On the 27th straight day of filming “Forrest Gump,” Tom Hanks was tired & worried.

During a scene on the famous park bench, Hanks stopped & said to director Bob Zemeckis,

“Hey, Bob…is anybody going to care about this movie? I don’t think anybody’s going to care.”

Bob replied,…

Biotech is entering the hard work phase of immuno-oncology - great conversation with Mathai Mammen on precision medicine, the pharma to biotech transition, and more. The BioCentury Show, via BioCentury. biocentury.com/article/647820…

A message about respectful transitions, personal and professional. linkedin.com/posts/mathai-m…

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Long Covid now affects an estimated 65 million people

Congratulations on another submission of an important potential medicine linkedin.com/posts/activity…

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A well done revisit of an old subject. theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

linkedin.com/posts/mathai-m…

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NEW: I’m not sure people appreciate quite how bad the Covid situation is in Hong Kong, nor what might be around the corner.

First, an astonishing chart.

After keeping Covid at bay for two years, Omicron has hit HK and New Zealand, but the outcomes could not be more different.

The real death toll from the pandemic is 3 to 5 times higher than what has been reported, and the excess mortality is especially pronounced among low and middle income countries nature
nature.com/articles/d4158…

In just a week, 6 new studies have now reported how T cells, induced from multiple vaccines or prior Covid, hold up quite well vs Omicron (i.e. they exhibit cross-reactivity), which should help protect vs severe disease

Great new data on omicron linkedin.com/posts/mathai-m…

I also explained this morning why JNJ is also a really good vaccine based on new data this AM. I felt like Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street, sitting Macy’s but also touting the benefits of Gimbel’s…if you know what I mean. Whatever helps humanity!

For Omicron wave in South Africa, 2-dose J&J vaccine effectiveness 85% (95% CI 54,95) vs hospitalization medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

Why does this bode well for Omicron?
Beta has the most immune escape of the variants of concern. The booster crushed it.
Not seen here, but established, is the augmented breadth of antibody response (binding more epitopes)
Please get a 3rd 💉 if it's time

Big (order of magnitude) 3rd shot impact of J&J or Pfizer vaccine after 2 doses of Pfizer for both neutralizing antibody and T-cell response vs Delta medrxiv.org/content/10.110… confirms powerful booster effect and extends to J&J, cellular immune response

We needed some good news for this vaccine. This is it.
No sign a booster vs Delta is necessary (study is limited by small number of participants)
Financial Times by Nikou Asgari

Just out NEJM
New data for J&J vaccine:
—High titers of neutralizing antibody to Delta variant, improvement in these levels seen over time
—The antibody and T cell response was durable for at lest 8 months
nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…

Today, we received FDA approval of a targeted unique bispecific therapy for patients with genetically defined metastatic #NSCLC . Thank you to the patients & the medical staff that partnered with us & our dedicated colleagues across Janssen! #lcsm prnewswire.com/news-releases/…