Tag: 11/11/20

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Aspen Shifts to SA Production of COVID Vaccines

On By ModernMedia

Aspen Pharmacare has secured a deal to manufacture the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine, in an effort to adapt to the pharmaceutical market. 

Elective surgeries being deferred due to the pandemic has reduced demand for certain medications, and the company withheld dividends for the second year running in September. However, the company does produce some medications which are currently in demand due to COVID.

Dexamethasone, one of the medications Aspen has the rights to produce, is a key treatment for COVID patients, which according to a study done in June, reduces mortality by 30%. Colchicine is another medication used to treat COVID, normally used for gout.

Tavros Nicolaou, a senior Aspen executive, said in an interview: “In February, we looked at how we best respond to this looming disaster facing us and we split it into three buckets — what we can do at a therapeutic level, what can we do at a vaccine level and what can we do to generally help society.” This positioned them “globally as a company that had a multifaceted response to this pandemic.”

The pharmaceuticals company has invested R3 billion in a Port Elizabeth plant to manufacture the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine at a rate of 300 million per year, which will help supply the rest of Africa. The need for local COVID vaccines may come sooner rather than later.

Despite peaking in July, the country’s COVID pandemic is not yet over with at least two provinces seeing increases in cases again, while on the horizon a second surge is expected in January.

Source: Moneyweb

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HIV Prophylactic Injection 9 Times More Effective than Oral Administration

On By ModernMedia

According to The Citizen, researchers have reported that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in the form of an injection once every eight weeks was 9 times more effective than a daily oral pill in preventing HIV contraction. The daily pill is currently the standard PrEP available to the public.

Dr Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, director of research at the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI), said, “We know that adherence to a daily pill continues to be challenging, and an effective injectable product such as a long-acting CAB [cabotegravir injection] is a very important additional HIV prevention option for them. We are grateful to the women who volunteered for this study and the research staff, as this study would not have been possible without their commitment to HIV prevention.”

The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) took place over several years, measuring the effectiveness of PrEP in preventing the contraction of HIV.  3223 cisgendered women with an average age of 26 were enrolled in the study in South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The trial found that of 38 women who contracted HIV, four were receiving the injection while the remainder were using the oral pill.

Executive director of Wits RHI, Professor Helen Rees, said, “These results are a milestone for prevention of HIV among women at risk worldwide and especially for women in sub-Saharan Africa. If we are to turn the tide on the HIV epidemic, we will need prevention options that work for women in sub-Saharan Africa. These findings provide great hope and motivation for additional studies to show safety and acceptability in adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women.”

The game-changing medication will not be available to the public until further testing is completed. 

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Benefits of Cutting Cholesterol for Elderly Increase with Age

On By ModernMedia

A pair of new studies in The Lancet found that the effects of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) lowering agents reduced the number of serious cardiovascular events in geriatric patients.

Taking data on over 90 000 individuals in Denmark, an observational study followed patients for 7.7 years, with LDL cholesterol levels as well as first heart attacks or strokes recorded.

The researchers found that people aged 70-100 without a previous cardiovascular event benefited more from taking cholesterol-lowering medications in terms of preventable cardiovascular events.

People aged 80-100 had the highest incidence of heart attacks, at 8.5 per 1000 person-years.

Børge Nordestgaard, joint author of the first study, of the Copenhagen University Hospital, said, “Our study provides further evidence for the cumulative burden of LDL cholesterol over a person’s lifetime and the progressive increase in risk for heart attack and cardiovascular disease with age. With the proportion of people living beyond 70 years of age worldwide rapidly increasing, these data point to the huge potential for primary prevention strategies aimed at lowering LDL cholesterol levels to reduce the population burden of heart disease. The findings should guide decision making about whether older individuals will benefit from statin therapy.”

A separate review and meta-analysis revealed that cholesterol-lowering therapies are as effective as preventing heart attacks in older patients as they are in younger ones. Analysing data from 29 randomised controlled trials, they found that for every reduction of 1mmol/L of HDL cholesterol, the relative risk of major cardiovascular events in patients over 75 years was reduced by 26%. For patients under 75 years, the reduction was 15% per 1mmol/L of HDL-cholesterol.

Source: HCP Live

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Exoskeleton Technology Evaluated for Nursing Care

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A new article from the journal Ergonomics in Design reported on research by Tampere University into how exoskeleton technology can help reduce the physical burden of nurses.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Tuuli Turja said, “This message from the field led us to investigate what conditions exoskeletons would need to meet in order to reform nursing. Currently, exoskeletons are mainly used in manufacturing and logistics. Isn’t it high time to introduce exoskeletons in female-dominated sectors, where musculoskeletal disorders are rampant?” she continues. “However, in our study, a very different type of mobile and light exoskeleton was worn by nurses in patient care.”

Two studies evaluated the Laevo Exoskeleton, which is a “passive” device designed to distribute loads across the body via interconnected pads on the back, chest and thighs. According to the manufacturer, it is designed to reduce lower back strain by 40 to 50%. For the first study, pairs of nurses helped elderly patients to wheelchairs from their hospital beds, with and without use of the exoskeleton. In the second study, seven nurses wore the exoskeleton in a real care environment.

The results show that although the nurses were amenable to their use, exoskeletons need specific designs when it comes to the challenges of patient care, such as comfort, interactive features and safety to help them through hectic workloads.

Source: Science Daily

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New Plasma Jet Sterilises Surfaces but Doesn’t Get Hot

On By ModernMedia

Researchers at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a novel way to sterilise surfaces – using a jet of glowing plasma.

The team created a tool which emits plasma, generated from an electric arc and a supply of harmless argon, but only at room temperature. However, their study, testing the plasma jet on a series of different materials, has shown that it can sterilise surfaces of the COVID virus within 30 seconds

Unlike other sterilisation solutions, such as chemicals or UV light, the plasma is completely harmless, with the only inputs being electricity and air – argon makes up 1% of the air we breathe. It was even able to sterilise surfaces such as cardboard, which would be difficult to sterilise with traditional chemicals without slightly damaging it.  

A relatively new technology, “cold” plasma has been used in a variety of medical applications, including cancer surgery, dentistry and wound healing.

Author Richard E. Wirz said the results show that plasma has a great role to play in potentially breaking the transmission of COVID/

“This is only the beginning. We are very confident and have very high expectations for plasma in future work. In the future, a lot of answers for the scientific community will come from plasma,” said Wirz.

Source: Phys.org