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BIO’s Patient Advocacy Changemakers Event (PACE) begins today in Washington, D.C.—here’s what we’re watching. Plus, new studies highlight the extra benefits of COVID mRNA and shingles vaccines. (683 words, 3 minutes, 24 seconds) |
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Breaking barriers at BIO’s Patient Advocacy Changemakers Event today and tomorrow |
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This week, BIO is hosting our annual patient advocacy summit, the Patient Advocacy Changemakers Event (PACE) in Washington, D.C.
“Breaking Barriers to 21st Century Access,” the theme for this year’s event, emphasizes the importance of ensuring innovative medicines reach patients who need them. During PACE, BIO will also announce updated Principles for Ethical Engagement, a framework for engaging the patient community, responsibly, meaningfully and with integrity.
Why it matters: “PACE is a moment to connect one-on-one with the patient advocates who sit at the heart of our mission to advance patient-focused public policies,” says BIO President and CEO John F. Crowley. “By putting patients first, we stay focused on why we work so hard every day to ensure that our laws and policies help forward science, innovation, and access to life-changing medicines.”
Celebrating change: “I am thrilled to be leading our 14th annual patient advocacy event, which we’ve rebranded to reflect the true changemakers: patients whose experiences, stories and hopes inspire us every day.” says BIO’s Chief Patient Advocate Michele Oshman.
How to follow: We’ll be posting articles and videos on the Bio.News website and social media throughout the event, and sending a newsletter recap on Wednesday. Sessions we’re watching today include: - State-level trends: Breaking down the policies that are likely to influence the future federal agenda.
- FDA discussion: BIO President and CEO, John F. Crowley and George Tidmarsh, Director at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, discuss drug development and regulation.
- Vaccination challenges: Battling misinformation, pseudoscience, and ideology to restore faith in vaccines.
Sessions we’re watching tomorrow include: Read more on Bio.News. |
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Studies find extra benefits of COVID mRNA and shingles vaccines |
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The immunity provided by COVID mRNA and shingles vaccines offers protection against other conditions, according to studies published last week.
Extending lives: People with advanced lung or skin cancer taking one of the new immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) lived longer if they had a COVID mRNA vaccine within 100 days of initiating cancer therapy, a study in Nature finds.
Why it matters: COVID mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives, and these studies indicate further potential of the vaccines and other mRNA treatments—yet federal funding has been pulled from some mRNA research.
BIO’s view: “Biopreparedness through investment in research of innovative biotechnology platforms, like mRNA, is vital to maintain the flexibility, capacity, and the self-determination of defending our nation,” BIO says. “Our government, in collaboration with academia and industry, must preserve and grow the investment in these advances.”
Prize worthy: COVID mRNA research was so important that Sens. Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), and John Barrasso, MD (R-WY) introduced a resolution last week nominating President Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for enabling vaccine development through Operation Warp Speed.
Shingles vaccine bonus: A new study shows GSK’s Shingrix vaccine to protect adults from shingles also halved the risk of vascular dementia and lowered risk of cardiovascular issues like blood clots, heart attack, or stroke by one quarter. This adds to earlier studies showing benefits of Shingrix against dementia. |
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Senate HELP Committee hearing puts focus on need for 340B reform. Abuses of the ballooning 340B program drive up costs, benefitting middlemen while not helping the intended beneficiaries, underserved patients, Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) told an Oct. 23 Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) hearing. Testimony from U.S. Government Accountability Office and Congressional Budget Office officials urged reform. Read more.
BIO Coffee Chat covers challenges of patient access on the state level. Patients are seeing an increasing number of barriers cropping up in state level polices that impact access to the therapies they need, according to the latest BIO Coffee Chat. The discussion looked at how patient advocates are making progress addressing challenges like navigating a myriad of alternative funding programs (AFPs), the impacts of the 340B program on access to care, and prescription drug affordability boards (PDABs). Read more on Bio.News. |
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