Methotrexate Impairs Immunogenicity of Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine In Patients With Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases

▫️The Results Showed That Individuals With Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases (IMID) On Methotrexate Showed Up To A 62% Reduced Rate of Immunogenicity To The Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccination.
▫️The Research Is Published on The medRxiv Preprint Server.
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Study Shows Oxford Covid-19 Vaccine Works Well As Third Booster

▫️The Covid-19 Vaccine of AstraZeneca And Oxford University Works Well As A Third Booster dose, Stepping Up Antibodies To The Coronavirus Spike Protein Among Participants In A Study, The Financial Times Said on Wednesday.
▫️The News Comes As Vaccine Makers Warn That The World Will Need Yearly Booster Shots, Or New Vaccines, To Tackle Virus Variants, Although Some Scientists Question If Such Shots Are Necessary.
▫️The Newspaper Quoted A Person Familiar With The Results of The Study As Saying It Showed The Antibody Reaction To The Booster Shot Was “Strong Enough Against Any Variant” And Put To Rest Fears That Adenoviruses Could Not Be Used More Than Once.
▫️It Is Not Known When Oxford And AstraZeneca Plan To Publish Study Data, The Paper Added.

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Erythropoietin Treatment May Increase The Risk of Hip Fractures In Individuals With Kidney Failure

▫️Erythropoietin (EPO) Is A Medication Used To Stimulate The Production of New Red Blood Cells, Which Is Impaired In Individuals With Kidney Failure. Unfortunately, However, The Treatment May Increase The Risk of Hip Fractures.
▫️In An Analysis Published in The Journal of Bone And Mineral Research That Examined 1997-2013 Records from Two Large U.S. Databases, Investigators Found That EPO doses Administered To Patients With Kidney Failure on Hemodialysis Fluctuated Widely Over Time, And Hip fracture Rates Closely Tracked The Average dose of EPO doses Used In Patients.
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Protein-Based Vaccines Against SARS-CoV-2 May Provide Advantages Over mRNA-Based Vaccines

▫️Researchers In The UK Have Developed A Protein-Based Subunit Vaccine Directed Against SARS-CoV-2 That Could Serve As An Alternative To The mRNA-Based Vaccines Currently Approved for Protecting Against Covid-19.
▫️The Team from The University of Liverpool And The MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, Says The Sub-Unit Approach Offers Distinct Advantages Over mRNA-Based Vaccines In Terms of The Ease And Cost of Production, The Robustness of Material And The Potency of Protection.
▫️The Researchers Showed That A Ferritin-Like Protein from The Archaeon Virus Sulfolobus islandicus Coupled With Different Antigens from SARS-CoV-2 formed Extremely Stable Vaccine Nano-Particles That Completely Protected Mice from SARS-CoV-2 Associated Pneumonia And Disease After Just A Single Immunization.
▫️A Pre-Print Version of The Research Paper Is Available on The bioRxiv Server, While The Article Undergoes Peer Review.
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Four Months of Multi-Drug Therapy For Tuberculosis Is As Effective As Standard Regimen

▫️Four Months of Multi-Drug Therapy That Included Rifapentine And Moxifloxacin Treated Active Tuberculosis (TB) As Effectively As The Standard Six-Month Regimen In A Multinational Study, Cutting Treatment Time By A Third.
▫️Coauthors Including Marc Weiner, MD, of The University of Texas Health Science Center At San Antonio, Reported The Findings May 6 In The New England Journal of Medicine.
▫️The Standard TB Regimen Consists of Four Drugs - Rifampin, Isoniazid, Pyrazinamide And Ethambutol. It Is A Successful Therapy; Approximately 95% of Recipients Are Cured Of TB Disease With This Treatment.
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Covid-19 Vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech And Oxford-AstraZeneca Reduce Mortality Among The Elderly

▫️The UK Was The First Country To Implement A Covid-19 Vaccination Program. This Began With The Administration of Pfizer-BioNTech’s (BNT162b2) Vaccine In December 2020 And Was Soon Followed by The Rollout of The Oxford-AstraZeneca’s (ChAdOx1) Vaccine, Starting In March 2021.
▫️The Analysis of More Than 48,000 Individuals, Aged 70 Years And Older, found That Covid-19 Cases Who Had Been Vaccinated With One dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 Vaccine Were At A 44% Reduced Risk of Death, Compared With Unvaccinated Individuals, While Those Vaccinated With One dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 Vaccine Were At A 55% Reduced Risk.
▫️The Team from Public Health England in London Also Found That Among Cases That Had Received Two doses of BNT162b2, The Mortality Risk was Reduced by 69%, Compared with Unvaccinated Individuals.
▫️The Researchers Say The Study Is The First To Estimate The Effectiveness of ChAdOx1 At Preventing Mortality And That A Single dose Offered A Similar Level of Protection As One dose of BNT162b2.
▫️A Pre-print Version of The Research Paper Is Available on The medRxiv Server.
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Preliminary Analysis of Association Between mRNA Covid-19 Vaccination, Sudden Hearing Loss

