And so, another working week will soon draw to a close. Not a moment too soon, yes? This is, you may recall, our treasured signal to daydream about weekend plans. Our agenda is still shaping up. We plan to tackle mounds of paperwork, promenade with the official mascot, catch up on our reading, and hold a listening party with Mrs. Pharmalot (the rotation will include this, this and this). And what about you? Given the warmer temps lately, this may be a fine time to enjoy the great outdoors, but do wear your boots in case of rising sea levels. You could park yourself in front of the telly to binge-watch something or other. Or you could make time to reach out to someone special. Well, whatever you do, have a grand time. Be safe. See you on Tuesday, though. due to a holiday on this side of the pond. Meanwhile, enjoy. …
Pfizer discontinued a significant percentage of participants in the U.S. who had been enrolled in a Phase 3 study testing a vaccine against Lyme disease due to violations of good clinical practice at certain trial sites run by a third party, STAT says. The company, which is developing the vaccine along with Valneva, maintained that the decision was not due to any safety concerns with the vaccine and was not prompted by any adverse event reported by participants. The decision affects nearly half of the total amount of people who were recruited for the trial, which remains ongoing at other sites not operated by the third party, and Pfizer continues to enroll new participants at those sites.
Ginkgo Bioworks chief executive officer Jason Kelly may be facing a conflict of interest, STAT writes. Kelly is chairing a new 12-person congressional commission tasked with issuing a set of policy recommendations for how the federal government can keep the U.S. biotech industry competitive and capable of serving national security needs. “This statute says ‘independent commission,’” said Richard Painter, a corporate law professor at the University of Minnesota and former chief White House ethics lawyer for the George W. Bush administration. “This is not an independent commission.”
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