Science
Scientists' and public health experts' reactions to a second Trump presidency
Earlier in the week, we brought you biotech and pharma's reactions to the presidential election results. A great team of STAT reporters now brings you reactions from a span of scientists and health experts. A few highlights:
- "This is an opportunity to reform the agencies that failed the American people from the NIH to CDC to FDA and others within HHS and beyond. From the massive obesity epidemic, to rampant drug overdose, to lagging life expectancy, these agencies proved to be inefficient, laden/shackled with bureaucracy and delivered very little to the American people." — Ziyad Al-Aly, senior clinical epidemiologist at Washington University
- "It sends a sobering reminder that the scientific establishment and higher education and knowledge creation in general has not captured the imagination of a lot of the coalition that Trump has built…We have to do a better job of explaining how science works and acting with the values that we all embrace, in terms of self-correction and in terms of standing up for science when it's correct." — Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals
Read more from these experts and others here.
Health
FDA proposes ending use of ineffective nasal decongestant
Yesterday, the FDA proposed removing phenylephrine as an active ingredient that can be used in oral over-the-counter drugs for treating nasal congestion. Phenylephrine is used in medications like Sudafed PE, but an FDA panel last year found that the drug, while safe, is ineffective.
The current order is only proposed and open for comment; no manufacturers will have to pull products from shelves until the order is finalized. Some products use phenylephrine in combination with other active ingredients like acetaminophen or dextromethorphan, but it doesn't affect the effectiveness of the other compounds, the agency noted. The agency also said that phenylephrine is used in some nasally administered drugs, and this order would not affect those products — only the oral versions.
The FDA recommended that consumers should always read the "Drug Facts" label on medications to check the active ingredients, especially because phenylephrine is sold under so many names and brands.
Infectious disease
Trial to study mpox vaccines in pregnant/breastfeeding women and infants
Pregnant women are rarely included in clinical trials because of fears the vaccine will hurt their fetuses. But that leaves them, and their babies, unprotected when it comes to dangerous diseases. STAT's Helen Branswell wrote about this Catch-22 when pregnant people were denied access to the Ebola vaccine.
Now a new trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will test the Bavarian Nordic MVA-BN mpox vaccine in pregnant women and children aged two and younger in a study starting in early 2025.
In the study's first stage, pregnant women will get two doses of the vaccine before or after birth, and blood and breast milk will be collected from the mothers and infants to see whether maternal antibodies are passed down to the newborns via either route. In the trial's second stage, infants aged 6-24 months will get a full or half dose of the vaccine.
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