Pearl Freier

Pearl Freier

@pearlf.bsky.social

From Boston, MA. I'm @pearlf on the other blue-colored place. Founder of Cambridge BioPartners, Inc. I post mostly healthcare-related and biotech-related news items.

2.1K followers961 following1.3K posts

Pearl Freier reposted

Kristian G. Andersen
@kgandersen.bsky.social

Replying to @kgandersen.bsky.social

For those of us working in the ID field, more often than not, we would get our news on infectious disease events from Helen. Latest flu situation? Helen would be there to keep you updated. Ebola? Yup, that too - if it was relevant, she'd be there, always first, always informed, always insightful.

Pearl Freier reposted

Kristian G. Andersen
@kgandersen.bsky.social

This👇 is such a good example of how on top of her game Helen was. While she was keeping us all updated on Ebola, MERS, flu, and so many of all the other infectious diseases out there, she immediately grasped the gravity of the first warning sign of what we now remember as SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19.

Kristian G. Andersen@kgandersen.bsky.social

This is the worst news I have heard in a very long time - what a tragic loss. @helenbranswell.bsky.social was, unquestionably, _the_ best in the field and just a wonderful person. Condolences to her family and colleagues - she'll be sorely missed. www.statnews.com/2026/10/13/h...

statnews.comHelen Branswell, whose reporting on infectious diseases and public health drew acclaim, dies at 69Helen Branswell, STAT's infectious disease reporter who earned the respect of experts and public health officials with her accessible, prescient dispatches, has died at age 69.

Pearl Freier reposted

Jonathan Wosen
@jonathanwosen.bsky.social

Helen Branswell has been a shining example of truth-telling, decency, and rationality at a time when those qualities are in desperately short supply. We're all going to miss her at @statnews.com so much, and I know many others will, too. www.statnews.com/2026/10/13/h...

statnews.comHelen Branswell, whose reporting on infectious diseases and public health drew acclaim, dies at 69Helen Branswell, STAT's infectious disease reporter who earned the respect of experts and public health officials with her accessible, prescient dispatches, has died at age 69.

Pearl Freier reposted

Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves.bsky.social

This is really terrible news. Helen was one of the best. Helen Branswell, whose reporting on infectious diseases and public health drew acclaim, dies at 69 www.statnews.com/2026/10/13/h... via @statnews.com

statnews.comHelen Branswell, whose reporting on infectious diseases and public health drew acclaim, dies at 69Helen Branswell, STAT's infectious disease reporter who earned the respect of experts and public health officials with her accessible, prescient dispatches, has died at age 69.
Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

An important story by @pharmalot.bsky.social about the ongoing shortage of cancer medications at US cancer centers. Includes this problem: 2/3 of the cancer centers said drug shortages delay treatment "because they must again pursue prior authorization from insurers, the survey noted" #medsky

STAT@statnews.com

More than 20% of all cancer centers report shortages of five or more different medicines www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...

statnews.comCancer medicines remain in short supply across the U.S., survey findsAn ongoing shortage of cancer medications continues to force leading cancer centers around the U.S. to seek work-around strategies to treat patients and a
Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

Below is a photo of the Washington, DC-based single mom who has been reported missing since September 4. She's a long-time public affairs employee & was last seen in her neighborhood near the American University campus: #medsky 1/n

acdc25.bsky.social@acdc25.bsky.social

A family is now pleading for help from the public to help find Antoinette Forbes, 53, a single mother who has been missing for days. wjla.com/news/local/w...

wjla.comFamily pleads for public's help finding missing 53-year-old single mother last seen in DCA family is now pleading for help from the public to help find Antoinette Forbes, 53, a single mother who has been missing for days.Aileen Forbes is Antoinette'
Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

The “please vote for me to host a podcast” scam is still impacting physicians, biotech investors & scientists on X/Twitter. If you get this type of DM from someone you know on any of your social media accounts, the sender's account has probably been hacked. 1/n #medsky

