Scientists need vaccine samples to test next-gen shots. Pfizer’s saying no

Just when the premier makers of mRNA Covid vaccines are shipping newly formulated boosters, scientists investigating how to make next-generation vaccines — think nasal or pan-coronavrius — have hit a roadblock. Pfizer and Moderna hold the patents for their vaccines, so researchers would likely need both companies’ permission and samples. Pfizer isn’t sharing them now, a spokesperson told STAT’s Rachel Cohrs, and Moderna did not respond when she asked. The companies are within their legal rights, but it’s frustrating to scientists.

Yale virologist and immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, for one, hopes to test nasal vaccines, ideally on people who’ve had a primary vaccine series. “To develop a better vaccine, we need a comparator,” Iwasaki told Rachel (more here). Meanwhile, Biden administration officials are discussing what to do with millions of original Covid-19 vaccines now bumped to the sideline. STAT’s Sarah Owermohle has more.

Legionella isolated in Argentina pneumonia cases

The coronavirus pandemic has heightened concern whenever a new and serious cluster of pneumonia cases emerges, as one did in Argentina over the last three weeks. Now the Pan American Health Organization reports Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionellosis, has been isolated in 11 cases of severe pneumonia, including four deaths, since mid-August. The cases were traced to one clinic in San Miguel de Tucumán city, Tucumán Province, Argentina. Eight of the people infected were health workers and three were patients of the health facility; three of the four people who died were health workers.

Legionellosis is a pneumonia-like illness whose severity ranges from mild febrile illness to Legionnaires’ disease, a serious and sometimes fatal form of pneumonia. Legionellosis is typically transmitted when people inhale aerosols from contaminated water sources. The clinic in Argentina has been closed while health officials hunt for the source.

Concerns are raised about monkeypox vaccine

Speaking of vaccines, questions are being raised about the monkeypox vaccine now being used in the U.S. and around the world to stave off the current outbreak. A study that has not yet been peer-reviewed suggests that a one-dose regimen would seem to be inadequate to induce protection and that fractional dosing, a strategy to stretch scarce supply, may not be effective.

The Dutch researchers, who shared their data with CDC, found that two doses of the Jynneos vaccine induced relatively low levels of neutralizing antibodies against the monkeypox virus, and those antibodies had poor neutralizing capacity. How high those levels need to be to protect against monkeypox is still unknown, but people shouldn’t assume they’re protected, study author Marion Koopmans said. “The expectation is not that this will provide sterilizing immunity.” STAT’s Helen Branswell has more.

Closer look: What telehealth cutbacks mean for patients

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When I think of disruption in health tech, I think of new models for delivering care. But STAT’s Mohana Ravindranath reminds us there’s another side to that coin. When tech companies pull back from services that early-adopter patients have come to rely on, it’s a different kind of change. Two examples: Following its deal to acquire primary care tech company One Medical, Amazon is ending its own virtual- and in-person health service Amazon Care. Telehealth prescription company Cerebral, which used to virtually treat mental health conditions like ADHD, has largely halted certain prescriptions in light of regulators’ scrutiny.

Dozens of other health tech companies are cutting staff or shuttering business lines. While some companies say they’re helping patients find care elsewhere, the churn could disrupt the lives of patients who lack other options, can’t afford other services, or lose their health records in the shuffle. Read more.

How a tool to map computer viruses came to power biology research

My colleague Nicholas Florko, the inaugural author of the D.C. Diagnosis newsletter before moving to his new beat, often appealed to “policy nerds.” Here’s one for data nerds: STAT’s Edward Chen dives deep into data science not just about the viruses that populate this newsletter, but also computer viruses and the link between them. Two scientists created a tool in 2017 to simplify datasets and visualize data points so they could quickly spot differences between computer viruses. Then their algorithm, named Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection, or UMAP, proved useful for biology, too.

UMAP has now been used to study everything from forecasting rain in the Alps to identifying the many-hued pigments in a Gauguin artwork to modeling how Covid-19 tweets are disseminated. And, of course, scientists have applied UMAP to studying the actual virus itself. Read more.

Opinion: Dying of a disease he never knew existed

Have you ever heard of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis? When arts critic Richard Woodward learned two years ago that he had IPF, he hadn't. There are no color-coded ribbons or charity races dedicated to a condition that robs people of their breath, he observes in a STAT First Opinion. When he was diagnosed, his main worry was colon cancer. In November 2019, doctors removed a tumor from his large intestine and spotted cancer in many of his lymph nodes.

“By this time next year, if the medical forecasts are correct, I will probably be dead, another casualty of a fatal illness that most people have never heard of,” he writes. “The chemotherapy drugs designed to save my life may be what will kill me.” Read more about how the two conditions — cancer and IPF — are likely, but not conclusively, related.

What to read around the web today

The curious hole in my head, New York Times
Lowering the cost of insulin could be deadly, The Atlantic
Doctors, seniors groups flag concerns with Medicare Advantage, STAT
Nobel Prize winner Gregg Semenza retracts four papers, Retraction Watch
Opinion: Open access to research can close gaps for people with disabilities, STAT