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The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced the launch of its first-ever list of priority pediatric formulations for antibiotics, part of an effort to spur more research and development geared toward the needs of infants and children. (Schnirring, 3/28)

Most patients admitted to hospitals with acute viral infections are given antibiotics as a precaution against bacterial co-infection, but this practice may not improve survival, new research suggests. Researchers investigated the impact of antibiotic use on survival in more than 2,100 patients in a hospital in Norway between 2017 and 2021 and found that giving antibiotics to people with common respiratory infections was unlikely to lower the risk of death within 30 days. (Grover, 3/24)

By choosing antibodies from the plasma of a wide range of recovered COVID-19 patients, Brii Biosciences hoped to score big with a treatment that would stand up to coronavirus variants. (Dunleavy, 3/24)

Drugs that combat obesity could for the first time be included on the World Health Organization's "essential medicines list," used to guide government purchasing decisions in low- and middle-income countries, the U.N. agency told Reuters. A panel of advisers to the WHO will review new requests for drugs to be included next month, with an updated essential medicines list due in September. (Rigby, 3/29)

Sanofi's asthma drug Dupixent met all targets in a trial to treat "smoker's lung", potentially adding billions to the French drugmaker's growth prospects, but also underscoring a heavy reliance on its bestseller. In a late stage trial Dupixent, jointly developed with Regeneron (REGN.O), led to a 30% reduction in moderate or severe acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a potentially deadly disease marked by progressive lung function decline. (Burger and Babu, 3/23)