FDA panel endorses Merck’s COVID pill for high-risk adults
An expert committee on Tuesday voted to recommend that the Food and Drug Administration authorize a COVID pill from Merck for high-risk adults, the first in a new class of antiviral drugs that could work against a wide range of variants, including omicron. The drug, known as molnupiravir, has been shown to modestly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, predominantly from the delta, mu and gamma variants. The expert panel recommended it for COVID patients who are older or have medical conditions that make them vulnerable to severe illness. The pill could be authorized in the United States within days, and available by year’s end.
Meadows agrees to cooperate in Capitol attack investigation
Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff under President Donald Trump, has reached an agreement with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to provide documents and sit for a deposition, the panel said Tuesday. The change of stance for Meadows, who had previously refused to cooperate with the committee in line with a directive from Trump, came as the panel prepared to seek criminal contempt of Congress charges against a second witness who has defied one of its subpoenas. Meadows, a former Republican congressman from North Carolina, is the highest-ranking White House official to cooperate in any way with the inquiry.
El Chapo’s wife sentenced to 3 years in prison
Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of the notorious Mexican drug lord best known as El Chapo, was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison on charges of helping run her husband’s multibillion-dollar criminal empire and playing a role in his escape from custody after he was captured in 2014. Coronel, a former beauty queen who married El Chapo — whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán Loera — in 2007 on her 18th birthday, was arrested at Dulles International Airport near Washington in February, two years after her husband was convicted at a trial in New York City and sentenced to life in prison.
US expected to toughen testing requirement for travelers
The Biden administration is expected to take steps in the coming days to toughen testing requirements for international travelers to the U.S., including both vaccinated and unvaccinated people, amid the spread of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus. The precise testing protocols were still being finalized ahead of a speech by President Joe Biden planned for Thursday. Among the policies being considered is a requirement that all air travelers to the U.S. be tested for COVID-19 within a day of boarding their flight. Currently those who are fully vaccinated may present a test taken within three days of boarding.
Regeneron warns its treatment might be weaker against omicron
Regeneron said Tuesday that its COVID-19 antibody treatment might be less effective against the omicron variant of the coronavirus, an indication that the popular and widely beneficial monoclonal antibody drugs may need to be updated in case the new variant spreads aggressively. The company said that previous laboratory analyses and computer modeling of certain mutations in the omicron variant suggest that they may weaken the effect of the treatment. But studies using the variant’s full sequences have not been completed, it said. The company said that it had already been testing future antibody drug candidates. More data is expected in the coming month, it said.
US removes Colombia’s FARC rebel group from terrorist list
The State Department removed the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia from its list of foreign terrorist organizations Tuesday, as many of the group’s former commanders have turned to conventional politics after a decadeslong conflict. In a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the group, known as FARC, had “formally dissolved and disarmed” and “no longer exists as a unified organization that engages in terrorism or terrorist activity or has the capability or intent to do so.” The move is a sign of the Biden administration’s support for a fragile peace deal that the Colombian government signed with the FARC in November 2016.
ISIS fighter convicted in death of enslaved 5-year-old girl
A German court on Tuesday convicted an Islamic State fighter for crimes against humanity and war crimes for tying up a 5-year-old Yazidi girl he had bought as a slave in Iraq and leaving her in scorching heat to die of thirst. The 29-year-old man, identified only as Taha Al-J. under German privacy laws, was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to pay 50,000 euros (about $57,000) in compensation to the girl’s mother, who was a co-plaintiff in the case. It was the first genocide conviction of a fighter for the Islamic State group.
South African company nears license to sell COVID shot across Africa
South African drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare announced Tuesday that it was finalizing the first agreement to control production of a COVID-19 vaccine in Africa. The deal, with Johnson & Johnson, would allow Aspen to bottle and market the Johnson and Johnson vaccine across Africa. Aspen would then have the right to determine to whom the vaccine will be sold, in what quantities and at what price. This agreement stops short of giving Aspen rights to produce the drug substance. Instead, Johnson and Johnson will direct other facilities to make the ingredients to send to Aspen for the company to blend into vaccine doses.
CNN suspends Chris Cuomo for helping brother in scandal
CNN indefinitely suspended anchor Chris Cuomo on Tuesday after details emerged about how he helped his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to face charges of sexual harassment earlier this year. The network said documents released by New York’s attorney general Monday indicated Cuomo took a greater level of involvement in his brother’s efforts than CNN executives previously knew. “As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation,” the network said.