Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and invigorating, because that all-too-predictable routine of online meetings, calls, and deadlines has returned. But what can you do? The world, such as it is, keeps spinning. So time to give it a nudge in a better direction by firing up the coffee kettle to brew another cup of stimulation. Our choice today is cinnamon hazelnut. Please feel free to join us. Meanwhile, here is the latest menu of tidbits to help you get started on your journey. May you accomplish much. And of course, do keep in touch. We are always seeking new pen pals. …
Vaccines that target cancer could be available before the end of the decade, according to the husband and wife team behind one of the most successful Covid vaccines, the BBC tells us. Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, who co-founded BioNTech, the company that partnered with Pfizer to manufacture an mRNA Covid vaccine, said they had made breakthroughs that fueled their optimism for cancer vaccines in the coming years. Türeci described how the mRNA technology at the heart of BioNTech’s Covid vaccine could be repurposed so that it primed the immune system to attack cancer cells instead of invading coronaviruses.
Pfizer filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to side with its argument that copay assistance programs for Medicare beneficiaries would not violate kickback laws, a controversial issue that has forced numerous drug companies to pay large fines. Last July, an appeals court panel upheld a lower court ruling that such programs would violate federal law, but Pfizer maintained in its petition to the Supreme Court that such interpretations of the law are “staggeringly overbroad.” The company argued the lower court decision “threatens to cut off charitable or family aid to help Medicare and Medicaid patients afford essential medical treatment.”
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