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

And if you click on the link they sent you to “vote for me to host a podcast,” your account could be compromised too. Don’t click on links in DMs with random requests—even if the message appears to come from someone you know or follow

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

The “please vote for me to host a podcast” scam is still impacting physicians, biotech investors & scientists on X/Twitter. If you get this type of DM from someone you know on any of your social media accounts, the sender's account has probably been hacked. 1/n

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

And if you click on the link they sent you to “vote for me to host a podcast,” your account could be compromised too. Don’t click on links in DMs with random requests—even if the message appears to come from someone you know or follow.

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

More on "Herd's Law" in biopharma: The # of novel biological targets being tested each yr fell from ~100 in ’15 to only ~30 in ’24 said LEK analysis from 5/25 of preclinical & clinical biopharma pipeline worldwide. Pipeline nearly doubled from ~11,000 active drug programs in ’15 to ~21,000 in ’24.

Pearl Freier@pearlf.bsky.social

Schrödinger’s president of R&D K. Akinsanya compares today’s application of ML models to chemistry to “AI-enabled selfies in chemistry that parallel the Ghiblified selfies of people showing up all over social media,” since ML models are mostly generating molecules that “look like or are inspired 1/n

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

Schrödinger’s president of R&D K. Akinsanya compares today’s application of ML models to chemistry to “AI-enabled selfies in chemistry that parallel the Ghiblified selfies of people showing up all over social media,” since ML models are mostly generating molecules that “look like or are inspired 1/n

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

since ML models are mostly generating molecules that “look like or are inspired by the molecules we have made, against targets we have already worked on,” Schrodinger's president of R&D Karen Akinsanya said. Here's the LinkedIn post: www.linkedin.com/pulse/studio... 2/2 #biosky

linkedin.comStudio Ghibli, The Movies & Drug Discovery?What forty years of animated films and the rise of sequels have in common with drug discovery. Ponyo began our fandom My children were still in their single-digit years when we saw Ponyo.
Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

“The Bay Area is likely to remain ... the central location for the AI industry and for innovation. But as we’ve seen during past cycles, as it tends to grow, that spreads out to all the key markets,” Colin Yasukochi, executive dir of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center, said during a news conference Tues

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

"HRT, anti-infectives, pain meds etc are all difficult if not impossible to accurately model with human genetic data. I’m not arguing that animal models get it perfectly right (although for anti-infectives it’s pretty darned good) but I’d be hesitant to just make the blanket assumption that we can

Pearl Freier@pearlf.bsky.social

Former long-time pharma antibacterial discovery head Jennifer Leeds commented on the feasibility of eliminating animal models & cautioned against assuming that straightforward genetic features account for all of a drug’s pharmacological & toxicological effects: #biosky

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

Former long-time pharma antibacterial discovery head Jennifer Leeds commented on the feasibility of eliminating animal models & cautioned against assuming that straightforward genetic features account for all of a drug’s pharmacological & toxicological effects: #biosky

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

If genomic interpretation can become more widely availablw in minutes like below, it could help clinicians make more informed decisions at point of care: identifyinging drug metabolism differences, avoiding serious toxicities, selecting therapies & matching patients 2 clinical trials #medsky #biosky

Pearl Freier@pearlf.bsky.social

Stanford genetics & biomedical data sci prof & dept of medicine chair used Claude 2 analyze his genome. What took 9 mos & 30 ppl in '09—took 30 min, 400K tokens & cost $5 in '26. Used 180 word prompt. Fable was downgraded to Opus 4.8 due to "security" www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... #medsky #biosky

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

An important #medsky story below about declining patient privacy in the US:

Darius Tahir@dariustahir.bsky.social

RFK Jr. and his allies want to get huge numbers of medical records together -- eventually comprising most Americans -- so that they can pursue autism research. Public health leaders are balking. Amanda Seitz and I, @cnn.com: www.cnn.com/2026/06/04/h...

cnn.comRFK Jr. seeks to peek at Americans’ medical records for clues on autism and vaccines | CNNU.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pursuing federal government access to most Americans’ medical records, in a quest to research a link between vaccines and autism — a connection the medic...

