Melinda Gates has urged U.S. parents to vaccinate their children. In an interview, she shared her frustration with anti-vaxxers, the spread of misinformation and the measles outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 626 cases of measles this year. (CNBC) Want to help stop the spread of misinformation? Submit your best creative in our #ConvinceMeToVax contest by April 30.
President Donald Trump spoke in Atlanta on Wednesday about the opioid crisis. He touted efforts to enroll 16,000 inmates in treatment programs in prison and praised drug-detecting dogs working along the U.S.-Mexico border. (CNN)
Pfizer is set to hold its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday in New Jersey. The drugmaker posted $53 billion in revenue and $11 billion in profit last year. It also increased the price of 41 prescription drugs at the start of 2019 in defiance of President Trump. (STAT)
IQVIA has gathered data on Alzheimer’s trial failures from 1992 to 2018. In the past 10 years alone, more than 85 therapies have failed. Four were discontinued in 2018. Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Eli Lilly are among the companies that have seen prospective treatments fail since 2002. (Endpoints)
Novartis is considering pricing its gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy at between $1.5 million and $5 million per patient, according to CEO Vas Narasimhan. The treatment, Zolgensma, is set to be reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration next month. (Reuters)
