Interesting information about Biogen, who have just received a contentious FDA approval for an Alzheimer's drug.
First, let's look at early in the pandemic:
nytimes.com/2020/12/11/us/biogen-conference-covid-spread.html
A February conference by the drug company Biogen was initially thought to have infected 99 people. By the end of October, it was feared that the number had grown as high as 300,000.
When it was disclosed last spring that the coronavirus had stealthily infected 99 people after the Cambridge, Mass., pharmaceutical company Biogen held a two-day conference in February, it helped add the term “superspreader” to the pandemic lexicon
A new analysis of the Biogen event at a Boston hotel has concluded that the coronavirus strains loosed at the meeting have since migrated worldwide, infecting about 245,000 Americans — and potentially as many as 300,000 — by the end of October.
The virus strains spread to at least 29 states. They were found in Australia, Sweden and Slovakia. They wended their way from a room packed with biotechnology executives to Boston homeless shelters, where they also spread widely among occupants.
The analysis, by more than 50 health care experts and researchers based primarily in the Boston area, was published on Thursday in Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It is based on genetic analyses of the coronavirus taken from 28 people who attended the Biogen annual leadership conference, at a Marriott hotel on the Boston waterfront, on Feb. 26 and 27.
At the time, only 30 coronavirus infections had been confirmed in the United States, according to data compiled by The New York Times. More than a month earlier, Chinese authorities had quarantined the 11 million residents of Wuhan, where Covid-19 was first detected. But the epidemics that would ravage Europe were still on the horizon; Italy had recorded its first death only days earlier.
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Huh. What are the odds? So we move on to a potential Covid-Alzheimer's link:
Study identifies how COVID-19 linked to Alzheimer's disease-like cognitive impairment
sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210610162405.htm
A new Cleveland Clinic-led study has identified mechanisms by which COVID-19 can lead to Alzheimer's disease-like dementia. The findings, published in Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, indicate an overlap between COVID-19 and brain changes common in Alzheimer's, and may help inform risk management and therapeutic strategies for COVID-19-associated cognitive impairment
While researchers found little evidence that the virus targets the brain directly, they discovered close network relationships between the virus and genes/proteins associated with several neurological diseases, most notably Alzheimer's, pointing to pathways by which COVID-19 could lead to AD-like dementia. To explore this further, they investigated potential associations between COVID-19 and neuroinflammation and brain microvascular injury, which are both hallmarks of Alzheimer's.
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OK, now let's look at the drug Biogen developed, and the drama surrounding it:
The Washington Post and Axios report on the ongoing fallout from the “contentious” decision to approve Aduhelm while CNN covers the costs and side-effects of the new drug. The Cincinnat…
khn.org
The Washington Post and Axios report on the ongoing fallout from the "contentious" decision to approve Aduhelm while CNN covers the costs and side-effects of the new drug. The Cincinnati Enquirer notes it will be available at UC Health and two other Ohio sites.
Two members of a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel resigned this week after the agency’s contentious decision to approve an Alzheimer’s drug over the objections of its outside advisers. David S. Knopman, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic, said Wednesday in an email to The Washington Post that he did not “wish to be part of a sham process” that ultimately resulted in the agency’s approval Monday of Biogen’s Aduhelm, also known as aducanumab. ... Earlier this week, Joel S. Perlmutter, a neurologist at Washington University in St. Louis, resigned from the committee, according to the trade publications Stat News and the Pink Sheet. (
A new poll of more than 1,400 people who work in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries by John Carroll of Endpoints News reveals a clear consensus: The FDA made a big mistake approving Aduhelm, Biogen's Alzheimer's treatment, and the $56,000 price tag does not match any possible benefit. Even the industry's own experts are not defending the FDA and Biogen.
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Also, it seems they're establishing a new research center. Also going to make some serious bank off of this drug. Wonder if the two are related somehow:
Biogen CEO says $56,000 annually for Alzheimer’s drug is 'fair,' promises not to hike price for at least 4 years
Biogen CEO says $56,000 annually for Alzheimer’s drug is 'fair,' promises not to hike price for at least 4 years
Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos told CNBC on Monday that the list price of $56,000 per year for the company's FDA-approved Alzheimer's disease drug aducanumab is "fair."
Shares of Biogen surged as high as 60% on Monday after the Food and Drug Administration announced it had approved the company's drug for the disease.
Biogen Announces Plans to Build a New, State-of-the-Art Gene Therapy Manufacturing Facility in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
The Investor Relations website contains information about Biogen's business for stockholders, potential investors, and financial analysts.
investors.biogen.com
Biogen Inc. today announced its plans to build a new gene therapy manufacturing facility at its Research Triangle Park (RTP) manufacturing campuses in North Carolina to support its growing gene therapy pipeline across multiple therapeutic areas.
With this new facility, Biogen is investing in robust and scalable gene therapy manufacturing with the goal of ensuring reliable supply to patients worldwide. Gene therapy is an emerging therapeutic modality that may be suitable for a growing list of genetically validated targets in neuroscience.
So this company's conference was at the epicenter of one of the first outbreaks, they conveniently develop an expensive therapy for Alzheimer's just as studies are showing that Covid can cause an acceleration of Alzheimer's? Seems so, uh,
coincidental.
(tried to archive for better links, but the queue is over 2K sorry)
www.sbs.com.au
www.axios.com
