• Colorado: Despite 14 states enacting total abortion bans in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, the number of abortions in the United States continued to grow, according to the Society of Family Planning's WeCount project. In 2023, there were 86,000 abortions per month, compared to 82,000 per month in 2022. "We are seeing a slow and small steady increase in the number of abortions per month and this was completely surprising to us," said Ushma Upadhyay, a professor and public health scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, who helped lead the research. According to the researchers, a major factor behind this increase was the rise of telehealth. Currently, telehealth abortions make up 19% of all abortions in the United States. In comparison, telehealth abortions only made up 4% of abortions between April 2022 and August 2022. In addition, more than 40,000 people in states with abortion bans and telehealth restrictions received abortion medication from providers in states with shield laws. Shield laws protect providers from investigations for abortion-related crimes by authorities in other states. Rebecca Gomperts, director of Aid Access, said that shield laws are "extremely important because they make doctors and providers ... feel safe and protected. I hope what we will see in the end is that all the states that are not banning abortion will adopt shield laws." (Nadworny, "Shots," NPR, 5/14; Associated Press/MedPage Today, 5/14)
• District of Columbia: Earlier this month, Kendric Cromer, a 12-year-old boy, became the first person in the world to receive a commercially approved gene therapy for sickle cell disease. Late last year, FDA approved two companies' gene therapies for sickle cell disease. Currently, an estimated 100,000 people in the United States, most of whom are Black, have the disease, and around 20,000 may qualify for the new treatments. Cromer is the first commercial patient for Bluebird Bio, whose gene therapy is called Lyfgenia. The treatment, which is being covered by the Cromer family's health insurance, is expected to take months. "We always prayed this day would come," said Cromer's mother Deborah. However, she added, "We're nervous reading through the consents and what he will have to go through." (Kolata, New York Times, 5/7)
• Maryland: Earlier this month, Novavax signed a $1.2 billion licensing agreement with French drugmaker Sanofi. Under the agreement, Sanofi will market Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine, and the two companies will work together to develop combination vaccines that target both COVID-19 and the flu. Novavax will receive an upfront payment of $500 million, as well as up to $700 million if development, regulatory, and launch targets are met. Sanofi will also take a less than 5% stake in Novavax. "It really does help our business. It keeps us well capitalized, it takes the going concern off, it gives us the chance to pivot our strategy more towards what we're best at — to bring additional value to all of our stakeholders, including our shareholders," said Novavax CEO John Jacobs. "Through this agreement with a world leader like Sanofi, not only in commercialization but also in development, we believe that this multiplies immensely the opportunity to bring forth multiple new vaccines much more quickly." (Constantino, CNBC, 5/10; Bettelheim, Axios, 5/10; Joseph, STAT+ [subscription required], 5/10)

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