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Biogen
The flag has officially been waved on Aduhelm, their controversial Alzheimer’s therapy that was approved by the FDA without having shown itself to work on its target indication.
It faced extreme headwinds from the get-go, but since that time another Alzheimer's therapy was approved and that has probably made the business case for Aduhelm untenable. (It doesn't hurt that the new therapy is partially owned by Biogen.)
With Aduhelm they were almost certainly banking on the desperation of Alzheimer's caretakers to drive sales. With a better option, that gambit became untenable.
The rights to Aduhelm are being ceded Neurimmune, and who knows whether they will continue the seemingly vain attempts at proving it works in clinical trials. Could always shock the world and turn out to really work in the end.
Gattaca
There was a movie in the 90s about the dangers of gene editing in humans, or more specifically, the eugenics that could follow.
So, you would think a company working on embryonic gene editing would maybe not name themselves after that movie. Of course, since you’re seeing it here, you know they done did it.
Gattaca Genomics is working on whole genome, pre-implantation embryo screening, for health reasons only at this point. But soon enough someone will start arguing that being tall leads to better mental health, blah blah blah.
Quite possibly the slipperiest of slopes.
Doublethink
Neuralink announced they have implanted a human with one of their neural devices. They're not the first company to implant a device in a brain, but knowing the company is run by a person who has openly advocated for brain implant technology in healthy people, this may mark a point of no return.
Are neural implants that enhance or otherwise change a healthy person's cognitive abilities morally acceptable? That's for the philosophers to figure out.
But the rest of us can mostly agree the fawning over this technology in some circles is a bit weird. In fact, you might think there's a double standard around health technology depending on who's hawking it.
Hostile Sleepover
Novozymes has merged with a Danish company,to become Novonesis.
The company they merged with is known as "Chr. Hansen".
Not exactly sure how you pronounce that, but why don't you have a seat right over here, Novozymes...
Who’s The Boss?
Ever seen a job posting that names your future manager? You have now.
Nightmare Scenario
Great way to ensure the FDA equivalent of a full rectal exam is to ship drugs in the wrong bottle, only to find out thanks to a friendly pharmacist. FYI - This is a failure at the highest level.
To put it into perspective, FDA is constantly badgering drug companies for transgressions that theoretically could lead to this outcome even if it never came close to happening.
For it to have gotten to the point of actually happening is an absolute nightmare for the manufacturer. Can't even explain how bad it is. But having high standards thankfully makes this extremely rare. And having trained pharmacists distributing medicines is also a pretty nice detail.
Team Roast - Stock Photos
Gonna go out on a limb here and say the photos for a few people here are stock photos. Especially Xiang Li. Just an educated guess, but whoever is pictured there kinda sorta maybe doesn't come across as someone named Xiang.
A trip to Linkedin reveals this educated guess to be correct. But you really never do know what's gonna be at the end when you start pulling these Team Roast threads...the profile mentions having been a "Grade: A good learner" back in college where she passed time "playing ball".
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