Cochrane Recommends Antidepressants for Anxiety in a Garbage in, Garbage out Review + More
Source: Children’s Health Defense
Cochrane Recommends Antidepressants for Anxiety in a Garbage in, Garbage out Review
In early 2025, Cochrane published a seriously flawed review of antidepressants for generalized anxiety disorder. The review was praised in the BMJ by journalist Jacqui Wise under the headline, “Antidepressants are effective for managing anxiety, finds Cochrane review,” which looks like the title of a press release from a drug company.
Wise allowed the Cochrane authors to praise themselves, their review and the drugs. The senior author, Giuseppe Guaiana, said that their research showed that the drugs are “highly effective” at treating generalised anxiety disorder.
This is totally false. All studies reported change in symptom levels on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale. The drugs were better than placebo, mean difference -2.79 (95% confidence interval -3.49 to -2.08). But a difference is only a difference if it makes a difference, which wasn’t the case. The possible scores go from zero to 56. For comparison, the effect of depression drugs on depression is 2 on the Hamilton Depression Scale, which goes from zero to 53, and the least clinically detectable difference to placebo is 5-6.6.
Michigan Health Officials Reaffirm COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance for Infants, Pregnant Individuals
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone six months and older, including during pregnancy, despite recent federal guidance suggesting changes for healthy children and pregnant individuals.
The department’s recommendation aligns with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, citing research that shows vaccination during pregnancy can reduce COVID-19-related hospitalizations for infants by more than 50% in their first three months.
“There is strong evidence that supports COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy and for pediatric patients,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical executive. “Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that children under 6 months of age are at the highest risk for hospitalization, and that more than 40% of those hospitalized had no underlying conditions.”
Poll: While Most Adults Do Not Expect to Get a COVID-19 Shot This Fall, Those Who Want One Worry About Access and Insurance Coverage
As federal vaccine policy changes, most (59%) adults do not expect to get a COVID-19 vaccine this fall, while four in 10 (40%) say that they will “definitely” or “probably” get the shot, a new KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust finds.
The groups most likely to say they will “probably” or “definitely” get the vaccine this fall include older adults (55%) and Democrats (70%). In contrast, most Republicans say they won’t get the shot, including 59% who say they will “definitely not” get the vaccine.
Among those who plan to get the shot, two-thirds (66%) say they are concerned the vaccine won’t be available to them, and a similar share of those with insurance (62%) are concerned their insurance won’t cover the cost.
The poll comes after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s announcement this spring that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would no longer recommend the vaccine for healthy children or pregnant women, and the CDC subsequently recommended shared decision-making between parents and doctors.
Doctor Reveals the Secret Weapon Against Growing Vaccine Skepticism Worldwide
Although it’s been more than five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting vaccine hesitancy still lingers to this day — something Professor Margie Danchin is committed to helping solve.
A pediatrician at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, Danchin is also a vaccine expert at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), also in Melbourne.
Her biggest focus, she told Fox News Digital, is fighting the erosion of vaccine confidence at a time when technology is advancing — and when the need for these advances to fight emerging (and re-emerging) childhood diseases is growing.
One prime example of this technology, according to Danchin, is the new maternal vaccination against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and the RSV monoclonal antibody treatment for newborns, called nirsevimab. These are new and effective weapons against an illness that is a leading global cause of infant pneumonia and hospitalization of newborns.
Trump Demands Pharma Companies Slash Drug Prices in Next 60 Days
President Trump sent letters on July 31 to 17 of the world’s largest drug companies, telling them to take more steps to slash the prices of prescription drugs to match the lowest price in certain foreign countries.
The letters represent an escalation of the administration’s push for lower drug prices by launching a “most favored nation” model, which ties the prices of prescription medicines in the U.S. to the lowest found among comparably wealthy nations.
Trump demanded the companies immediately cut the prices they charge Medicaid patients for existing drugs and stipulate that they will not charge Americans more than prices offered overseas for new drugs.
Pandemic Darlings Moderna, BioNTech Are Now on Two Different Paths
The COVID-19 pandemic turned Moderna and BioNTech into household names almost overnight. Now the two companies are on different paths. Both Moderna and BioNTech helped pioneer mRNA, or messenger RNA, technology. Moderna staked its entire identity around mRNA, while BioNTech saw it as one piece of a broader portfolio focused on immunology and oncology.
The pandemic gave both companies a chance to prove mRNA’s promise of using the body’s own immune system to protect against viruses or treat diseases.
COVID-19 vaccines have generated roughly $45 billion in sales for each company, earning them each about $20 billion since their rollout in late 2020. But despite parallel booms after the pandemic, the vaccine makers have since taken their businesses in different directions — and Wall Street has noticed.
Merck to Cut Jobs and Costs as Demand for Gardasil in China Remains Weak
Drugmaker Merck & Co on July 29 announced job and cost cuts it said will save $3 billion a year as it posted lower second-quarter results due to continuing weak demand for its Gardasil vaccine in China.
The company said the cost cuts include $1.7 billion in annual savings from the elimination of certain administrative, sales and R&D positions. It also plans to reduce its global real estate footprint and optimize its manufacturing network.
Chief Executive Rob Davis said in a press release that the moves “will redirect investment and resources from more mature areas of our business to our burgeoning array of new growth drivers.” The company expects to achieve the full $3 billion in annual savings by the end of 2027.
