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CDC Advisory Committee Likely To Place Pregnant Women Near Top Of List For H1N1 Flu Shots
A federal vaccine advisory panel scheduled to meet Wednesday likely will recommend that pregnant women be among the first groups to receive the H1N1 influenza vaccine if a limited number of doses are available, the AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention usually accepts the recommendations of the panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. According to the AP/Journal-Constitution, health care workers are expected to be the No. 1 priority for receiving the vaccine.For more than 10 years, the panel has recommended that pregnant women get vaccinated for seasonal flu, which can be a threat even to those who are young and healthy. CDC data show that pregnant women, who make up 1% of the U.S. population, have accounted for 6% of H1N1 flu deaths in the country since April, when the pandemic began.British and Swiss health officials have recommended that women consider delaying pregnancies if possible. Most health officials have said that advice oversteps the available evidence, but they have agreed that pregnant women face significant risk from the H1N1 flu. A recent World Health Organization report stated that pregnant women appear to be "at increased risk for severe [H1N1] disease, potentially resulting in spontaneous abortion and/or death, especially during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy." However, WHO has not yet recommended that pregnant women get priority vaccinations. Kevin Ault, an obstetrician at Emory University, said that pregnant women are especially vulnerable because of changes in the lungs and immune system that make it more difficult to overcome respiratory infections (Stobbe, AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/28).
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Chance Of Fetal Complications Following Accidents Not Increased By Automobile Restraints
It is well established that seat belts save lives. However, many pregnant women do not wear seat belts, for fear that the belt itself could injure the baby in a car crash. But is this actually the case? Does the seat belt put the baby at risk?
News of the day
Ad Wars Over Health Care Overhaul Heat Up
"The ad wars over the health care campaign are heating up once [again] this week," The New York Times reports. At a speech on Monday, Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, released a party television ad "which its spokeswoman says will first be broadcast in Arkansas, North Dakota and Nevada." The ad "opens with a tiny infant, and spools out with a narrator"s voice saying: "They"ve loaned Barack Obama their future, without even knowing it. Trillions for rushed government bailouts and takeovers, banks, the auto industry." And then it continues, as children appear on the screen: "The biggest spending spree in our nation"s in history. And they"ll have to pay. The next big ticket item? A risky experiment with our health care. Barack Obama"s massive spending experiment hasn"t healed our economy. His new experiment risks their future and our health.""
Endocrinology

GlaxoSmithKline Pledges $97M Investment In AIDS Drugs For Africa, Allows South African Drugmaker To Produce Generic Second-Line Treatment

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on Tuesday announced plans to invest $97 million over 10 years "to improve research, development and access to AIDS drugs in Africa," Reuters reports. GSK also put forth "a new free voluntary licensing agreement for AIDS drug abacavir, or Ziagen with South African generic drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare." According to Reuters, Aspen will be able to "manufacture a cheaper generic version of the drug." GSK"s "latest stepsò€¦follow pressure from campaigners and some governments for drug companies to do more to get life-saving medicines to the poor, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa," Reuters writes. "Glaxo took a lead in February by promising to place many of its patents on drugs for tropical diseases into a free "pool," but it stopped short of offering patents on medicines for HIV/AIDS, which it does not consider to be a neglected disease" (Hirschler, 7/14). "The plans follow GSK"s historic deal in April with rival Pfizer to create a new HIV and AIDS company with 11 products," the Telegraph reports. The announcement is an "indication of the commitment that the new company will bring to fighting HIV/AIDS in the world"s poorest countries," GSK"s chief executive Andrew Witty said during a trip to Kenya (Ruddick, 7/14). Abacavir is "a "second line" antiretroviral therapy used when patients fail to respond to" standard treatment, the Financial Times reports. "The new pledges for the first time expand the waiver on rights to abacavir, and [Witty] stressed they also applied to supplies to low-income countries outside Africa provided the generic manufacturers could meet the criteria of "quality, capacity and sustainability"," the Financial Times writes. The newspaper reports that Witty does not support a patent pool for HIV drugs, and "[h]e said GSK had "a good track record" of making its medicines affordable in [middle income] countries through discounts" (Jack, 7/15). "While welcoming the initiatives, [British members of Parliament] and campaigners said GSK, and other pharmaceutical companies, must do more," the Guardian reports. "David Borrow, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on AIDS, said: "GSK is taking positive steps, but they are broadly unilateral, which will limit their impact."ò€¦"The most effective way to reduce prices would be a patent pool approach, rather than individual deals between companies." A report released by Borrow"s group, titled, "The Treatment Timebomb," estimates that by 2030 more than 50 million people will need HIV treatment compared to just 9 million today (Kollewe, 7/14). Barrow said in a separate Guardian article, "We must reduce the price of second-line medicines and less toxic first-line medicines before millions need them. We cannot sleepwalk into a situation where we can only afford to treat a tiny proportion of those infected" (Boseley, 7/12). GSK"s pledge of $97 million will be put toward non-governmental organizations that work to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and public-private partnerships for the development of pediatric HIV/AIDS drugs (GSK release, 7/14). This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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