My colleagues @rowanwalrath.bsky.social and @sarahbraner.bsky.social dug into what we know about how alum and related adjuvants stimulate immunity and why MAHA regulators are going after them. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

In the past, the US Advisory Committee on Immunization practices used a detailed, scientific methodology to assess vaccine data before making a recommendation. Now that process “has completely been circumvented,” under RFK Jr. @rowanwalrath.bsky.social and I have the details for @cenmag.bsky.social.

Controversial US study on hepatitis B vaccines in Africa is cancelled. Story by @melodyschreiber.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

C&EN’s Weekly Newsletter has evolved. Meet C&EN Elements, redesigned to deliver the essential developments in chemistry across research, industry, and policy: connect.discoveracs.org/weeklynewsle... #chemsky 🧪

Discussions not deals on JPM day one: cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... @cenmag.bsky.social #chemsky #biosky

Copy Editing Matters, from HHS's release on the new childhood vaccine schedule: All the diseases will still be available to anyone who wants them

Congratulations to the amazing C&EN staff! As C&EN Advisory Board member, whose mission is to “provide insight, advice, and suggestions on how to best serve our audience and the world of chemistry”, I believe this is a good step toward a stronger magazine.

The new CDC schedule no longer universally recommends immunizations against meningitis, hepatitis A and B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rotavirus, COVID-19, and influenza. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

Long live c&en and everyone who brings us quality stories about chemistry

New year, new union! We’re forming @cenguild.bsky.social with @wbng.org so that everyone at C&EN—reporters, copy editors, production and operations staff, web and creative designers, multimedia producers, audience development—will have a voice in the direction of this magazine. ✊

new year, new union. heck yeah

New year, new unit! Workers at Chemical & Engineering News have formed a union with WBNG! Read more here: wbng.org/2026/01/05/w...

Happy New Years! Here's to making sure that everyone at C&EN---from reporters to copyeditors to production staff---has a voice in the direction of our magazine!

Behold: the first-ever list of news outlets that have banned generative AI in their reporting. As of today, this is literally information that you cannot find on Google. My goal is to fill the starter pack, so please send over suggestions with supporting evidence! go.bsky.app/8cn1XfT

Well that was 2025 in Pharma, and what a year it turned out to be

The FDA says more information about claims that Covid vaccines resulted in death - for children and adults - will be coming "soon." But experts say the delay has been "striking." My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

#ACIP Researched did, in fact, perform a randomized controlled trial when the FIRST hep B vaccine was approved in 1982. When an improved hep B was approved in 1986, researchers could not perform a placebo-controlled trial, because it would have been unethical to deny kids an effective vaccine.

In this episode of Inflection Point, we travel back in time to relive three historical moments that led to our understanding of antibiotic resistance. @rowanwalrath.bsky.social offers a glimpse into a future when antibiotics are no longer effective. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... #chemsky 🧪

So, remember that MAHA summit 2 weeks ago that @statnews.com broke the news of and @maxkozlov.bsky.social somehow got into for Nature, even though it was closed to the press? The organizers posted the entire 6.5-hour conference proceedings to YouTube last week. cen.acs.org/policy/MAHA-...

Bitopertin was once a failed drug candidate gathering dust in Roche's portfolio. Thanks to work from Disc Medicine, FDA could soon approve it to treat a rare blood disorder. Read @rowanwalrath.bsky.social's excellent story in @cenmag.bsky.social.

How Disc Medicine rescued a discarded drug candidate cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... @cenmag.bsky.social

For the last 3 years, the story of the biotech financing environment has been much the same. Venture funding is slow, IPOs are few and far between. Mergers and acquisitions are beginning to pick up, but they tend to be smaller transactions: cen.acs.org/business/fin... #chemsky 🧪

PostEra, one of C&EN's #10StartupsToWatch, uses artificial intelligence and machine learning tools alongside medicinal chemistry to design new molecules. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... #chemsky 🧪

What does all this chaos at FDA mean for biotech and for patients? @matthewherper.bsky.social and I talked to experts, and have more on the drama between the drug and biologics center leaders — "We now have FDA "Mean Girls" burn books out in the open," a source said. www.statnews.com/2025/11/04/f...

