Top Pharma News in October

Pharma’s Impact on Children Drives Media Conversation in October.

Fullintel Hub is a powerful online tool that allows users to find out the trending/popular content in various media channels. For instance, this tool tracked the trending news in the pharmaceutical industry to provide users with metrics, including reach, sentiment and trending score.

The pharma industry has seen tremendous growth recently, and the outlook continues to be positive for 2023. Although the industry has seen significant advances in the last decade to improve patients’ quality of life and enable everyone to live a healthy life, there has also been tremendous criticism.

Coverage surrounding the industry over the last month featured the following popular topics:

• FDA’s approval of Moderna’s new bivalent COVID booster for children
• AstraZeneca’s setback in its nasal spray trial
• The link between cough syrups manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals and children’s deaths

October’s Top Stories:

While the FDA approval of New Booster for Children drives Positive coverage, surprising news about a cough syrup and Child Fatality drives criticism

Although coverage in top-tier outlets and trade publications pertaining to the pharmaceutical industry concerned several minor news and topics over the last month, these three stories trended among the coverage.

These topics contributed to 4% of the pharmaceutical industry’s overall coverage.

The most negative story, although impacting a smaller audience, drove the highest trend rank and social engagements.

A Break-Down of Recent Trending Stories:

FDA’s Approval of Moderna’s New Bivalent COVID Booster for Children

The U.S. FDA has approved Moderna’s bivalent COVID-19 booster, which could be used for children as young as five. The Fullintel Hub recorded relevant features of this story from the date of approval (October 12, 2022). Although the sentiment of traditional coverage was primarily positive, social media users were angry over the approval and many even “laughed” at this milestone. The story’s coverage received the highest trending score of five on the day of approval, which then decreased to four on the following day. The coverage also trended on October 16 after industry experts shared their opinions on the approval.

AstraZeneca’s Setback in its Nasal Spray Trial

Fullintel Hub tracked coverage surrounding AstraZeneca’s setback in a phase 1 trial of its nasal COVID vaccine candidate. The coverage captured was predominantly negative and neutral in sentiment. The dominant facebook reaction was “laughter” over this setback, followed by some expression of sadness. The news trended on October 11 and 13, receiving a trending score of three.

The Link Between Cough Syrups Manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals and Children’s Deaths

On October 12, 2022, Indian health officials ordered Maiden Pharmaceuticals to halt production of cough syrups after these syrups were thought to be linked to the death of 70 children in Gambia. Indonesia also said that it has found traces of “hazardous” chemicals in cough syrups manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals. Fullintel Hub tracked the news surrounding the tragic incident, and a large share of coverage was negative in sentiment. The death of the children saddened and surprised the social media users. While the news only received a trending score of 1 between October 12 and 14, the story received the most social media engagement across the three highlighted stories this month.