▫️Doctors At Johns Hopkins University Treated Some of The People Whose Hearing Suffered in The Wake of A Covid-19 Shot, And It Made Them Wonder Whether The mRNA Covid-19 Vaccines Really Could Have Been Responsible.
▫️Between Dec. 14, 2020, And March 2, 2021, Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) Received A Total of 147 Distinct Reports of Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSNHL) After A Covid-19 Shot.
▫️Twenty-Eight of Them Had Received The Vaccine Made by Pfizer-BioNTech, And 12 Got The One from Moderna. (None of The Cases Involved The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine).
▫️The National Institute On Deafness And Other Communications Disorders Describes It As “An Unexplained, Rapid Loss of Hearing Either All At Once Or Over A Few Days.” It Typically Affects Just One Ear - In Particular, The Sensory Organs of The Inner Ear. See More
▫️This Study Was Published In JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surgery.

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Veru Initiates Enrolment In Phase III Trial of Sabizabulin For Covid-19

▫️Veru Has Enrolled The First Subject In Phase III Clinical Trial of Sabizabulin To Treat Hospitalized Covid-19 Patients Who Are At High Risk for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).
▫️Sabizabulin Is A Cytoskeleton Disruptor That Possesses Anti-Inflammatory And Anti-Viral Effects.
▫️The Double-Blind, Multi-Centre, Multinational, Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Phase III Clinical Trial Is Assessing Daily Oral 9mg doses of Sabizabulin For 21 Days As Against Placebo.
▫️It Plans To Enrol A Total of 300 Subjects, of Which 200 Will Receive sabizabulin While The Remaining 100 Participants Will Be Given A Placebo. The Participants In Both Sabizabulin And Placebo Groups Will Also Be Given Standard of Care.
▫️Veru Noted That The Trial Will Be Carried Out In The US, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico And Colombia With Plans To Conclude Enrolment by The Year’s End.

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Nasal Epithelium In Newborn Infants Express Fewer Receptors for SARS-CoV-2 Than Adults

▫️A New Report In The British Medical Journal Indicates That Newborns Have A Lower Abundance of Entry Receptors for The SARS-CoV-2, The Pathogen Responsible for The Covid-19 Pandemic.
▫️Vertical Transmission from Mother To Fetus Is Also Very Rare In Cases of Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection. These Phenomena Have Been Attributed To A Low Frequency of Host Cell Receptors Such As The Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2), Which Mediates Viral Entry, In The Epithelium of The Airway In Children Compared To Adults.
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Japan Approves Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna Covid-19 Vaccines

▫️After Health Regulators' Green Light A Day Earlier, The Government Said It Approved Vaccines Developed by Moderna And Oxford-AstraZeneca, Which Will Join That Developed by Pfizer & BioNTech In A Vaccination Drive That Began In Mid-February.
▫️Japanese Regulators Recommended The Approval of Covid-19 Vaccines Developed by Moderna And Oxford On Thursday, Paving The Way For The Country To Speed Up Its Slow-Moving Vaccination Campaign.
▫️The Government Has Arranged To Buy 120 million doses of AstraZeneca's Vaccine, Enough For 60 Million People. Most of The doses Will be Made in Japan by Daiichi Sankyo Co And JCR Pharmaceuticals Co And Other Local Partners.
▫️Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, Japan's Biggest Drugmaker, Is Handling Imports of About 50 Million doses of The Moderna Shot, Or Enough for 25 Million People.

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CytoDyn To Seek Regulatory Approval for Covid-19 Drug Vyrologix

▫️CytoDyn Is Set To Submit The Results from The Phase III CD12 Clinical Trial of Vyrologix (Leronlimab-PRO 140), Seeking Potential Regulatory Approval for The Drug To Treat Severe To Critically ill Patients With Covid-19.
▫️An Investigational Humanised IgG4 Monoclonal Antibody, Leronlimab Hinders C-C Chemokine Receptor Type 5, A Cellular Receptor Vital in HIV Infection, Tumor Metastases And Various Other Diseases.
- So far, Leronlimab Has Been Analysed in 11 Clinical Trials in More Than 1,200 Individuals. CytoDyn Is Assessing The Therapeutic In Multiple Covid-19 Studies.
▫️In The Phase III CD12 Trial, Subjects Were Given Two doses of Leronlimab At Day Zero And Day Seven And Were Examined For 28 Days.
▫️The Mortality Rate in Subjects Who Received The Treatment Lowered To 50% And 31% by Day 21 And Day 28, Respectively.

