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01 / 05
Moderna, Merck Report Positive Cancer-Vaccine Study Results

Wall Street Journal | Vaccination

Moderna, Merck Report Positive Cancer-Vaccine Study Results

“Moderna and Merck’s cancer vaccine reduced the risk of relapse or death for melanoma patients, five-year data from a Phase 2b trial showed.

The companies on Tuesday said the vaccine, in combination with Merck’s immunotherapy Keytruda, reduced the risk of recurrence or death by 49% compared with Keytruda alone.

‘We continue to invest in our platform in oncology because of encouraging outcomes like these, which illustrate mRNA’s potential in cancer care,’ said Kyle Holen, a senior vice president at Moderna.

The companies had previously released promising three-year data from the study, and on Tuesday they said the treatment ‘continued to demonstrate sustained and clinically meaningful improvement’ in reducing the risk of death and relapse.

The companies currently have eight Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials across multiple tumor types, including melanoma, non-small-cell lung cancer, bladder cancer and renal cell carcinoma.”

From Wall Street Journal.

The New England Journal of Medicine | Noncommunicable Disease

Hospital-Acquired Infections Continue Decline Across US

“Prevalence surveys in U.S. hospitals showed that on any given day, 1 of 25 patients had a health care–associated infection in 2011, as compared with 1 of 31 patients in 2015. We repeated the survey in 2023 to assess changes in the prevalence of such infections…

The prevalence of health care–associated infections was lower in 2023 than in 2015, with 1 of 38 patients on any given day having such an infection; however, the burden of health care–associated infections in U.S. hospitals continued to be high.”

From The New England Journal of Medicine.

World Health Organization | Communicable Disease

El Salvador Eliminates Trachoma as a Public Health Problem

“The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated El Salvador as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. Trachoma is the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness…

Elimination of trachoma as a public health problem is defined as: (i) a prevalence of trachomatous trichiasis (TT) “unknown to the health system” of < 0.2% in ≥15-year-olds; and (ii) a prevalence of trachomatous inflammation – follicular (TF) in children aged 1–9 years of < 5%, in each formerly endemic district; plus (iii) the existence of a system to identify and manage incident cases of TT.

Other countries validated by WHO as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem are: Algeria, Australia, Benin, Burundi, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, India, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Vanuatu and Viet Nam.

El Salvador is the first country in Central America and the second in the Americas to achieve this milestone.”

From World Health Organization.

Nigerian Tribune | Communicable Disease

Nigeria Nears Trachoma Elimination

“Nigeria is close to eliminating trachoma as a public health problem, with only 11 Local Government Areas (LGAs) left to achieve elimination, the Director of the National Trachoma Programme at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Nicholas Olobio, has said.

Olobio disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja during a learning event organised by Sightsavers to review progress under the AcceleraTE Trachoma Elimination Programme, which has supported Nigeria’s trachoma response since 2018.

He said Nigeria had made significant progress towards eliminating the blinding disease, revealing that mass drug administration (MDA) had been stopped in 116 LGAs, representing about 87 per cent of the country’s elimination target.”

From Nigerian Tribune.

UCL | Noncommunicable Disease

Trial Shows Safer Antibiotic Option for Staph Blood Infection

“The SNAP trial, funded in the UK by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) found that a little used antibiotic, cefazolin, is as effective as and safer than the current UK standard therapy, flucloxacillin, for treating life-threatening staph blood infections. More than half of staph blood infections lead to sepsis and 15% to 25% of those who get these infections die within three months.

The researchers also found that a commonly used antibiotic, penicillin, can be used when the staph is treatable with this in the laboratory. And that similarly this is probably as effective as flucloxacillin, and safer.

The findings from the SNAP trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and The Lancet, challenge the long-held assumption that flucloxacillin should remain the default treatment and provide important new evidence to guide treatment strategy.”

From UCL.