BOSTON (AP) — Judges order the federal government to use contingency funds for SNAP food aid payments during the shutdown.

Looking for some mad science journalism this Halloween? Look no further than 🩻Spooky, scary skeletal editing🩻 (and more chilling chemistry news from @cenmag.bsky.social) cen.acs.org/synthesis/Sk...

All bears look sort of like people in bear suits. But sun bears look like something went wrong at the bear suit factory

After a whooping cough outbreak killed two infants, Louisiana health officials waited months to officially alert physicians or do public outreach. That's not the typical public health response. n.pr/4obRAo5

The fascinating backstory between how the first nine drug companies won priority review vouchers from Marty Makary’s FDA, an exclusive via @lizzylawrence.bsky.social for @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2025/10/24/h...

@rowanwalrath.bsky.social tried this herself back in March. It didn't go well then either cen.acs.org/physical-che...

Nobel-winning T regs have fueled a new class of immunology companies. cen.acs.org/people/nobel... @cenmag.bsky.social

Makary and this HHS seemed interested in going back to in person dispensing. this is a space to watch here…

Invivyd is launching a trial that will pit its COVID-prevention antibody head to head against mRNA vaccines investors.adagiotx.com/news-release...

Immunity researchers win the 2025 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi receive the prize for understanding how the immune system is kept in check. Read more: cen.acs.org/people/nobel... #chemsky #immunosky 🧪

And if you missed it, the recording and our recap is now live Huge thanks to Prachi Patel for her help behind the scenes #chemnobel

After months on administrative leave, four NIH directors have been fired. www.science.org/content/arti...

“It started in a pub in Ireland, like all good ideas.” @rowanwalrath.bsky.social talks to Jack O’Meara about his new #biotech start-up, Aerska, for @cenmag.bsky.social

New: The civil rights office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is moving to cut off Harvard University from future funding, a maneuver legal experts say could stymie healthcare and biomedical research. www.law360.com/healthcare-a...

2 weeks ago RFK's ACIP voted to change recommendations for Covid vaccines The CDC director has yet to sign off on them, so states aren't able to order vaccines through the vaccines for children program (which covers ~50% of kids) w/ @chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/09/30/c...

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that only people 65 and older and those with an underlying medical condition get updated COVID-19 vaccines. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... #chemsky 🧪

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted Sept. 18 to no longer recommend a combination vaccine that covers measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and varicella. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... #chemsky 🧪

It gets earlier every year... Next Wednesday, join me and an expert panel to discuss who might win the 2025 #ChemNobel. Free to attend. Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2025 Time: 2–3 PM ET Register here: lnkd.in/eD8cdWRS

Getting ready to watch the livestream; it seems to be starting a few minutes late. I can't promise a full live blog but will do my best to share major updates here (while @mileswgriffis.bsky.social and I also work on our write-up).

Senate HELP hearing with fired CDC Director Monarez and ex-CDC leader Debra Houry getting started. www.help.senate.gov/hearings/res...

Artur Mylin was unfazed when his friend called him in the middle of the night to tell him that the war had begun.

At next week’s meeting of the federal vaccine committee, the FDA plans to present data linking birth defects and deaths in children to the Covid vaccine With @by-cjewett.bsky.social (Gift article) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/h...

Kudos to the post for beating me to this. Finishing up a story on this today. Have been digging into the legality of situation & its scary that there aren't a lot of protections in place to stop presentation & actions on bad data like this that contradicts CDC info.

NEWS: Pretty wild exclusive from @arthurallen202.bsky.social -- Trump's team wants to abandon the whole FDA system of having outside experts review the evidence for new drugs and devices. They maintain releasing "complete response letters" is more transparent. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

The National Institutes of Health’s flagship long COVID initiative, RECOVER—short for Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery—has after a year of deliberation selected several drug candidates to test as treatments for the condition. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... @cenmag.bsky.social