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Two doses of The Oxford Covid-19 Vaccine Shots 89% Effective: UK Real-World Analysis

▫️Two doses of The Oxford & AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine Are Around 85% To 90% Effective Against Symptomatic Disease, Public Health England (PHE) Said on Thursday, Citing An Analysis of Real-World Data from The Rollout of The Shot.
▫️In A Weekly Surveillance Report, Public Health England Said The Estimated Effectiveness of The AstraZeneca Vaccine, Invented At The University of Oxford, Was 89% Compared To Unvaccinated People.
▫️That Compares To 90% Estimated Effectiveness Against Symptomatic disease for The Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine.
▫️PHE Said The Analysis Was The First of Its Kind on The Effectiveness of Two doses of AstraZeneca In A Real-World Setting But Was Not Yet Published in A Journal, Adding More Data Would Boost Its Confidence In The Finding.

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South Korea Approves Moderna's Covid-19 Vaccine

▫️South Korea on Friday Approved Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine, As The Country Attempts To Speed Up Its Inoculation Efforts.
▫️The Green Light Comes After Two of Three Expert Panels Recommended Approval Be Granted for The Two-dose Vaccine Based on Safety And Efficacy in Late-Stage Trials in The United States.
▫️Moderna is The fourth Covid-19 Vaccine To Be Approved in South Korea, following doses Developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer, And Johnson & Johnson.
▫️Moderna Has A Deal With South Korea To Supply 40 Million doses of Its Vaccine, Although The Shipment Timeline Is Yet To be Announced.
▫️Seoul Has Ordered Up To 192 Million doses of Coronavirus Vaccines, Including Those Made by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Novavax And Johnson & Johnson.

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The European Medicines Agency Permits Use of GSK-Vir Antibody To Treat Covid-19

▫️The European Medicines Agency (EMA) Said on Friday a Covid-19 Antibody Treatment Developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) And Vir Biotechnology Can Be Used To Treat Patients Who Are At Risk of Severe Disease And Do Not Need Supplemental Oxygen.
▫️The Opinion Relates To The Use of The Treatment, Sotrovimab, In Adults And Adolescents Aged 12 Years Or Older And Weighing At Least 40 Kilograms.
▫️“Based on Our Most Recent In Vitro Data, Sotrovimab Continues To Combat Covid-19 As It Evolves And Has Retained Activity Against All Circulating Variants of Concern,” Vir Chief Executive George Scangos Said In A Joint Statement With GSK.
▫️Interim Data from A Study of The Experimental Therapy Showed 85% Reduction in Hospitalization And Deaths Among Covid-19 Patients, GSK And Vir Had Said.
▫️The Rolling Review of The Drug Is Ongoing, The European Medicines Agency (EMA) Said.

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The European Medicines Agency Backs Extending Approval for Remdesivir For Another Year

▫️The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday Recommended Extending Conditional Marketing Approval By A Year for Gilead Sciences’ Covid-19 Treatment, Remdesivir, The Only Drug So far That Has Been Authorized for Use In The Region.
▫️The Regulator Said Its Human Medicines Committee (CHMP) found That Benefits of The Drug Outweighed Risks, Although The Company Was Required To Submit More Data by The End of The Year for The Next Scheduled Renewal.
▫️Remdesivir, Sold Under The Brand Name Veklury, Was Conditionally Authorized In July Last Year for Treating Covid-19 In Adults And Adolescents Over 12 Years With Pneumonia Requiring Oxygen Support.

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People With Newly Diagnosed AD Are Less Likely To Have Cataract Surgery Than People Without AD

▫️People With Alzheimer's Disease (AD) Are Less Likely To Have Cataract Surgery Than People Without Alzheime's Disease. The Procedure Rate Starts To Decrease Already One Year After The Diagnosis, According To A New Study from The University of Eastern Finland.
▫️The Lower Likelihood of Cataract Surgery Among People With Cognitive Disorders Has Been Reported Previously.

