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Wick and colleagues1 recently recommended strategies to enhance clinical trial designs in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Recognising ARDS as a heterogeneous syndrome with distinct phenotypes, the authors emphasise the use of point-of-care biomarker assays and airspace sampling to allow trial participants to be distinguished from one another. Additionally, the authors advocate for increased recruitment of under-represented populations and propose an expansion of the definition of ARD...

Vaccines are a primary component of the COVID-19 pandemic response. Up until August, 2022, all available COVID-19 vaccines targeted only the ancestral strain of SARS-CoV-2. Emergence of the highly transmissible omicron (B.1.1.529) variant in November, 2021, has been associated with reduced effectiveness of first-generation COVID-19 vaccines against infection.1 Omicron and other variants of concern pose substantial challenges to optimising COVID-19 vaccination strategies. Thankfully, a growing bo...

The COVID-19 pandemic destabilised health-care systems and led to millions of excess deaths worldwide.1 Disproportionate inflammatory response and thromboembolic events denoted the clinical spectrum of patients with severe disease phenotypes and poor outcomes. In early 2020, when SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and antivirals such as nirmatrelvir–ritonavir were not yet available, approved immunomodulatory, immunosuppressive, and antithrombotic agents seemed inexpensive and safe options to treat patients i...

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health restrictions including self-isolation of positive cases and their close contacts were vital to reduce onward transmission of SARS-CoV-2, thus preventing deaths and the potential overwhelming of health-care services. However, the requirement for prolonged and often repeated episodes of self-isolation has had an enormous impact on individuals psychological, financial, and educational wellbeing, disproportionately affecting those on lower income...

The immune evasiveness of SARS-CoV-2 omicron (B.1.1.529) subvariants resulted in large, global waves of infection and raised concerns about vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19-related hospitalisation and death. In The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Sara Y Tartof and colleagues1 assessed the effectiveness and duration of protection offered by two doses and three doses of BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech) against hospital and emergency department admission following infection with the omicron BA.1 or ...

Diabetic ketoacidosis is a life-threatening metabolic crisis that can occur at presentation of type 1 diabetes, with acute (potentially fatal) complications including cerebral oedema and arrhythmias, and longer-term evidence of worsening glycaemic control1 and neurocognitive deficits in those presenting with diabetic ketoacidosis2 compared to those presenting without.

On Aug 26, 2022, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they had applied to the European Medicines Agency to have their omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent COVID-19 vaccine authorised as a booster dose. The companies submitted an equivalent application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Aug 22. The vaccine combines mRNA coding for the spike protein of the Wuhan strain of SARS-CoV-2, which is the basis of the original Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with mRNA coding for the spike protein of the ...

As of May, 2022, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused 521 million COVID-19 cases and at least 6 million deaths, worldwide.1 Although the COVID-19 pandemic has led to breathtaking vaccine developments, early treatments to prevent progression of COVID-19, especially in those who are most vulnerable, are urgently needed. But to deploy such treatment will take a substantial change in the perception and management of upper respiratory infections, including COVID-19.

The Cuban Abdala protein subunit vaccine was highly effective in preventing severe illness and death from COVID-19 under real-life conditions.

Health diplomat who helped guide UK health and development funding strategy. Born on March 10, 1973 in Woking, UK, he died on May 29, 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland, aged 52 years.