Novavax, a small US drug maker, is relatively unknown. But their first-ever vaccine—for COVID-19—proved as effective as big-name competitors in a UK trial. The company is preparing to file for authorization in the US and India. South Korea is already aiming for local…
Unlike much of the world, life had already returned to a relative normal by the time COVID-19 vaccines arrived in China. When Wei Wei, a product planning manager for flu vaccines at Sanofi Pasteur China, returned to Shanghai from the US in May 2020, he was immediately put…
The American opioid crisis may be sidelined by COVID-19, but its death toll is higher than ever.
In New Zealand, people tend to share a rare sentiment in the COVID-19 era: A deep sense of pride in the country’s response, according to Robert Borotkanics, DrPH, MS, MPH, a senior research fellow at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. New Zealanders showed…
In West Virginia—a hotspot of the US opioid crisis—the Quick Response Team was born of a ‘day of reckoning’ in the city of Huntington, WV: On August 15, 2016, 28 people overdosed in 4 hours.
A speedy vaccine rollout is Bangladesh’s shining victory during the pandemic, but there aren’t enough takers for the shots, says Taufique Joarder, MBBS, DrPH, MPH, executive director of the Public Health Foundation, Bangladesh. Even as the country negotiated quick access to…
A new website offers a rare and comprehensive look into the machinations of companies seeking to spur sales of painkillers.
Did you know that the US supply of “brain tickler” nasopharyngeal swabs depends entirely on a company run by two feuding cousins in Maine? US officials didn’t either until they were scrambling for swabs last March. Puritan is one of only 2 companies in the world who…
A Confidence Booster for AZ Vax The AstraZeneca vaccine rollercoaster ride that started last week with a steep dive on concerns about the vaccine’s possible link to blood clots turned sharply upwards today on news of stronger than expected efficacy in a 32,000-person…
In West Virginia—a hotbed of the opioid crisis—HIV cases related to intravenous drug use are spiking amid the cancellation of a 2018 needle exchange program.
