Last week, it was colonoscopy time again. Oh, joy! But it gave me an excuse to look up alternate bowel preps – and it's a damn good thing I did. Which prep is the one to have? Which is best to avoid? It's not so easy to tell. As a bonus, here are some hilarious quotes.
Drugs & Pharmaceuticals
Funding a pull incentive for antibiotic R&D in the United States would be more attractive to our representatives in Congress if we required that all manufacturing and supply chains for the beneficiary product be physically located in this country. Dr. David Shlaes (pictured), ACSH advisor and infectious disease expert, explains.
Antibe Therapeutics is developing a badly-needed new class of anti-inflammatory and analgesic NSAIDs that seem to be much easier on the stomach. The FDA just approved the company's IND for otenaproxesul while the drug has already undergone Phase 2 trials in Canada and is gearing up for Phase 3. Not your typical path for drug development, but whatever works is just fine.
There has been no shortage of COVID-19 vaccine doubters. One (of the infinite number) of criticisms of the mRNA vaccines is that clinical trial data is somehow unreliable, or that the vaccine won't work in the “real world." But a study at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has slammed the brakes on that theory. The Pfizer/Moderna vaccines almost entirely prevented infection in first-line medical workers.
Do you have questions about the COVID-19 vaccines, and wonder how safe and effective they are? Of course, you do. We all have them, so you've come to the right place. In his latest video presentation of A Dose of Science, Dr. Joe Schwarcz, the Director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society, clearly and simply explains how the vaccines were tested, and why they are all both safe and effective. Overall "we are very happy with what we are seeing," he says, so "go get the vaccine" because the health "benefits greatly outweigh the risks."
Ever heard of the Hotze Health & Wellness Center in Houston? If not, you're better off. Its founder, Dr. Steven Hotze, has plenty to say about COVID, almost all of it completely wrong.
The Pew Charitable Trust just published its analysis of the antibacterial pipeline. Is it adequate to fulfill our needs? The answer is no. Is it supported by the market? Also, no. (Sigh...)
A Medscape article entitled "Five-Day Course of Oral Antiviral Appears to Stop SARS-CoV-2 in Its Tracks" was recently published. Don't fall for the title. It's not that simple.
Safety data based on more than 17 million Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccinations was just published in a JAMA online article. How safe were they? Very.
Given recent events, including Europe's botched approach to procuring a COVID vaccine, do we think the E.U. will be able to get it together to provide a significant pull incentive for antibiotic research and development?
Canadian pain patients may have it even worse than those in the US. Our northern neighbors are buying opioids on the dark web (shudders) because they can't get them from their doctors, just like here. Perhaps we need a "Borders Without Doctors" group.
At some point, we're gonna run out of people to deny opioids. What to do?? There are many anti-opioid zealot mouths to feed. New victims are needed. How about cats?