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Welcome to the latest edition of Investigative Roundup, highlighting some of the best investigative reporting on healthcare each week.
Pharmacy Chains Waste Vaccine
CVS and Walgreens alone have accounted for more than half of the thousands of wasted COVID-19 vaccine doses, according to an analysis of public data conducted by
Kaiser Health News (
KHN).
KHN revealed that, of 182,874 total wasted doses documented by the CDC as of late March, about half were unused by CVS and 21% by Walgreens.
The wasted doses still account for only a small proportion of the doses the pharmacy chains have administered, according to spokespeople, and an even smaller proportion of total doses administered nationwide.
Published: May 03, 2021 By Brandon May
During a talk last month, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of biotech company BioVia said she was waiting for results from a six-person study performed in Mexico that saw patients with dementia receive a controversial gene therapy injection not yet authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If actually administered to these patients, this could represent the first recorded attempt to manage dementia that uses an injectable gene therapy technique.
Elizabeth Parrish, CEO of the Seattle-based startup BioVia, suggests the current drug safety regulatory system set up in the U.S. is a substantial barrier to potentially lifesaving and life-lengthening therapies. Her biotech includes an advisory board committee that boasts George Church, a Harvard geneticist.
By Megan Molteni May 3, 2021Reprints
Adobe
Six patients with dementia traveled to Mexico last year to be injected with a gene therapy not authorized for use in the U.S., according to the CEO of a Seattle-area startup that wants to accelerate testing of unproven anti-aging medicines and views U.S. drug safety regulations as a hindrance.
At the heart of the project is a controversial biotech called BioViva, whose CEO had herself injected with an experimental gene therapy in Colombia and whose advisory board includes renowned Harvard geneticist George Church. It is part of a growing ecosystem of entrepreneurs and scientists, dreamers and schemers, who believe aging is not inevitable and aim to develop treatments to extend the human life span.