Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and invigorating, because that oh-so familiar routine of calls, online meetings, and deadlines has predictably returned. But you knew this would happen, yes? To cope, we are firing up the coffee kettle and preparing to quaff our first cup of stimulation today. Our choice is cinnamon hazelnut, for those tracking this sort of thing. Please do feel free to join us. Meanwhile, here is the latest menu of tidbits to help you get started on your own journey today. We hope all goes well and you conquer the world. And of course, keep in touch. We are searching for new pen pals. …
Advances in treating the sickest Covid patients have stalled, STAT reports. Since February 2021, no new therapies for the hospitalized have emerged as decisively effective, even as over 2,000 patients continue to die daily around the globe, including 300 to 500 in the U.S. This is a stark difference from the early days of the pandemic. From January 2020 to February 2021, researchers proved four different effective therapies for patients hospitalized with Covid-19 — a lightning pace for drug research, where progress is often measured in decades. The reasons for the slowdown are straightforward, collateral damage of all the progress made on other Covid fronts.
Moderna has allowed its Covid-19 vaccine to be used in a World Health Organization effort to develop mRNA shots that would increase production and access for poor countries, Bloomberg News writes. Afrigen Biologics & Vaccines, a South African biotechnology company that is working with the WHO, has used the Moderna vaccine in comparison studies in mice to test the effectiveness of its own shots, according to Afrigen managing director Petro Terblanche. With Moderna’s help, Afrigen hopes to develop a shot that may be manufactured by at least 15 production facilities around the globe under the aegis of the WHO’s mRNA Vaccine Technology Transfer Hub in Cape Town.
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