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Hurricanes, Droughts, and Wildfires: How Biopharma is Girding for Climate Change

           

A runner tries to navigate a flooded section of sidewalk underneath the Longfellow Bridge in Cambridge, Mass.  Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe

statnews.com - by Kate Sheridan - February 15, 2019

. . . the potential risks of climate change — and the attendant increase in natural disasters — stand to outstrip any … incremental gains, as the companies described in recent risk assessment reports to the British nonprofit CDP.

Hurricanes and superstorms, power outages and flooding all threaten manufacturing facilities and research sites, particularly when animals are involved. Droughts, too, threaten critical water supplies. Forest fires, even if remote from a given plant or research facility, bring smoke and air pollution that can similarly disrupt the day-to-day work for drug makers and their supply chain . . .

. . . STAT surveyed the risk assessment plans for more than a dozen major pharmaceutical companies and spoke with officials at labs that survived extreme weather events and others who are planning to avoid their repercussions. All emphasized that the risks are already real — and underscored how hard the industry is working to prepare to meet the challenge.

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New, Rare Cell Type in Lung Airways Identified as Key Carrier of CFTR Gene, Study Reports

CLICK HERE - STUDY - A revised airway epithelial hierarchy includes CFTR-expressing ionocytes

cysticfibrosisnewstoday.com - by Patricia Inacio - August 3, 2018

A previously undiscovered and rare type of cell has been identified in the tissue lining the airway of the lungs and carrying high levels of the CFTR gene, the mutation of which is the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis (CF), a study reports.

While the exact role of these cells, named “ionocytes” by the researchers, in CF is still unknown, the findings from this study highlight their potential as targets for future therapeutics.

The study, “A revised airway epithelial hierarchy includes CFTR-expressing ionocytes,” was published in the journal Nature . . .

 . . . “The data are starting to change the way we think about lung diseases like cystic fibrosis and asthma” . . .

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

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China Has Withheld Samples of a Dangerous Flu Virus

           

Health workers attending to an H7N9 avian flu patient in Wuhan, China, in 2017. CreditCreditAgence France-Presse -- Getty Images

CLICK HERE - WHO - Pandemic influenza preparedness Framework for the sharing of influenza viruses and access to vaccines and other benefits (68 page .PDF document)

Despite an international agreement, U.S. health authorities still have not received H7N9 avian flu specimens from their Chinese counterparts.

nytimes.com - by Emily Baumgaertner - August 27, 2018

For over a year, the Chinese government has withheld lab samples of a rapidly evolving influenza virus from the United States — specimens needed to develop vaccines and treatments, according to federal health officials.

Despite persistent requests from government officials and research institutions, China has not provided samples of the dangerous virus, a type of bird flu called H7N9. In the past, such exchanges have been mostly routine under rules established by the World Health Organization.

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