Pfizer/BioNTech
The dynamic duo are reporting that their trial of children ages 12-16 was successful and the vaccine is safe and effective in this age group. No one really doubted the efficacy in younger groups, but safety was always going to be the question.
So it's looking like children 12+ will be vaccine-eligible going into the 2021-22 school year. That's good since we see more intermixing at school amongst those age groups. Kids younger than 12 are probably looking at end of 2021 as a best case for being vaccine-eligible.
J&J Vaccine Batch From Hell
A batch of 15 million doses was ruined by contract manufacturer Emergent Biosolutions. No clear public explanations yet, but today the NY Times is reporting an ingredient was contaminated by the virus used in the AstraZeneca manufacturing process (which Emergent was also producing). Speculation is an employee moved between processing areas without showering (which is something that actually does happen at biologics production facilities).
Something like this is a major, major F-up for a contract manufacturer. Just a nightmare scenario for Emergent. In response, the Biden administration has instructed J&J to take full control of the manufacturing process at Emergent's own location and also told AstraZeneca not to use Emergent at all.
When this happens, news outlets immediately search the FDA inspection archives to report on the violations (483s) from last year. What they don't mention is EVERY large plant gets hit with FDA violations, especially for things like record keeping and training. But the press only cares about violations in the context of "see, here's the evidence of why we should have known better than to trust them!"
It's baloney. Emergent has been manufacturing anthrax vaccine for decades. They clearly messed up here in a big way, but using exceptionally common 483 violations to bolster the case against them is stupid.
For some people, this whole episode is a sign to worry, but in reality it's more the opposite - the level of control required of drug makers is so strong a major mistake like this would never make it to the consumer. The regulations are there to keep the drug supply safe and that is why this was caught so early. The system worked.
Efficacy Lifespan
Studies have come out indicating both the Moderna & Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines provide immunity beyond six months in adults. This is great news, giving the willing and able ample time to be vaccinated. However, the vaccine will become less effective over time if a person is not exposed to Covid. So, long-term, we can move forward in one of two ways:
1) Open things up after everyone has had the chance to be vaccinated. Vaccinated people would be hit less hard than they otherwise would by infections and presumably their immunity would be re-boosted post-illness.
2) Keep hiding forever and require everyone get a booster shots every 6-12 months.
Clearly we are going to be in between those two scenarios for a while, especially until any sort of youth vaccine is available. But #1 is the only reasonable path forward long-term.
Epic Names
For biotech companies interested in the most epic name for themselves, some take the obvious way out, such as Epic Neuro, Epic Pharma, Epic Sciences & Epic Therapeutics. Others get a little more academic - ILIAD Biotechnologies, Odyssey Thera, Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals & Argonaut Therapeutics are all good examples. It's only a matter of time before a Beowulf Therapeutics springs to life and attempts to slay some monstrous cancer. (And yes, someone thought Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals was a good name for a biotech company)
Team Roast
Hey, hey it's one of those 'from above, in the atrium' group pics. Well, kind of...this company only had a narrow hallway to work with. Usually when you see these 'from above' pics, the team is looking somewhat upward - the poor people at the bottom of this picture are literally looking up. Way too extreme.
And who still thinks this downward photo angle is acceptable anyways? 95% chance it was a man's idea. And can we talk about the 7% blink rate? Totally unacceptable in the digital photography age - pictures are free, take 20 dammit!
Wild for Wordcount
This week the press informed us of a couple acquisitions in strange ways. First was Piramal Pharma who "acquired a 100% stake" in a company. Then Quest Diagnostics "traded" their stake in a company for some money.
Call us crazy, but usually we say "bought" instead of "acquired a 100% stake". And when someone trades something for cash that's called "selling".
In that vein, we hope you are enjoying this week's narrative commentary on news and information so far.
