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Health and biotech

Latest stories

Roxbury community health center gets $1 million funding to support substance use treatment

The Dimock Center is investing $1 million in federal funding to launch Boston’s first clinical stabilization program to help more men on their journey to sobriety.

Sleepwalking into a third COVID winter? Neither Healey nor Diehl have shared a plan for the pandemic.
Neither major party candidate for governor in Massachusetts has articulated their plans for how they might manage another surge, if elected.

Ginkgo Bioworks buys two small biotech companies
The acquisitions come as Ginkgo has expanded its work in cell and gene therapy, including by working with Cambridge-based Biogen and Moderna.

After years of increases, Massachusetts health insurance rates set to rise another 7.6 percent
The rate hike affects people who purchase plans on the state’s health insurance website.

Flagship startup Cellarity raises $121m for ‘entirely new approach to drug discovery’
The Somerville-based firm has big ambitions for its approach to finding drugs that help make diseased cells healthy.

Biomanufacturing plant planned for Billerica
The 22-acre site will be the latest in a series being built around the Boston-Cambridge biotech hub.

Featured stories

How a Boston doctor diagnosed the first US case of monkeypox

After a few days, the doctor noticed a telling change. The patient’s rash consisted of fluid-filled blisters that had a dent in the center. His rash looked like smallpox.

Once the ‘it’ supplement, vitamin D is losing its sparkle

Vitamin D supplements, regularly consumed by millions of Americans, have not held up to the considerable hype of warding off many common, dreaded diseases.

Right-wing groups hit Boston Children’s with barrage of threats over trans health program

A hostile online campaign has prompted the hospital to seek help from law enforcement.

This startup aims to delay menopause and prolong fertility with a new contraceptive

Oviva Therapeutics just raised $11.5 million to develop drugs based on the work of Mass. General researchers.
Biotech

Ginkgo Bioworks buys two small biotech companies

The acquisitions come as Ginkgo has expanded its work in cell and gene therapy, including by working with Cambridge-based Biogen and Moderna.

Flagship startup Cellarity raises $121m for ‘entirely new approach to drug discovery’

The Somerville-based firm has big ambitions for its approach to finding drugs that help make diseased cells healthy.

Biomanufacturing plant planned for Billerica

The 22-acre site will be the latest in a series being built around the Boston-Cambridge biotech hub.
Lifestyle

Zuckerberg, Chan want new Harvard institute to answer questions about the brain, AI

The billionaire philanthropists were in Boston to celebrate the launch of the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence, which will focus on human neural networks and AI systems.

Health panel recommends anxiety screening for all adults younger than 65

A panel of medical experts Tuesday recommended for the first time that doctors screen all adult patients younger than 65 for anxiety, guidance that highlights the extraordinary stress levels that have plagued the United States since the start of the pandemic.

US adults should get routine anxiety screening, panel says

It’s the first time the US Preventive Services Task Force has recommended anxiety screening in primary care for adults without symptoms.
Spotlight

How Brigham Health helped create a Chinese hospital for elites — and almost nobody came

In a deal worth millions with Chinese developer Evergrande, a Harvard teaching hospital risked its reputation on what would become a near-empty shell.

Boston’s hospital chiefs moonlight on corporate boards at rates far beyond the national level

Hospital chiefs and trustees defend this as boosting public-private partnerships, but critics say these board positions — some paying millions of dollars — raise troubling issues of conflict of interest and hospital priorities.

More biotech and health care stories

One mother’s healing walk brings marginalized communities together for environmental justice

One week before Indigenous People’s Day, Judith Foster held her first major walk and environmental program since the pandemic

New nasal spray vaccines might reduce COVID infections, but the money is still missing

New nasal spray vaccines might reduce COVID infections and cut off transmission, but data supporting the approach, and funding for clinical trials, is scant.

Brie, Camembert cheeses recalled after listeria cases in multiple states, including Massachusetts

Old Europe Cheese distributes products to supermarkets and grocery stores across the country, including Shaw’s, Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, and Market Basket, the company’s statement said.

Children’s winter viruses strike early, filling ICUs

The viruses of winter arrived early this year, and hospitals and doctor’s offices are filling up with sniffling and coughing children.

BEYOND ROE

On abortion, intimidation is in the eye of the beholder

Conservatives want a 1994 law protecting reproductive health care providers to protect antiabortion pregnancy centers too.

HOMELESSNESS

Could an Olmstead plan solve part of R.I.’s homeless problem?

Rhode Island is one of just seven states with no plan in place to help homeless residents who struggle with disabilities, addiction, and other issues. Advocates are pushing the governor to create one.

Price of Cambridge biotech’s new ALS drug criticized by watchdog group

It says the $158,000 annual cost per patient isn’t justified, based on the medicine’s effectiveness.

Cambridge biotech wins approval for much-debated ALS drug

The closely watched drug, called Relyvrio, was developed by Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, a biotech founded in 2013 by two Brown University graduates.