Pearl Freier reposted

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦
@helenbranswell.bsky.social

An experimental #GSK drug achieved a functional cure for chronic #hepatitisB in 1 in 5 people treated in a pair of clinical trials, @statnews.com 's Drew Joseph reports. www.statnews.com/2026/05/28/h...

statnews.comExperimental hepatitis B treatment was a ‘functional cure’ for nearly 1 in 5, new data showAn experimental GSK drug helped 1 in 5 patients with chronic hepatitis B achieve what's known as a functional cure, vastly outpacing current treatments.

Pearl Freier reposted

Lisa Jarvis
@lisamjarvis.bsky.social

My latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com on the rapidly escalating Ebola outbreak--and why the US's decimation of USAID, cuts at CDC and exit from the WHO could make an already-tough situation worse (gift link):

bloomberg.comContaining Ebola Is Hard. The US Made It WorseA rapidly unfolding Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a reminder of the value of maintaining robust global disease surveillance and response systems — and the dire consequences of we...
Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

The US had a 48 hr response time during '22 Ebola outbreak in a city of 1 million on the Congo River h/t '23 essay by @agawande.bsky.social which looked at progress since '13. Compare this w/ HHS Secretary Kennedy's response on measles, hantavirus & now Ebola in '26. See link in the reply #medsky

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

See below for update on Ebola outbreak in DR Congo & Americans: #medsky

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@helenbranswell.bsky.social

The US government is working to extricate some Americans who had potentially problematic exposures to suspected #Ebola #Bundibugyo in DRC. But it won’t talk about it. When I and other journalists asked during a #CDC press conference, we got no answers. www.statnews.com/2026/05/17/i...

statnews.comIn Ebola outbreak, a number of Americans in the Congo believed to have had exposure to suspected casesA number of Americans who are in the Congo are believed to have had exposure to suspected cases in the country’s latest Ebola outbreak, sources have told STAT.
Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

On rumors that Americans were exposed to Ebola, @jeremyfaust.bsky.social substack said HHS Secretary's CDC team during media briefing 5/17 wasn't able to confirm or deny high risk exposures #medsky. Q's re: unconfirmed reports about "3 potential high-risk exposures & 1 symptomatic patient." 1/n

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

Here's a link to @jeremyfaust.bsky.social's substack post about the emergency CDC briefing today for the media on the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo but they didn't provide any answers he said: insidemedicine.substack.com/p/cdc-refuse... #medsky

insidemedicine.substack.comCDC refuses to confirm or deny rumors that Americans in east-central Africa have been exposed to Ebola Virus. Highly unusual Sunday briefing left more questions than answers.If exposures have occurred, it's unclear where they'd go, as the National Quarantine Unit is full of potential Andes hantavirus patients.
Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

The FDA approved 20 drugs via the Accelerated Approval pathway in 2024—in 2025 the FDA only approved 9 drugs via accelerated approval said Gottlieb at the CNBC Cures summit focused on rare diseases #CNBCCures #medsky

Pearl Freier@pearlf.bsky.social

The FDA's oncology drugs review staff is down to <60 from 100 employees said ex FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb ('17-'19) on panel at #CNBCCures conf moderated by Becky Quick.HIgh # of senior reviewers are gone & v difficult to replace. Will probably see a higher # of CRLs in '26 he said #medsky

Pearl Freier
@pearlf.bsky.social

The FDA's oncology drugs review staff is down to <60 from 100 employees said ex FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb ('17-'19) on panel at #CNBCCures conf moderated by Becky Quick.HIgh # of senior reviewers are gone & v difficult to replace. Will probably see a higher # of CRLs in '26 he said #medsky