Healthcare & Laboratory News

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The New York Times (6/18, Mandavilli) reports the FDA “on Wednesday approved a twice-yearly injection that provided a near-perfect shield against H.I.V. infection in clinical trials.” Lenacapavir, which is set to be marketed as Yeztugio, is the second long-acting option for HIV prevention. Reuters (6/18, Beasley, Steenhuysen) reports, “Lenacapavir, part of a class of drugs known as capsid inhibitors, proved nearly 100% effective at preventing HIV in large trials last year, raising new hope of interrupting transmission of the virus that infects 1.3 million people a year.” The AP (6/18, Neergaard) reports that lenacapavir’s “six-month protection makes it the longest-lasting type, an option that could attract people wary of more frequent doctor visits or stigma from daily pills.”

The Hill (6/18, Udasin) reports a study published Wednesday in PLOS Climate suggests that “wildfire-induced declines in air quality have led to a substantial surge in indoor activities, creating prime conditions for the transmission of respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 and the flu.” The researchers analyzed “air quality data for particularly hard-hit counties in Oregon and Washington from July through November 2020.” They were able to “model indoor and outdoor activity patterns by acquiring records from a mobile phone database that tracks user visits to more than 4.6 million points of interest nationwide.” They observed that “increased indoor activity significantly impacted disease spread, with that effect decreasing with illnesses that have a longer generation time – the time between a primary case infection and the development of secondary cases.” For diseases with generation times of less than one week, such as COVID-19 and influenza, the authors identified “a notable increase in relative peak incidence.”

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CBS News (6/19, Breen) reports the FDA posted an alert Wednesday notifying that Medtech Products Inc. “voluntarily issued” a recall for their children’s cough syrup brand Little Remedies “due to the presence of Bacillus cereus, which can cause two types of food-borne illnesses, and loss of shelf-stability.” The product, “Little Remedies Honey Cough Syrup,” was distributed nationwide in retailers and online from Dec. 14, 2022 through June 4, 2025. The FDA noted no serious adverse events have so far been reported. The Hill (6/19, Simeon) also provides coverage.

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CBS News (6/17, Tin) reports the CDC said in its weekly update Friday that “at least 3% of measles cases confirmed so far this year have been in people who received two doses of the measles vaccine.” According to the agency, “about three dozen of the nearly 1,200 measles infections in 2025 have been in people with two vaccine doses,” and an “additional 2% of cases were in people who received at least one dose of the measles vaccine. Many of the cases were in Texas, which on Tuesday counted a 21st confirmed measles case in someone with at least two doses of the vaccine.”

Reuters (6/16, Palyekar, Santhosh, Singh, Roy) reports Eli Lilly will purchase “gene-editing startup Verve Therapeutics for up to $1.3 billion, the companies said on Tuesday, accelerating a push into experimental cardiovascular therapies.” The companies had partnered “to develop one-time, gene-editing therapies to reduce high cholesterol in people with heart disease, as part of Lilly’s efforts to look beyond its blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs for growth.” Verve’s therapies, “which are in early-stage trials, use a form of gene editing known as base editing that causes one-time changes to patients’ DNA.” Its lead therapy “targets a gene called PCSK9 that is linked to cholesterol levels and cardiovascular health and is expected to be launched in the next decade.” The deal “includes an upfront payment of almost $1 billion and a further $300 million based on Verve achieving certain clinical milestones.”

Medscape (6/17, Splete, Subscription Publication) reports new data published in Emerging Infectious Diseases found that “norovirus GII.17 accounted for 75% of outbreaks in the US in the 2024-2025 season, outpacing outbreaks caused by the GII.4 norovirus.” Data indicate that “norovirus GII.17 accounted for < 10% of outbreaks in the US 2022-23 season, but rose to 75% during the 2024-25 season, passing the number of GII.4 outbreaks.” In addition, “norovirus activity peaked earlier in 2024-25 (accompanying the rise in GII.17) compared to previous seasons. The 2024-25 season peaked in January 2025, vs peak periods in February 2023 and March 2024 when GII.4 still dominated.” The researchers also “observed no regional differences in the distribution patterns of the GII.4 or GII.17 outbreaks.”