All posts tagged "Biotechnology"

New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill that would make it the third state to legalize “magic mushrooms.” Under the legislation, anyone 21 and older could consume or grow the mushrooms for medical or recreational purposes. The bill would also expunge past and pending offenses involving the psychedelic drug. The bill comes as Hackensack Meridian, one of the state’s largest healthcare providers, and U.K. biotechnology company Compass Pathways partnered to research a synthetic psilocybin treatment, according to NorthJersey.com. The state health department would oversee licenses for facilities......

PHILADELPHIA — A new drug designed to ward off Alzheimer's is being tested at more than 100 sites around the world, including the University of Pennsylvania. Called lecanemab, it consists of antibodies that bind to the abnormal proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. Previous efforts to target these proteins have resulted in little to no improvement in patient symptoms, for reasons that remain poorly understood. Researchers hope the new drug will be more effective because it is given earlier in the course of disease, before brain function has started to decline. Can ......

Washington (AFP) - US federal prosecutors are seeking a 15-year jail term for Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and want her to pay more than $800 million to investors defrauded by her blood-testing startup, according to a court filing. "The government recommends the Court sentence the defendant to 180 months in custody and order her to pay $803,840,309 in restitution," said a court filing submitted Friday by US attorney Stephanie Hinds. The toughly worded filing said Holmes had been "blinded by... ambition," and that "her reality-distortion field put, and will continue to put, people in harm’......

Pfizer’s two omicron-focused booster vaccines massively improve a person’s immune response against the COVID variant, the company said Saturday. Across clinical trials involving more than 1,200 people, Pfizer tried two different omicron boosters: one focused solely on the omicron variant (called a monovalent vaccine) and one that used Pfizer’s initial vaccine but tweaked it to also combat omicron (called bivalent). The monovalent booster increased immune response between 13- and 19-fold, a massive increase that varied based on the dose size. The bivalent shot boosted immune response between 9-......

San Francisco (AFP) - Fallen US biotech star Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on Monday of defrauding investors in her blood-testing startup Theranos, in a high-profile case seen as an indictment of Silicon Valley culture. Holmes is a rare example of a tech exec being brought to book over a company flaming out, in a sector littered with the carcasses of money-losing companies that once promised untold riches. Her case shone a spotlight on the blurred line between the hustle that characterizes the industry and outright criminal dishonesty. Jurors took seven days of deliberations to reach their ve......

President-elect Joe Biden’s goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans during his first 100 days in office got a seal of approval from the country’s top infectious disease expert on Sunday. “The feasibility of his goal is absolutely clear, there’s no doubt about it,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He also voiced approval for steps Biden has outlined. The president-elect promised Friday to boost vaccine production and distribution as the coronavirus outbreak continues to rage. “What the president-elect is ......