LONDON – The latest data from the large-scale randomized U.K. COVID-19 infection survey confirm vaccines are less effective against the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that is now dominant across the U.S., Europe and elsewhere in the world.
Researchers have shown that glucocorticoids, a type of steroid hormones, target both neuroplasticity-related genes and genes related to ciliary function in the brain. However, the effects on the different processes are mediated via different receptors, and in response to different stimuli. A study investigated the specific targets of glucocorticoids, giving new insights into the biological mechanisms of stress adaptations, and how they are linked to neural plasticity.
LONDON – Researchers at Birmingham University are looking for commercialization partners after finding a happy medium between the speed but limited accuracy of COVID-19 lateral flow antigen tests, and the use of slower but more accurate PCR and other RNA amplification diagnostics.
PARIS – Screenpoint Medical BV has just closed $28 million in series C funding to scale its latest generation of the Transpara system, which uses fusion AI for 2D and 3D mammography.
Inhaled drugs developer Vectura Group plc has accepted a takeover bid from tobacco firm Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI), a move that has sparked revulsion from health campaigners but has been supported by investors. Shares in both firms ticked up in trading on Aug. 13 after Chippenham, U.K.-based Vectura accepted a bid worth around £1.1 billion (US$1.5 billion), rejecting a rival bid from U.S.-based private equity firm Carlyle Group.
A less controversial option than aducanumab may be available soon to help individuals with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia. Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Toronto have developed a technique using ultrasound that reverses cognitive decline and they say it could be available for clinical use shortly.
Finding a functional cure to HIV is one of the biggest challenges in modern medicine, a task made so much tougher because of the virus’s ability to incorporate itself permanently into a host’s genome. But Diaccurate SAB, of Paris, thinks it may have a solution – and it’s all down to a discovery showing that the virus seems to make crucial immune CD4 cells go “bumpy”, lose their function and die.
LONDON – Stopping people under 40 from receiving Astrazeneca plc’s COVID-19 vaccine has put an end to the serious blood-clotting syndrome associated with the product, with no new cases in the U.K. for the past four weeks, according to an expert panel of hematologists.
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has accused Pfizer Inc., together with a smaller U.K. player, of illegally overcharging the National Health Service (NHS) for the anti-epilepsy drug branded Epanutin (phenytoin sodium) before it went off patent in 2012.
The European Commission’s Medical Device Coordination Group has posted several guidances for unique device identifiers (UDIs), the most recent of which is related to a company’s quality management system. While most regulators have developed policies related to UDIs, this MDCG guidance recommends that device makers formally incorporate those requirements into their QMS programs, and that notified bodies will examine the manufacturer’s compliance with these requirements during inspections.
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