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A reliable assessment of COVID-19 vaccine protection duration

Researchers from the University of North Carolina, University of Washington, and the US Food and Drug Administration propose fitting a Cox model with two time indexes, the event times measured from the start of the study in calendar time and the log hazard for the vaccine effect.

30 Dec 2021

The use of monoclonal antibodies against infectious pathogens

Joshua Tan of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health wrote a review article in the journal DNA and Cell Biology about the role of monoclonal antibodies and briefly described a study on bispecific antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2.

30 Dec 2021

An integrated computational methodology for COVID drug prioritization

Researchers recently published a study in the journal Briefings in Bioinformatics wherein they integrated multiple bioinformatics and cheminformatics-based methods to prioritize drugs for the treatment of COVID-19.

29 Dec 2021

MRNA boosters shown to increase protection against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron

Researchers evaluate vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and Delta variants.

29 Dec 2021

BNT162b2 booster restores protection following waning of the 2-dose vaccine

Researchers assess the real-world effectiveness of a third booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine against the initial two-dose regimen.

29 Dec 2021

COVID mRNA vaccines show diminished neutralization responses against Omicron

Researchers report an overview of antibody neutralization by all currently approved vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron, Beta, and Delta VOCs.

29 Dec 2021

Combination of rifampicin and resveratrol helps stop dementia, finds study

Dementia is thought to occur when proteins called amyloid-β, tau, and α-synuclein accumulate in the brain and form oligomers. A research group from the Department of Translational Neuroscience, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, had previously shown in a study using mice that the antibiotic rifampicin removes oligomers from the brain and improves cognitive function.

29 Dec 2021

Study demonstrates increased effectiveness of third BNT162b2 dose against SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization

Researchers assess vaccine effectiveness of two and three doses of BNT162b2 against SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19-related hospital admission.

28 Dec 2021

Third BNT162b2 dose effectively neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 Omicron pseudovirus

The findings reveal that the Omicron neutralizing titers induced by the third vaccine dose are comparable to that achieved against the original Wuhan strain (wild-type SARS-CoV-2) by the two-dose regimen. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server while awaiting peer review.

28 Dec 2021

New report on 1.23 million breakthrough symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections by vaccine

A new research letter evaluates whether the estimated vaccine effectiveness changes against infection over time.

28 Dec 2021

Volume of prescribing opioids declined, but the cut was not uniform across geographic areas

The volume of prescription opioids dispensed from retail pharmacies declined by 21% from 2008 to 2018, but the decline was not uniform across geographic areas, among types of patients or by type of prescriber, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

28 Dec 2021

Researchers report loss of antibody potency against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Researchers find that vaccine-mediated protection against SARS-CoV-2 is significantly reduced against the Omicron variant.

23 Dec 2021

Deep roots help this Chicago pharmacist avoid creating another drugstore desert

Del-Kar Pharmacy in the North Lawndale neighborhood has had a front-row seat to history. Martin Luther King Jr. bought his daily newspaper there when he lived in Chicago in the late 1960s.

23 Dec 2021

Boceprevir-based molecules show high antiviral potency against SARS-CoV-2

In a study posted to the bioRxiv* pre-print server, a team of researchers conducted a structure-activity relationship study of boceprevir-based molecules to find antiviral drug candidates targeting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) protease MPro.

22 Dec 2021

Protein-based nanoparticle vaccines for protection against SARS-CoV-2

A recent review article discusses recent advances in protein-based nanoparticle vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

22 Dec 2021

How COVID vaccines protected Americans against the Delta variant

A new study analyzed the COVID-19 breakthrough case and death rates among fully vaccinated individuals who were 12 years of age or above.

22 Dec 2021

rVSV-based bivalent vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 delta variant and influenza

Researchers developed four distinct recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV)-based bivalent vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus.

22 Dec 2021

Two-dose ChAdOx1 vaccine protection wanes after three months

New research reported in the journal The Lancet examines the temporal association between the two-dose ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Oxford-AstraZeneca) vaccination regimen and the risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 in Scotland vs. Brazil, where the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 was dominant and rare, respectively.

21 Dec 2021

Broad neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by an unconventional antibody fragment

A new preprint research paper posted to the bioRxiv* server examines the nature and effects of the spike mutations and identifies a vulnerable point that could help develop broad-spectrum protection against circulating variants.

21 Dec 2021

Doctors advised to prescribe fewer antidepressants and for shorter periods of time

Doctors should prescribe fewer antidepressants and for shorter periods of time, because of the ongoing uncertainties about their effectiveness and the potential severity and durability of the withdrawal symptoms associated with them, suggests a review of the evidence on antidepressant use, published online in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.

21 Dec 2021