exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV) mostly came from someone other than their mother in the household, according to a retrospective cohort study. Among over 158,000 children younger than 5 years, 1.3% lived in a household that had a person with active HBV infection, with 58.2% of those children exposed via contacts who were not their mothers versus 41.8% who were exposed via their mothers, reported Karen Jacobson, MD, MPH, of the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center in Pleasanton, California, at the IDWeek annual meeting. (Rudd, 10/21)
MedPage Today: FDA Green Lights Potential Functional Cure For Chronic Hep B
The FDA on Tuesday approved bepirovirsen (Hibsago) as a potential functional cure for adults with chronic hepatitis B, but with no cirrhosis, who are taking antiviral therapy. Approval was based on findings from the B-Well 1 and B-Well 2 trials, which demonstrated that nearly 1 in 5 patients taking the antisense oligonucleotide drug along with background antivirals achieved a functional cure, as compared with none in a placebo group. (Rudd, 10/20)
MedPage Today: Study Supports Starting HPV Vaccination At A Younger Age
Children who started the two-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series at age 9 or 10 years were more than twice as likely to get both shots versus those who began later, a cluster randomized trial showed. (Rudd, 10/21)
In other pharmaceutical industry developments —
Stat: Launch Price Of New Medicines Dropped Very Slightly In 2025
Amid ongoing angst over prescription drug prices, a new analysis found the median net price for 202 newly launched medicines, when adjusted for inflation and manufacturer discounts, rose by 35% to $257,000 in 2025 from $190,000 in 2022. (Silverman, 10/20)
Axios: Exclusive: OpenAI Has Acquired Orchestra Bio
OpenAI has acquired Orchestra Bio, a startup building AI agents to help pharmaceutical companies manage drug development, the ChatGPT maker shared exclusively with Axios. (Mills, 10/20)
Stat: Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs Tackles Expensive Rare Disease Treatments
Billionaire Mark Cuban has spent the last five years trying to make generic drugs like chemotherapy and antifungal ointment cheaper for Americans. But earlier this year, a very different type of medicine began arriving at his Dallas factory. (Mast, 10/21)
Becker's Hospital Review: Cancer Drug Shortages Worsen: 7 Notes From ASHP’s Q3 Report
Chemotherapy shortages increased in the third quarter even as the number of active U.S. drug shortages held steady at 225, according to ASHP’s latest quarterly report. Here are seven things to know: The rise in cancer drug shortages stems in part from flooding at a Pfizer manufacturing facility in India that produced generic chemotherapy agents for leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma and colorectal, pancreatic and testicular cancers, among others, according to the report. Pfizer expects the disruption to last into 2028, the group said. (Jeffries, 10/20)
Los Angeles Times: Some GLP-1 Injections Recalled Due To 'Lack Of Assurance Of Sterility'
Apothecary Pharma, a compounding pharmacy, voluntarily recalled 22 vials of Tirzepatide injections due to a “lack of assurance of sterility,” according to the official announcement. (Garcia, 10/20)
The New York Times: Why Drug Companies Are Rushing To Market Ketamine Medicines
How would you like your ketamine? In tablet form, or a thin film that melts in your mouth? Delivered as a nasal spray, or combined with a cancer drug to extend the antidepressant effects? In a gold rush accelerated by the Trump administration’s unlikely zeal for experimental psychedelic treatments, over a dozen companies are developing products based on ketamine, the generic anesthetic that in recent years has become a popular treatment for mental health conditions. (And, unfortunately, a ubiquitous recreational drug.) (Jacobs, 10/20)
