CDC director, lawmakers promote vaccination

Happy December. We recap yesterday’s House hearing with CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen, and look at a new study on who funds new approved drugs. (473 words, 2 minutes, 21 seconds)

CDC director, lawmakers promote vaccination in House hearing

The need for access and communication to promote vaccination against COVID, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was a recurring theme in yesterday’s House hearing with the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

What happened: CDC Director Mandy Cohen, M.D. MPH, appeared before the House Energy & Commerce (E&C) Oversight Subcommittee on November 30 to discuss the agency’s public image and pandemic lessons learned.

PAHPA and data for preparedness: E&C Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-CA) said the Pandemic All Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) is an essential weapon against future pandemics and urged its passage. He also extolled the importance of collecting data, a theme Dr. Cohen repeatedly echoed when calling for more resources.

Take a shot: Rep. Pallone and others urged greater CDC efforts to promote RSV, flu, and updated COVID vaccines. Dr. Cohen said RSV is almost peaking, while flu season is just beginning, and about 1,000 people per week die from COVID.

Vaccine shortages: In response to Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY)’s question about risks for children, Dr. Cohen said the CDC works with manufacturers to increase supply, and more doses will be available in January. She said the hundreds of thousands of currently available doses should be used for the highest-risk children.

Older adults are another priority, especially with low vaccination in nursing homes, said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), who also asked about fighting misinformation. The coronavirus mutates, so updated COVID shots are necessary, said Dr. Cohen.

Fighting misinformation requires... strong data, a flood of good public information, and trusted messengers, Dr. Cohen added.

Learn more about how to fight misinformation.

Private industry funds most new drugs, finds study

A new study by Vital Transformation (VT) finds that 92% of new medicines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have no federally funded intellectual property or patents.

Why it matters: The study “provides valuable insights” into proposals “to exercise ‘march-in rights’ under the provisions of the Bayh-Dole Act,” VT says. While some argue that march-in rights can be used to control the price of drugs linked to federally funded patents, the study finds few such patents exist.

The key finding: While the relationship between private industry and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is valuable, the study “expands on previous research showing that NIH funding is responsible for only relatively few inventive contributions to new therapies,” said BIO VP for Intellectual Property Hans Sauer.

The bottom line: “NIH funding makes vast and critical contributions to the advancement of medicine by furthering our understanding of human disease,” Sauer said. “But the weight of the evidence shows that in most cases the private sector invents the drugs that are based on that research and assumes the cost and risk of translating new scientific insights into practical new products.”

Read the study.

President Biden’s Friday: No official events scheduled.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: A quiet day in the House and Senate.