Axios Boston

March 27, 2024
It's Wednesday. Let's hope that cold spell is behind us.
Today's weather: A little drizzly and foggy with temps in the mid-50s.
Situational Awareness: Steward Health Care plans to sell off its network of physicians to Optum in order to raise money for the rest of the faltering hospital chain.
- State officials say they will push the for-profit Steward to spend any proceeds on keeping hospitals open.
π½οΈ Member alert: All this week, you could win fun prizes and support local journalism when you become an Axios Boston member.
- Sign up today to be considered for a $100 gift card to Comfort Kitchen.
- And remember, existing members are automatically entered. Rules apply.
π Happy birthday to Axios Boston member Robert Stearns!
Today's newsletter is 902 words β a 3.5-minute read.
1 big thing: A Mass.-made COVID prevention drug
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
A Waltham company's new monoclonal antibody will soon hit shelves after getting the green light by the FDA, reports Axios' Jason Millman.
Why it matters: Invivyd's antibody Pemgarda could be a lifeline for people who are vulnerable to the coronavirus, including those with medical conditions or who are taking immunosuppressive medications that could make vaccines less effective.
Catch up quick: The FDA on Friday granted an emergency use authorization for Invivyd's antibody Pemgarda to help bolster immune defenses in immunocompromised patients 12 or older.
- The decision comes more than a year after the FDA pulled the last antibody, Evusheld, from the market because new variants had rendered it ineffective.
Zoom in: The therapy was authorized only as a preventive measure, not as a treatment for COVID-19 infection or protection for a recent exposure to an infected patient.
State of play: Invivyd CEO David Hering said Pemgarda will be "available for order imminently."
- The initial supply is already packaged and awaiting release from a logistic provider in the U.S., per the announcement.
- The company hasn't yet set a list price for the drug.
Flashback: Dartmouth College professor Tillman Gerngross launched the company, then called Adagio Therapeutics, in 2020 and took the company public a year later, per the Boston Business Journal.
- Gerngross left Adagio in 2022 after its previous drug failed to protect against mutated COVID-19 variants.
- The company rebranded and brought on Hering as CEO in October 2022.
- Invivyd's new drug candidate entered Phase 1 trials last March and within six months, launched Phase 3 trials.
Reality check: Pemgarda's popularity will depend on the listing price and awareness of the new drug.
- When Evusheld was available, limited awareness of the treatment meant it was often underused, even though an estimated 7-10 million Americans have weakened immune systems.
2. Patriot Front's explicit antisemitism
Members of The Patriot Front, a white supremacist group, finish their march through Boston in July 2022. Photo: Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald
Massachusetts was again one of the most active states for the Patriot Front as the Texas-based white supremacy group ramped up its use of antisemitic rhetoric, per a new report.
The big picture: White supremacist propaganda and events are on the rise nationwide, with members sharing racist, antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ+ materials, per a report released Tuesday by the American Defamation League's Center on Extremism.
- Their activity has stoked tensions at a time when people are already fiercely divided over the Israel-Hamas war and its impact on Palestinian civilians.
Between the lines: The Patriot Front veered away from explicit white supremacist language and antisemitic rhetoric in 2018, but the group started sharing propaganda last year that said "no Zionists in government," according to the ADL's HEAT Map data.
- The ADL says the message, alongside other inflammatory language, perpetuates the myth that Jewish people control the government, particularly the financial system.
- The antisemitic messaging started appearing in propaganda they shared in Spencer last February, and the group shared similar propaganda more than 50 times across Massachusetts.
State of play: Antisemitic incidents in Massachusetts more than doubled between 2022 and 2023, per the ADL's data.
- The ADL attributes the increase to the Patriot Front's return to using antisemitic rhetoric and the Oct. 7 attack in Israel by Hamas.
3. π Back that Mass. Up: $90K tuition, room and board
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
π°Wellesley College and Boston University are the first local colleges to charge more than $90,000 in annual student costs. (BBJ)
- Wellesley's 2024-25 cost: $92,060.
- BU's cost: $90,207.
Boston agreed to a $4.6 million settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the mother of Terrence Coleman, a mentally ill man who was shot and killed by police in 2016. (Boston Globe)
- The city will pay $3.4 million to Coleman's mother and estate, as well as another $1.2 million for her legal fees.
π» Two Harvard College students allegedly tried to steal a musician's fiddle from an Irish pub in Somerville last week. (Crimson)
- A video captured a violin bow falling out of one of the student's coats as they tried to leave the Irish pub in an Uber. The students weren't identified.
π± Electronic signs around Brookline, designed by the Cambridge startup Soofar, are collecting data from pedestrians' cellphones as they walk by. (Brookline.News)
The FDA is again trying to ban the use of electronic simulation devices, which are only used at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton. (Axios)
- The agency tried to ban it in 2020 but was overruled after Rotenberg successfully sued.
- Rotenberg said it would sue again if the FDA proceeds with the ban.
4. Members, win a Comfort Kitchen gift card
Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
We want to celebrate our members and bring some new ones into the fold this week.
- That's why we're offering our members, new and old, a chance to win a $100 gift card to Comfort Kitchen.
Why it matters: Becoming an Axios Boston member helps us secure more resources to cover the city we love.
- Plus, it gets you access to members-only emails and more.
All members are automatically entered.
π₯ Happy noshing, and thank you for your support!
Stay booked and busy
π Upcoming events around the city.
Peace Through Strength: National Security and the Role of The U.S. Submarine Force in the 21st Century at The JFK Museum and Library on April 15th: This panel discussion highlights the significance of the U.S. Submarine Force in today's global landscape.
Hosting an event? Email [email protected].
5. π Lunch spotlight
Hurt so good. Photo: Steph Solis/Axios
Steph here. I managed to get a $5 lunch in Boston the other week.
The meal: A buffalo chicken tender sandwich β chicken tenders, lettuce, onions and ranch on a brioche bun with fries β from Penguin Pizza at Brigham Circle.
- It was messy, but filling.
Penguin serves a $5 lunch special every day from 11am-3pm, including an Irish toastie on Wednesdays.
Caveat: Technically, the sandwich was a $7 lunch when you count the ginger ale I got (I had to order a drink at the bar).
- Still, the same meal downtown would have set me back $20.
Deehan watched Eraserhead for the first time in about 20 years and it's still freaky.
Steph wishes more places had $5 lunch specials.
This newsletter was edited by Jeff Weiner and copy edited by James Farrell.
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