Susan Monarez was dismissed as director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on 28 August in a surprise move that also led to the resignations of other top officials including Debra Houry, the agency’s chief medical officer. Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced Dr Monarez’s departure on the social media site X. This was subsequently confirmed by the White House.
Novartis Pharma AG has entered into an option and collaboration agreement with BioArctic AB to develop an antibody treatment for a neurodegenerative disorder that takes advantage of the Swedish company’s technology for helping drugs cross the blood-brain barrier. The target for the prospective treatment has not been disclosed. But the transporter technology is public and is being used by BioArctic in multiple projects. It is based on the transferrin receptor, a protein responsible for the delivery of iron to cells. This can also enable antibody drugs to cross the barrier.
The US Food and Drug Administration has suspended the licence of a vaccine developed by Valneva SE to prevent chikungunya virus infection following 32 serious adverse event reports, including 21 hospitalisations and three deaths. The vaccine, Ixchiq (chikungunya vaccine, life), was given an accelerated approval by the FDA in November 2023 and since then has been approved in several other countries, some of which are also reviewing patient data. Valneva is expected to start a post-marketing study of the vaccine on 1 October to further assess the risks.
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