Good morning, everyone, and how are you today? We are doing just fine, thank you. Given that this is already the middle of the week and we have survived this far, no reason not to continue, yes? Just consider the alternatives. In fact, this modest accomplishment calls for celebration. So please join us in quaffing a ritual cup of needed stimulation. Our choice today is maple cinnamon French toast. Meanwhile, here are a few items of interest to help you along. Once again, we hope you have a successful day and, of course, keep in touch. We enjoy hearing your telegrams and postcards…
Several big drugmakers — Sanofi, GSK, Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim — will not have to face thousands of lawsuits claiming the Zantac heartburn drug can cause cancer after a federal judge decided consumers’ claims were not backed by sound scientific evidence, according to STAT. In a 341-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Robin Rosenberg concluded that the consumer lawsuits relied on flawed science and were therefore unable to show legitimate links between the widely used medicine and several different cancers, including liver, bladder, and stomach cancer. This decision does not affect tens of thousands of lawsuits separately filed in different state courts around the country.
The organization that has led the global effort to bring Covid vaccines to poor and middle-income countries will decide this week whether to shut down that project, which would end a historic attempt to achieve global health equity with a tacit acknowledgment that the effort fell far short of its goal, The New York Times reports. The deliberations reflect the reality that demand for Covid vaccines is waning quickly throughout the world and is near nonexistent in countries that have some of the lowest rates of coverage. The program, known as Covax, has delivered more than a billion vaccines to developing countries, but was hobbled by fierce vaccine nationalism in wealthy nations and a series of missteps and misfortunes that undermined demand for the shots.
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