Scientists Identify Receptor in Cells That Could Be Key To Preventing Cancer Drug-Induced Hearing Loss

▫️University of Alberta Scientists Have Identified A Receptor in Cells That Could Be Key To Preventing Permanent Hearing Loss In Childhood Cancer Survivors Who Are Being Treated with The Drug Cisplatin.
▫️The Researchers Believe by Inhibiting The Receptor, They May be Able To Eliminate Toxic Side-Effects from The Drug That Cause The Hearing Loss.
http://dx.doi.org/10.15252/embr.202051280
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Biogen’s Eye Disease Gene Therapy Fails Ahead of FDA Alzheimer’s Ruling

▫️Biogen Has Downbeat News About Its Gene Therapy for The Rare Inherited Eye Disease, X-Linked Retinitis Pigmentosa, Announcing The Shot Failed To Meet Its Target In A Phase 2/3 Study.
▫️A Final FDA Decision on Biogen’s Controversial Alzheimer’s Drug Aducanumab Is Due Before The Beginning of Next Month And The Company Needs Some Positive Pipeline News Ahead of The Make-Or-Break Ruling.
▫️In Ophthalmology, Unfortunately The Phase 2/3 Study of Cotoretigene Toliparvovec (BIIB112), A Gene Therapy Being Investigated As A One-Time Therapy for Patients With X-Linked Retinitis Pigmentosa (XLRP), Did Not Meet Its Primary Endpoint of Demonstrating A Statistically Significant Improvement In The Proportion of Treated Study Eyes Improving from Baseline Using A Macular Integrity Assessment.
▫️This Assessment Was Performed at 12 Months And Compared To The Study Eye of Patients Randomized To The Untreated Control Group.
▫️Biogen Said That Positive Trends Were Observed Across Several Clinically Relevant Pre-Specified Secondary Endpoints.
▫️A Phase 3 Trial Is Ongoing And Although There Was No Update On Efficacy Or Safety, The Company Said It Plans To Provide Early Access for A Group of Patients With Severe, Rapidly Developing Disease.

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Asthma Vaccine Shows Success In Pre-Clinical Studies

▫️A New Conjugate Vaccine Has Shown Promise At Protecting Mice Against The Effects of Cytokines Associated With Asthma.
▫️Researchers Have Developed A Vaccine That Could Induce Long-Term Protection Against Allergic Asthma, Reducing The Severity of Its Symptoms And Thus Significantly Improving Patient Quality of Life. The Vaccine Was Created At Inserm, Institut Pasteur And NEOVACS, All France.
▫️According To The Team, Allergic Asthma Is Characterized By Inflammation of The Bronchial Tubes And Respiratory Discomfort Caused by The Inhalation of Allergens, Most Often Dust Mites.
- This Exposure To Allergens Leads To The Production of Antibodies Called Immunoglobulin E (IgE) And Type 2 Cytokines (Such As Interleukin-4 (IL-4) And IL-13) In The Airways.
- This Leads To A Cascade of Reactions Resulting In Hyperresponsiveness of The Respiratory Tract, Overproduction of Mucus And Eosinophilia.
▫️The Study Was Published In Nature Communications.
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FDA Advises Against Use of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Test Results to Evaluate Immunity or Protection From COVID-19, Including After Vaccination

▫️The U.S. Food And Drug Administration (FDA) Issued A Safety Communication Informing The Public That Results from SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Tests Should Not Be Used To Evaluate Immunity Or Protection from Covid-19 At Any Time, And Especially After The Person Received A Covid-19 Vaccination.
▫️The FDA Is Reminding The Public of The Limitations of Covid-19 Antibody, Or Serology, Testing And Providing Additional Recommendations About The Use of Antibody Tests In People Who Received A Covid-19 Vaccination.
▫️Antibody Tests Can Play An Important Role In Identifying Individuals Who May Have Been Exposed To The SARS-CoV-2 Virus And May Have Developed An Adaptive Immune Response.
- However, Antibody Tests Should Not Be Used At This Time To Determine Immunity Or Protection Against Covid-19 At Any Time.

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Pfizer And Oxford Covid-19 Shots 'Highly Effective' Against India Variant, Study Shows

▫️The Covid-19 Vaccines Developed By Pfizer-BioNTech And Oxford-AstraZeneca Are "Highly Effective" Against The Indian Variant, A New Study Has Found.
▫️Two Jabs of Either Vaccine Give A Similar Level of Protection Against Symptomatic Disease from The Indian Variant As They do for The B.1.1.7 “Kent" Strain.
- However, Both Vaccines Were Only 33% Effective Against The Indian Variant Three Weeks After The First dose.
▫️The Study Involved 1,054 People Confirmed Through Genomic Sequencing To Have Contracted The B.1.617.2 Variant Between Early April And Mid-May.
▫️A Study by Public Health England found The Pfizer Vaccine Was 88% Effective Against Symptomatic Disease from The B.1.617.2 Variant Two Weeks After The Second dose.
- That Compared With 93% Effectiveness Against The B.1.1.7 “Kent” Strain Which Is Britain’s Dominant Covid-19 Variant.
▫️Two doses of The Oxford Vaccine Were 60% Effective Against Symptomatic Disease from The Indian Variant Compared With 66% Effectiveness Against The Kent Variant, PHE Said.

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