Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Promising HIV Vaccine Comes Up Short As Study Finds It Was No More Effective Than Placebo
A broad study of a promising vaccine for HIV has ended in failure after an interim analysis showed it was no more effective than a placebo, researchers announced Monday. Vaccinations were halted after an independent monitoring panel for the “Uhambo” study in South Africa determined on Jan. 23 that 129 people who received the vaccine developed HIV while 123 who were given a placebo contracted the infection. (Bernstein, 2/3)
"An HIV vaccine is essential to end the global pandemic, and we hoped this vaccine candidate would work. Regrettably, it does not," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIAID, said in a written statement on Monday. "Research continues on other approaches to a safe and effective HIV vaccine, which I still believe can be achieved," he said. (Howard, 2/3)
Late last month, an interim analysis found 129 HIV infections occurred among the vaccine recipients and 123 HIV infections occurred among the placebo recipients. There were no safety concerns, but the NIH said it agreed with an independent safety board that since the vaccines did not work, the study should stop. (Weixel, 2/3)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Patients widely received antibiotics with no record of seeing a doctor, a nationwide study found, despite recommendations that doctors physically screen patients to prevent unnecessary prescriptions that could contribute to superbugs. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Northwestern University looked through a decade of medical bills for 53 million people nationwide. They found nearly 83 million antibiotic prescriptions that were filled with no record of an associated doctor visit that could have verified that the antibiotics were necessary. (Evans, 2/3)
Marc Andreessen, famous for proclaiming that software was “eating the world,” said in 2009 that the one place his eponymous Silicon Valley venture capital firm would never invest was health care. How things have changed. On Tuesday, Andreessen Horowitz launched its third fund dedicated exclusively to health and biology. Biofund III, as the $750 million investment vessel is called, will be directed at startups looking to do everything from design better drugs to improve the way people deliver and receive health care. (Brodwin, 2/4)
