Healthcare & Laboratory News

Reuters (6/13, Cocks) reported UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said Friday that the Trump Administration’s cuts to HIV/AIDS programs will further jeopardize the plan to end the disease as a public health threat by 2030. Byanyima told journalists in Johannesburg that 1.3 million new infections in 2023 indicated the world was already “off track.” She said, “Less funding means we will get more and more off-track,” adding, “We don’t know yet what that impact will be, but impact there will be...already you see in several countries a drop in the number of people going to clinics.” Prior to the cuts, prevention programs had reduced new infections, she said, but they were “not coming down fast enough to reach our target of 2023.” The shuttering of community prevention clinics across Africa will likely result in more infections, “though it wasn’t clear yet by how much, she said.”

Reuters (6/13, Farge) reported the World Health Organization warned Friday “that cholera cases in Sudan are set to rise and could spread to neighbouring countries, including Chad, which hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sudan’s civil war in crowded conditions.” Dr Shible Sahbani, WHO Representative for Sudan, “said that cholera had reached 13 states in Sudan, including North and South Darfur which border Chad, and that 1,854 people had already died in the latest wave as the dangerous, rainy season sets in.” Sahbani “called for humanitarian corridors and temporary ceasefires to allow mass vaccination campaigns against cholera and other disease outbreaks such as Dengue fever and malaria.”

CBS News (6/13, M. Moniuszko, Cohen) reported the CDC projected last week that the “new COVID-19 variant NB.1.8.1, which was linked to a large surge of hospitalizations in parts of Asia, could now make up more than 1 in 3 cases across the United States.” The agency’s airport surveillance program last month “had detected cases of the variant in arriving international travelers from several countries. The agency now says that nearly half of the COVID infections detected in that program the last week of May were the NB.1.8.1 variant.” The CDC cautioned that “precision in the most recent reporting period is low” for its estimates, but the projected increase “in prevalence in the U.S. highlights the variant’s high transmissibility – something experts had warned about as soon as it began spreading in this country.”

Reuters (6/13, Mahatole, Sunny) reported, “Anne Wojcicki is set to regain control of 23andMe after a $305 million bid from a nonprofit she controls topped Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ offer for the DNA-testing company in a bankruptcy auction.” Regeneron agreed to purchase the company for $256 million last month, “topping a $146 million bid from Wojcicki and the non-profit TTAM Research Institute,” but the auction continued. Regeneron had “said it was willing to make a new bid, but wanted a $10 million breakup fee if Wojcicki’s bid is ultimately accepted.” TTAM said Friday that “it would uphold 23andMe’s existing privacy policies and comply with all applicable data protection laws.” The deal is “expected to close in the coming weeks after a court hearing currently scheduled for June 17.”

Infectious Disease Advisor (6/13, Basilio) reported a study found that “prior immunity at the time of COVID-19 infection and Omicron predominance have contributed to reduced disease severity over time and are associated with greater odds of mild symptoms limited to the upper respiratory tract.” Researchers observed that “in patients who developed COVID-19 infection during the Omicron period, 8.0% had no prior immunity, 11.7% had infection-induced immunity, 61.9% had vaccine-induced immunity, and 18.3% had hybrid immunity. Compared with those with no prior immunity, patients with any type of immunity reported significantly lower rates of loss of taste or smell, constitutional symptoms, and gastrointestinal symptoms.” Furthermore, “study patients with infection- or vaccine-induced immunity reported significantly lower rates of lower respiratory tract symptoms than those with no prior immunity. In contrast, patients with no prior immunity reported lower rates of upper respiratory tract symptoms than those with any type of immunity.” The study was published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

HCPlive (6/13, Brooks) reported a study found that “successful hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) is associated with a reduced risk of several extrahepatic manifestations (EHMs).” Researchers observed that “successful DAA treatment leading to sustained virologic response (SVR) was linked to lower risks of chronic kidney disease (CKD), stroke, major adverse cardiac events (MACE), and neurocognitive disorders, but not type 2 diabetes, compared with no treatment.” Researchers concluded, “The potential extrahepatic benefits of HCV treatment highlighted in this study provide additional rationale for enhanced efforts to identify and overcome barriers to care, including reducing stigma, increasing clinician awareness, addressing socioeconomic challenges, and implementing innovative care models to improve overall health of people affected by HCV.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Infectious Disease Advisor (6/13, Nye) reported a study found that “although combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has reduced the overall burden of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) in patients with HIV, PJP continues to pose a significant risk during the first year of treatment for those with low CD4+ cell counts.” Researchers observed that “a majority of patients with PJP (76.8%) developed the infection within the first 3 months of HIV diagnosis. The investigators noted the magnitude of risk was associated with baseline CD4+ count, as PJP incidence in the first year after HIV diagnosis was higher in patients with vs without low baseline counts.” The risk for PJP decreased throughout the study period, with researchers noting that “when stratified by baseline CD4+ count, the risk among patients with low counts in the first year after HIV diagnosis was reduced in the later calendar period relative to the earlier calendar period. In contrast, no significant change in risk was observed in this group across other calendar periods.” The study was published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Reuters (6/12, Burger, Kraemer) reports BioNTech agreed Thursday to acquire CureVac “for about $1.25 billion worth of BioNTech shares...to boost its work on new mRNA-based cancer treatments.” The deal “underscores BioNTech’s long-term pursuit of new cancer treatments as it aims to show that its success as Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine partner, which left its balance sheet flush with billions of euros in cash, was not a fluke.” Under the deal, “CureVac shareholders stand to receive a premium of 55% over the three-month average share price, and leave them with a stake of about 4%-6% in BioNTech.” The agreement also marks the end to “CureVac’s years-long legal fight over alleged mRNA patent infringement by BioNTech and for a share of vaccine revenues, where CureVac has made little progress.”

Multiple Sclerosis News Today (6/12, Wexler) reports a study found that “children with pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS) experience biological aging at a faster rate than children without the disease.” For their analyses, researchers “assessed a type of biological aging called epigenetic aging” that refers to “certain chemical modifications in the DNA that influence how specific regions are packaged and how genes in those regions are read.” They utilized “four different models to calculate epigenetic age and, with all four models, epigenetic age tended to be higher in children with POMS.” The results “suggest children with POMS experience accelerated biological aging relative to their peers and the researchers think this may help scientists and clinicians better understand how the disease develops over time.” The study was published in Neurology.

HealthDay (6/12) reports a study found that “for patients with metastatic melanoma, mitochondrial (MT) haplogroup T (HG-T) is associated with resistance to an anti-programmed cell death protein-1-based immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI).” In the study, researchers “discovered and validated significant associations of MT HG-T with resistance to an anti-programmed cell death protein-1-based ICI, both as a single agent and in combination; HG-T was found to be independent of established tumor predictors.” In addition, “a unique nivolumab-resistant baseline peripheral CD8+ T-cell repertoire was exhibited by patients belonging to HG-T compared with other MT haplogroups (pooled odds ratio, 3.46). This was validated in a clinical trial and in an independent standard-of-care ICI cohort.” The study was published in Nature Medicine.