Medical countermeasures for national security: a new government role in the pharmaceuticalization of society

How do governments contribute to the pharmaceuticalization of society? Whilst the pivotal role of industry is extensively documented, this article shows that governments too are accelerating, intensifying and opening up new trajectories of pharmaceuticalization in society. Governments are becoming more deeply invested in pharmaceuticals because their national security strategies now aspire to defend populations against health-based threats like bioterrorism and pandemics. To counter those threats, governments are acquiring and stockpiling a panoply of ‘medical countermeasures’ such as antivirals, next-generation vaccines, antibiotics and anti-toxins. More than that, governments are actively incentivizing the development of many new medical countermeasures – principally by marshaling the state's unique powers to introduce exceptional measures in the name of protecting national security. At least five extraordinary policy interventions have been introduced by governments with the aim of stimulating the commercial development of novel medical countermeasures: (1) allocating earmarked public funds, (2) granting comprehensive legal protections to pharmaceutical companies against injury compensation claims, (3) introducing bespoke pathways for regulatory approval, (4) instantiating extraordinary emergency use procedures allowing for the use of unapproved medicines, and (5) designing innovative logistical distribution systems for mass drug administration outside of clinical settings. Those combined efforts, the article argues, are spawning a new, government-led and quite exceptional medical countermeasure regime operating beyond the conventional boundaries of pharmaceutical development and regulation. In the first comprehensive analysis of the pharmaceuticalization dynamics at play in national security policy, this article unearths the detailed array of policy interventions through which governments too are becoming more deeply imbricated in the pharmaceuticalization of society

Medical countermeasures for national security: a new government role in the pharmaceuticalization of society

How do governments contribute to the pharmaceuticalization of society? Whilst the pivotal role of industry is extensively documented, this article shows that governments too are accelerating, intensifying and opening up new trajectories of pharmaceuticalization in society. Governments are becoming more deeply invested in pharmaceuticals because their national security strategies now aspire to defend populations against health-based threats like bioterrorism and pandemics. To counter those threats, governments are acquiring and stockpiling a panoply of ‘medical countermeasures’ such as antivirals, next-generation vaccines, antibiotics and anti-toxins. More than that, governments are actively incentivizing the development of many new medical countermeasures – principally by marshaling the state's unique powers to introduce exceptional measures in the name of protecting national security. At least five extraordinary policy interventions have been introduced by governments with the aim of stimulating the commercial development of novel medical countermeasures: (1) allocating earmarked public funds, (2) granting comprehensive legal protections to pharmaceutical companies against injury compensation claims, (3) introducing bespoke pathways for regulatory approval, (4) instantiating extraordinary emergency use procedures allowing for the use of unapproved medicines, and (5) designing innovative logistical distribution systems for mass drug administration outside of clinical settings. Those combined efforts, the article argues, are spawning a new, government-led and quite exceptional medical countermeasure regime operating beyond the conventional boundaries of pharmaceutical development and regulation. In the first comprehensive analysis of the pharmaceuticalization dynamics at play in national security policy, this article unearths the detailed array of policy interventions through which governments too are becoming more deeply imbricated in the pharmaceuticalization of society

Inhibition of the Progesterone Nuclear Receptor during the Bone Linear Growth Phase Increases Peak Bone Mass in Female Mice

Augmentation of the peak bone mass (PBM) may be one of the most effective interventions to reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis later in life; however treatments to augment PBM are currently limited. Our study evaluated whether a greater PBM could be achieved either in the progesterone nuclear receptor knockout mice (PRKO) or by using a nuclear progesterone receptor (nPR) antagonist, RU486 in mice. Compared to their wild type (WT) littermates the female PRKO mice developed significantly higher cancellous and cortical mass in the distal femurs, and this was associated with increased bone formation. The high bone mass phenotype was partially reproduced by administering RU486 in female WT mice from 1–3 months of age. Our results suggest that the inhibition of the nPR during the rapid bone growth period (1–3 months) increases osteogenesis, which results in acquisition of higher bone mass. Our findings suggest a crucial role for progesterone signaling in bone acquisition and inhibition of the nPR as a novel approach to augment bone mass, which may have the potential to reduce the burden of osteoporosis

Search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

A search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks is performed in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The analyzed data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The signal is characterized by a large missing transverse momentum recoiling against a bottom quark-antiquark system that has a large Lorentz boost. The number of events observed in the data is consistent with the standard model background prediction. Results are interpreted in terms of limits both on parameters of the type-2 two-Higgs doublet model extended by an additional light pseudoscalar boson a (2HDM+a) and on parameters of a baryonic Z simplified model. The 2HDM+a model is tested experimentally for the first time. For the baryonic Z model, the presented results constitute the most stringent constraints to date.Peer reviewe

A Deep Neural Network for Simultaneous Estimation of b Jet Energy and Resolution

We describe a method to obtain point and dispersion estimates for the energies of jets arising from b quarks produced in proton-proton collisions at an energy of s = 13 TeV at the CERN LHC. The algorithm is trained on a large sample of simulated b jets and validated on data recorded by the CMS detector in 2017 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41 fb - 1 . A multivariate regression algorithm based on a deep feed-forward neural network employs jet composition and shape information, and the properties of reconstructed secondary vertices associated with the jet. The results of the algorithm are used to improve the sensitivity of analyses that make use of b jets in the final state, such as the observation of Higgs boson decay to b b ¯

Search for strongly interacting massive particles generating trackless jets in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV

A search for dark matter in the form of strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs) using the CMS detector at the LHC is presented. The SIMPs would be produced in pairs that manifest themselves as pairs of jets without tracks. The energy fraction of jets carried by charged particles is used as a key discriminator to suppress efficiently the large multijet background, and the remaining background is estimated directly from data. The search is performed using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 16.1 fb - 1 , collected with the CMS detector in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected background. For the simplified dark matter model under consideration, SIMPs with masses up to 100 GeV are excluded and further sensitivity is explored towards higher masses

Evidence for Top Quark Production in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

Peer reviewe

Observation of the B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi Decay

Using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment in 2016-2018, the B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi decay is observed. Decays into J/psi pi(+)pi(-) and K+K- are used to reconstruct, respectively, the X(3872) and phi. The ratio of the product of branching fractions B[B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi]B[X(3872) -> J/psi pi(+)pi(-)] to the product B[B-s(0) ->psi(2S)phi]B[psi(2S) -> J/psi pi(+)pi(-)] is measured to be [2.21 +/- 0.29(stat) +/- 0.17(syst)]%. The ratio B[B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi]/B[B-0 -> X(3872)K-0] is found to be consistent with one, while the ratio B[B-s(0) -> X(3872)phi]/B[B+-> X(3872)K+] is two times smaller. This suggests a difference in the production dynamics of the X(3872) in B-0 and B(0)s meson decays compared to B+. The reported observation may shed new light on the nature of the X(3872) particle.Peer reviewe