| | | |   | Meghana today. We got booster efficacy among the elementary-aged, unreliable monoclonal antibodies, and a super cool podcast. Hope you have a delightful spring weekend. | | | Pfizer wants boosters for kids New data from Pfizer shows that healthy 5- to 11-year-olds could benefit from a Covid-19 booster. A study of 140 kids who had already gotten two child-sized doses of the mRNA vaccine showed that many found a 36-fold increase in antibodies. These levels are high enough to fight the Omicron variant, Pfizer and BioNTech said in a press release. The data have not been vetted by outside experts. The companies plan soon to ask the FDA to sanction a booster for healthy kids. Already, certain 5- to 11-year olds — those with severely weakened immune systems — have gotten the go-ahead for three vaccine doses. Read more. | Editas Medicine’s fourth (!) CEO Editas Medicine announced it’s hiring a new CEO — the fourth to lead the gene-editing company since its 2014 launch. Gilmore O’Neill, former CMO of Sarepta Therapeutics, will begin as Editas’ chief executive on June 1. He’s replacing Jim Mullen, chairman of Editas’ board who served for just over a year — largely because the company couldn’t find anyone to take the job, STAT reports. Mullen will become executive chair of the company after O’Neill begins. Editas has faced a rocky journey: Its CRISPR-based therapies have experienced long delays and elicited mediocre results. Meanwhile, gene-editing competitors like CRISPR Therapeutics and Intellia Therapeutics have seen a lot more success. Read more. | The power of perseverance in neuroscience For decades, conditions of the nervous system have been some of the most complex to understand and treat. Through scientific rigor and unwavering perseverance, one biotech company is asking the tough questions of themselves, the industry and society to push the boundaries of scientific understanding and discovery. Learn more about Genentech and Roche’s commitment to scientific advancement in neuroscience. | Are we supposed to just get used to superspreader events? What’s going on with Editas Medicine? And why are people on Twitter so angry? We cover all that and more this week on “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. Leana Wen, an emergency medicine physician and public health professor at George Washington University, joins us to talk about the many complexities of living with Covid-19 and the tricky task of defining “normal” in 2022. We also discuss the latest news in the life sciences, including Editas’ new CEO, Aduhelm’s future, and the data on Covid-19 vaccines for kids. Listen here. | Adagio’s fragmented antibody efficacy Adagio Therapeutics’ antibody therapy, adintrevimab, is not so effective in treating the new Omicron BA.2 variant of Covid-19, new clinical data show. Based on feedback from the FDA, the company will pause its submission seeking an EUA. The company is working on modifying adintrevimab to better fit newer variants. Adagio’s dancing an erratic dance: It’s been flip-flopping between declaring adintrevimab’s efficacy and then reining in the enthusiasm.
The Adimab spinout raised $336 million just last year to pour into antibody research; when it comes to Covid-19, however, there's very little to show for it yet. Notably, every drugmaker that's developed what they call a strain-proof antibody has lost: Covid-19 mutations seem to be too adept at evading a one-size-fits-all monoclonal antibody approach. | More reads - Could gut microbes regulate appetite and body temperature? (Science)
- FDA urges creation of racial, ethnic recruitment plans for clinical trials. (FierceBiotech)
| Thanks for reading! Until next week,  | | | |
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