Author's posts
Quick-acting male birth control drug shows promise in the lab
The research may yield birth control that men could take just before sex, a new paradigm in the decades-long quest to develop better male contraceptives.
I wrote about high-priced drugs for years. Then my toddler needed one.
Despite being a health and science reporter, I still got lost when my son got sick as I frantically tried to get insurance approval for a drug that would help him.
FDA advisers favor retiring original covid shot and using newer version
The original coronavirus shot would be retired in favor of one that targets both the original strain of the coronavirus and the omicron variant.
Antibody drugs could target infectious diseases — if costs come down
A steady stream of promising studies have identified antibody drugs that could prevent malaria, treat a hemorrhagic fever called Lassa or block Zika.
How China’s vaccine strategy stoked its looming ‘zero covid’ crisis
The nation’s “zero covid” restrictions have created a crisis for a country with large numbers of older, vulnerable people who have never had a booster shot.
Moderna says new booster increases protection against omicron subvariants
Moderna’s omicron-targeted booster shot, which became available in September, increased the levels of antibodies that block the BA.5 coronavirus subvariant.
Pfizer says new booster shot increases omicron-fighting antibodies
Questions persist about the vaccine’s continued effectiveness against a swarm of later-generation versions of omicron.
Pfizer’s RSV vaccine, given during pregnancy, protects infants from severe illness
Pfizer plans to apply for approval of its RSV vaccine by year’s end, in hopes a vaccine could be available before next year’s respiratory-illness season.
A new tool to help prevent malaria shows promise: Antibody drugs
A trial in Mali showed for the first time that an antibody drug can be used to prevent malaria, a disease that kills more than half-a-million people each year.
What you need to know about covid boosters and the latest research
Two new studies suggest that rebooted coronavirus booster shots that were updated to match two omicron subvariants are not superior to the old boosters.
