Weekly Update - Issue 2

Hey, folks! It’s the second edition of Weekly Update, brought to you by Alexander Bois-Spinelli and Ryan Fitzgerald , STAT’s engagement team. We’re happy to be back with a recap of the news this week.?

As a reminder, any time you see something in italics, it’s us dialoguing with you.?

We like to have fun sometimes.

First, we have STAT’s deep dive this week:

Ventura Fertin Pharma, a new #healthcare company, was quietly incorporated last month and plans to explore treatments for everything from neurology to cardiovascular emergencies. The company stands out not just for its ambitions, but also because its financial backer is Philip Morris International, the tobacco giant whose cigarettes are sold in more than 180 countries.?

In a special report, Olivia Goldhill notes that critics say while the company is still pushing cigarettes, any efforts of investing in a smoke-free future and to profit off heart disease treatment is inappropriate.??

Deep dives are always worth the time.?

Catch up on this week’s #Covid news:?

• Andrew Joseph reported that the White House has a new selling point on updated Covid boosters: to view them as a first annual shot, akin to the annual flu shot. Meanwhile, scientists studying next-gen Covid #vaccines are running into problems getting existing vaccines to use in research. A 辉瑞 spokesperson told Rachel Cohrs Zhang that the company isn’t sharing.
• Mask mandates have been mostly dropped and isolation requirements have relaxed heading into our third #pandemic autumn. That has many high-risk people anxious about contracting Covid during routine care at the doctor’s office.
• And speaking of anxiety, in her first piece for STAT, Brittany Trang writes that a new study found psychological stressors such as depression, anxiety, and loneliness were more predictive of Covid patients’ likelihood of experiencing #longCovid than physical factors.?

Do you know STAT’s “First Opinion Podcast”?

Well, the second season premiere is here! Patrick Skerrett spoke with William Woods, who spent his career as a pediatric oncologist and cancer researcher and thought highly of the FDA during that time. But since being diagnosed with ALS, Woods’ opinion of the agency has changed based on its ability to greenlight experimental therapies for the disease.

Don’t forget about this — there's biotech news tied to it!?

While we’re talking about First Opinions, we want to flag this …

An essay published this week from a mother who wrote about her son diagnosed with a rare disease.?

The four things you need to know about #biotech in four sentences:?

1. Matthew Herper reports on Relay Therapeutics’ experimental drug for cholangiocarcinoma (that’s a rare cancer of the bile ducts) showing promise in an early trial.?
2. Gilead Sciences says its cancer drug prolonged the survival of women with the most common form of #breastcancer by just under 30% in a clinical trial.
3. The FDA recommended approval of AMX0035 to treat people with #ALS (this is the drug William Woods referred to in the First Opinion Podcast — told you to remember)?
4. A heart disease therapy developed by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals performed much better than placebo, according to new study results.?

One last story for you to know about

Fentanyl test strips could help save lives, but in many states, they’re still illegal. In those places, the strips are still classified as drug paraphernalia — making it a crime to possess or distribute them. Why? And can this change? ?

That’s all for today, folks! Join us next Thursday for another edition of Weekly Update.?

If you enjoyed this news roundup, we suggest you subscribe to our flagship newsletter, Morning Rounds, which lands in your inbox every weekday at 6 a.m. ET. You can also sign up for any and all of STAT’s other free newsletters here: https://www.statnews.com/signup/

The absolute best,?

Ryan and Alexander