Are there methods that can be employed to ensure the commercial success of antibiotic biotech? ACSH advisor Dr. David Shlaes has his doubts.
Drugs & Pharmaceuticals
As if the confusion over marijuana, THC, and CBD oil isn't enough – both legally and pharmacologically – now there's a new wrinkle. It’s called Delta-8 THC, a previously minuscule and unimportant component of cannabis, which is virtually identical to THC itself. It's now possible to make the drug, also called "THC-light," from CBD oil. What does this mean? Read on. If you dare.
Another steroid has been found to prevent serious COVID, but this one is different. Unlike dexamethasone, which is a systemic steroid, budesonide, a drug commonly used for asthma, is dosed directly to the lungs, which makes it much safer. And it seems to work rather well.
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.
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.