SCIENCE sciencemag.orgPHOTO: PAUL SUTHERLAND/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTIONEU court backs data releases
DRUG DEVELOPMENT | The European
Union’s highest court last week upheld
decisions by the European Medicines
Agency to publish corporate data submit-
ted in applications for drug approvals. Two
drugmakers, Merck and PTC Therapeutics,
had challenged the disclosures, arguing
that they revealed confidential infor-
mation and could give competitors an
unfair advantage. But on 22 January, the
European Court of Justice upheld the
agency’s requirements for transparency,
ruling that exceptions should be allowed
only if a company can prove tha t disclosure
might cause it concrete harm.WHO’s vaping stand raises ire
PUBLIC HEALTH | New warnings about
vaping issued last week by the World Health
Organization (WHO) prompted strong
pushback from public health experts in the
United Kingdom, who charged that WHOwas spreading “blatant misinformation”
about the potential risks and benefits of
e-cigarettes. The pointed exchange comes
amid growing controversy over the hazards
of e-cigarettes and their value in smoking
cessation. U.K. public health officials
have generally supported regulated vaping
products as a safer alternative to traditional
cigarettes. In contrast, WHO’s admonitions
echo those voiced by the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). After
an outbreak of severe lung disease that’s
still being investigated and is linked to tetra-
hydrocannabinol-containing e-cigarettes,
CDC now recommends that e-cigarettes of
all kinds “never be used by youths.”Michigan suspends provost
#METOO | The University of Michigan
(UM), Ann Arbor, last week placed Provost
Martin Philbert on administrative leave
and began an investigation after receiving
on 16 and 17 January “several allegations of
sexual misconduct” against him. Philbert,a toxicologist, studied the effects of nerve
toxins on the brain and worked to develop
early detection methods for brain cancer.
He was dean of the UM School of Public
Health before he was made provost in 2017.TB work resumes in North Korea
PUBLIC HEALTH | A critical lifeline for
combatting infectious diseases in North
Korea is being restored. On 23 January, the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis,
and Malaria announced an agreement with
the North Korean government to spend
$41.7 million over 3 years on efforts against
tuberculosis (TB)—including multidrug-
resistant strains—and malaria. North
Korea has one of the world’s highest TB
rates, and its stockpile of first-line TB
drugs was expected to run out by summer.
The agreement reverses the Global Fund’s
much-criticized decision in 2018 to suspend
operations in North Korea; the fund had
cited the difficulty of managing grants in the
country’s “unique operating environment.”Wandering albatrosses
float near a toothfish
longline fishing vessel.CONSERVATIONSeabirds outfitted to spot lawbreakers
A
new type of eye in the sky is on the lookout for illegal fishers
on the ocean. Vessels of a certain size are required to
broadcast their locations to avoid collisions, but some turn
off satellite transponders so they can break fishing laws.
But the crews continue to use radar to avoid obstacles, and
albatrosses fitted with small radar scanners can detect the signals,
researchers report this week in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. Albatrosses are attracted to fishing vessels,where they prey on fish. The authors taped scanners to the feath-
ers of 169 albatrosses on three remote islands in the southern
Indian Ocean. They estimate that up to one-third of vessels in the
southern Indian Ocean are sailing incognito, backing concerns
about illegal fishing. In the future, the large patrolling seabirds
might help guide fishing enforcement. The birds might also aid
conservation of their own species, many of which are listed as
threatened, in part because of illegal fishing operations.31 JANUARY 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6477 491DA_0131NewsInBrief.indd 491 1/29/20 10:32 AM
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