ScioScientific LLC

12/14/2025

Cancer‑detection biotech Freenome is planning to go public through a S**C deal as it pushes forward with blood‑based tests that aim to detect cancer early, potentially transforming how we screen for the disease and catch it when treatment can be most effective. Read more on this.

Freenome, a Bay Area biotech that is part of the increasingly competitive race to accurately detect cancer early through blood-based tests, plans to go public.

12/13/2025

The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel has voted to overturn a 30‑year‑old hepatitis B vaccination policy, ending the long‑standing recommendation to give the first dose at birth. Supporters say it could reduce immediate vaccine reactions, but many public‑health experts worry this change could lead to more preventable infections.
It’s a big shift in immunization policy with real implications for families and public health. Here's more on this.

The CDC's ACIP panel voted to recommend delaying the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, ending a policy that has reined in the virus.

12/12/2025

The FDA’s top vaccine regulator, Vinay Prasad, is defending his controversial vaccine policy changes and pushing back against critics, saying misleading media narratives have fueled much of the backlash, even as former FDA leaders and public health experts raise serious concerns.
This highlights the ongoing debate around how we balance vaccine safety, science, and public trust. Read more on this.

https://www.statnews.com/2025/12/04/vinay-prasad-fda-defends-vaccine-plan-blames-false-narratives/

12/11/2025

A new report highlights how a simple medical procedure, drawing blood — can reflect deeper racial bias in healthcare. Black patients are more likely than white patients to be labeled as “hard sticks,” which can affect how they’re treated and the care they receive.
It’s a powerful reminder that bias in medicine isn’t just abstract, it shows up in everyday clinical care. We need to listen, learn, and push for equity at every level of health care. Read more on this.

Even seemingly small bias-driven assumptions erode trust in health care.

12/09/2025

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is ending its nationwide dialysis-payment experiment, the ESRD Treatment Choices Model (ETC) two years early.
The trial, meant to encourage more home dialysis and transplants, didn’t show the improvements needed to justify continuing.
This will have major implications for patients, providers, and the future of kidney-disease care. Here's more on this.

CMS to end historic dialysis payment experiment two years early after the trial failed to show improvements

12/08/2025

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cuts its smoking-prevention programs, it’s not just budgets or agencies that suffer but real people and communities. Teens in Raze, a youth anti-to***co initiative in West Virginia, lost a key support system when funding ended this year. The shutdown of prevention programs and quit-lines threatens to reverse decades of progress against to***co use. We need renewed commitment to protecting public health, especially for vulnerable youth. Here's more on this. ***coPrevention

What West Virginia teens lost when CDC cuts ended their fight against Big To***co.

12/07/2025

Big update from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as the agency may soon approve medical products based on just one clinical trial instead of the usual two. That could speed up access to new treatments, but also raises questions about long-term safety and how much we can know from fewer trials. Read more on this.

The FDA plans to begin requiring one clinical study, instead of the standard two, for medical products before consideration for approval.

12/05/2025

Big shake-up at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as longtime head of its over-the-counter drug office, Theresa Michele, has been reassigned to a new leadership role in the medical-devices division, as the agency restructures its approach to nonprescription medications.

This move comes amid growing pressure to speed access to affordable medicines, and it signals major changes ahead for the regulation of OTC drugs. Read more on this.

The move comes a day after Richard Pazdur, a top FDA official and Michele’s boss, announced his decision to retire.

12/04/2025

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is reviewing new data on Hepatitis B shots, a reminder of how important continuous vaccine evaluation is for public health and trust. As vaccines evolve, so must our commitment to transparency, safety, and the well-being of communities everywhere. Here's more on this.

Delaying the timing of vaccinating infants against hepatitis B — which ACIP could vote on later this week — would likely lead to more chronic infections in kids.

12/03/2025

Today we recognize the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, a reminder that inclusion isn’t just a value, it’s a responsibility. Every person deserves access, dignity, and the freedom to thrive. Let’s keep pushing for a world where everyone is seen, supported, and empowered.

12/03/2025

Big changes at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s direction. The agency has altered its website to question its long-held position that vaccines don’t cause autism.

This shift, coming despite decades of evidence showing no link has sparked concern among public-health experts about the impact on trust in vaccines. Read more on this.

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., personally ordered the Centers for Disease Control to alter language on a webpage that said vaccines do not cause autism, he told The New York Times in an interview Thursday.

12/01/2025

Advocates are calling on South Africa to issue a compulsory license for Gilead’s HIV prevention drug, lenacapavir, after the U.S. refused to include the country in a major distribution deal. They argue that leaving South Africa out undermines global HIV‑prevention efforts and that affordable access to breakthrough treatments shouldn’t be limited by politics. Read more on this.

Patient advocacy groups urged the South African government to issue a compulsory license for a groundbreaking HIV prevention treatment.