“Clinical-grade” is an example of marketing puffery designed to borrow authority from medicine without the strings of accountability or regulation. It sits alongside other buzzy marketing phrases like “medical-grade” or “pharmaceutical-grade” for things like steel, silicone, and supplements that imply quality; “prescription-strength” or “doctor-formulated” for creams and ointments denoting potency; and “hypoallergenic” and “non-comedogenic” suggesting outcomes — lower chances of allergic reactions and non-pore blocking, respectively — for which there are no standard definitions or testing procedures.
Novartis said Sunday it would buy Avidity Biosciences, which is developing RNA-based therapies for neuromuscular diseases, for roughly $12 billion in cash.
Manufacturers of pricey wound-care products are squaring off with alliances of hospitals, doctors and other providers who care for Medicare patients over an effort to curb program spending on the high-tech bandages.
The most widely used COVID-19 vaccines may offer a surprise benefit for some cancer patients — revving up their immune systems to help fight tumors. People with advanced lung or skin cancer who were taking certain immunotherapy drugs lived substantially longer if they also got a Pfizer or Moderna shot within 100 days of starting treatment, according to preliminary research being reported Wednesday in the journal Nature. And it had nothing to do with virus infections. Instead, the molecule that powers those specific vaccines, mRNA, appears to help the immune system respond better to the cutting-edge cancer treatment, concluded researchers from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the University of Florida. The vaccine "acts like a siren to activate immune cells throughout the body," said lead researcher Dr. Adam Grippin of MD Anderson. "We're sensitizing immune-resistant tumors to immune therapy."
The owners of Heights University Hospital are requesting approval from Jersey City officials to build a new hospital adjacent to the current one and pair it with residential development. Otherwise, Hudson Regional Health "must proceed forward with alternative proposals for the land," wrote Hudson Regional Health CEO and President Dr. Nizar Kifaieh in a letter to the Division of City Planning. One of the alternative uses for the site involves building a pair of 10-story residential buildings with more than 2,200 total units. The concept plan was created by MHS Architecture, a firm based in Hoboken. It's preliminary and has not been formally submitted to the city.