Hello,
Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer, and today in healthcare news:
- We dug into Pfizer's case for COVID-19 booster shots;
- Inside China's quiet growth into a biotech powerhouse;
- What a massive study from Israel can tell us about about the risk of severe COVID-19 in older adults after a third shot.
If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips? Email me at [email protected] or tweet @lydiaramsey125. Let's get to it…
Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine are prepared to be administered to front-line health care workers under an emergency use authorization at a drive up vaccination site from Renown Health in Reno, Nevada on December 17, 2020.
Patrick Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Patrick Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
FDA releases documents outlining Pfizer's case for COVID-19 booster shots
- The FDA released documents Wednesday giving a look at Pfizer's case for COVID-19 booster shots.
- The data shows a third dose of Pfizer's shot raised antibody levels with no major safety concerns.
- An expert panel will make recommendations to the FDA on booster shots on Friday.
Here's what you need to know>>
Employees work at a workshop in Haikou Brilliant Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd on March 24, 2021 in Haikou, Hainan Province of China.
Photo by Yuan Chen/VCG via Getty Images
How China quietly grew into a biotech powerhouse that will shape the future of the drug industry
Photo by Yuan Chen/VCG via Getty Images
- China's biotech industry has surged in recent years following regulatory and stock-market changes.
- These biotechs have opened US headquarters and received FDA approval for new cancer treatments.
- They will "be global competitors, and there may be global implications," a noted investor said.
An Israeli receives a coronavirus vaccine from medical staff at a COVID-19 vaccination center in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021.
Sebastian Scheiner/AP
A massive study from Israel suggests older adults were far less likely to develop severe COVID-19 after a booster shot, but the finding carries major limitations
Sebastian Scheiner/AP
- A third dose of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine dramatically reduces the risk of infection and severe illness for older adults, a new study found.
- A team of researchers in Israel published the findings Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
- Still, an expert urged caution on interpreting the findings, saying the study has major limitations.
More stories we're reading:
- The most common side effects to expect after your Pfizer booster: headache, fatigue, and pain at the injection site (Insider)
- A boy's appendix burst while waiting hours at a COVID-19-swamped ER (ProPublica)
- Beyond COVID-19 vaccines, mRNA's pioneers have big plans for using the technology against a range of diseases (Insider)
- 1 in 500 people in the US have died from COVID-19 (CNN)
- Lydia
Read the original article on Business Insider