TASK DEFINITION: Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.
PROBLEM: The state Health Department says Tuesday that 42 days have passed with no new cases in Rockland. That’s the equivalent of two incubation periods and the timeframe when measles outbreaks are typically declared over. The nation’s worst measles epidemic in 27 years emerged a year ago, with most of the cases centered in Orthodox Jewish communities in Rockland and New York City. Health officials administered nearly 30,000 measles vaccinations in Rockland County as part of efforts to stop the outbreak. Over the summer, the state eliminated non-medical exemptions for measles vaccinations required for school children and tightened rules for granting medical exemptions.

SOLUTION: Measles outbreak that sickened 312 in Rockland declared over.

PROBLEM: Democrats on a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform released a cache of internal Juul emails and other documents that committee staff described as early attempts to “enter schools and convey its messaging directly to teenage children.”   Juul’s use of social media influencers to promote its vaping devices in the years after it launched in 2015 also came under scrutiny. James Monsees, Juul’s co-founder and chief product officer, told the committee that the company’s target audience from the beginning has been adult cigarette smokers. Among efforts cited in the Juul documents released were a $134,000 payment to set up a five-week “holistic health education” summer camp at a Maryland charter school, recruiting children from third through 12th grades, and offering $10,000 to schools using the company’s “youth prevention and education” programs for students, including those caught using e-cigarette products. “You don’t think that sounds strange at all?” Representative Katie Hill, a Democrat, asked Juul’s chief administrative officer, Ashley Gould. “All of these educational efforts were intended to keep youth from using the product,” Gould responded. When Juul realized how the school involvement could be perceived as negative, “we stopped the program,” she said. In a statement after the hearing, Juul said the $134,000 donation was to “facilitate already-existing community outreach and youth-prevention programs,” and said the company “did not have any direct interaction with the students.”  Several committee members said Juul’s initiatives appeared similar to past efforts by the tobacco industry to reach young people under the guise of smoking prevention programs. Gould said Juul, which is 35 percent owned by Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc (MO.N), halted its program last year once it became aware of the tobacco industry’s past moves. Caleb Mintz, 17, a New York city high school student, testified at a separate hearing on Wednesday that a Juul representative came to his school as part of an educational program on mental health and addiction last year. He said in an interview Thursday that students received “mixed messages” about the product, being told it was safe but not to buy it. Mintz said after the hearing that the Juul presentation seemed to be “playing to the side of teens as rebellious. When a teen is told not to do something, they’re more likely to do it.”    Members of the committee also quizzed Gould and Monsees over the use of social media influencers to promote Juul’s vaping devices. Company executives early on agreed that “younger consumers age 25 to 34 was going to be the target of our initial campaign,” Monsees said. “They would be more receptive to new technology solutions,” such as the Juul device. Amid an enormous uptick in teenage use of e-cigarettes in 2018 — a 78% increase among high school students from 2017 to 2018, according to federal data — Juul said it ended all social media advertising last fall. Juul also pulled many flavored nicotine pods, except mint, menthol and tobacco, from retail stores, which Monsees said represented more than half of the company’s sales at that time.

SOLUTION: U.S. lawmakers grill e-cigarette maker Juul over efforts targeted at schoolchildren.

PROBLEM: The company, before releasing fourth quarter earnings on Friday, released favorable data from four additional Phase III studies of its experimental treatment for the liver disease. AbbVie previously had said it expected approval of the treatment in early 2015. “The excellent hepatitis C safety and efficacy data published today is positive for the shares” of AbbVie, Jefferies analyst Jeffrey Holford said. But he noted that expenses for launching the medicines will now be incurred in 2014, which had not been expected. AbbVie’s treatment is a combination of five oral medications that has been shown to knock out the hepatitis C virus in as soon as eight or 12 weeks of treatment, without serious safety issues. AbbVie’s drugs have produced cure rates well above 90 percent in clinical trials, without the need to be taken with older standard drugs that cause harsh side effects and must be taken for longer periods. But the drugs, which are taken together, could face tough competition from a more convenient and highly effective once-daily pill against the hepatitis C virus being developed by Gilead Sciences Inc.  “Overall, the hepatitis C Phase III results are good” for AbbVie’s drugs, “but not as good as Gilead’s,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Alex Arfaei said Friday in a research note. But Arfaei said AbbVie’s drugs could capture peak annual sales of $2.8 billion, even if they only claim a 10 to 13 percent share of the hepatitis C market. AbbVie, spun off early last year from Abbott Laboratories Inc, said it earned $1.13 billion, or 70 cents per share, in the quarter. That compared with $1.54 billion, or 98 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding special items, the company earned 82 cents per share, matching the average analyst estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Global revenue totaled $5.1 billion and was also in line with Wall Street expectations. AbbVie said it expects full-year earnings of $3.00 to $3.10 per share, excluding special items. That is below the average estimate of $3.16, according to a Thomson Reuters poll. Sales of AbbVie’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira, the world’s biggest-selling drug, jumped 13 percent in the quarter to $3.04 billion - more than offsetting lower sales for most of the company’s other medicines. Sales of AndroGel, a gel that delivers the male hormone testosterone, fell 21 percent to $289 million in the quarter, while sales of HIV treatment Kaletra fell almost 9 percent to $228 million. Combined sales of TriCor and Trilipix, treatments for blood fats called triglycerides that are now facing cheaper generics, plunged 85 percent to $29 million. Humira represented 60 percent of total AbbVie sales in the quarter, underscoring the company’s reliance on the injectable product and its need to introduce big-selling new drugs such as its hepatitis C medicines. Although Humira’s U.S. patent lapses in late 2016, AbbVie officials have predicted it will take years longer for other drugmakers to develop their own biosimilar forms of Humira and win approvals for them. Company shares jumped 57 percent last year, on faith that Humira will not be fettered by generic competition for years, and that AbbVie will successfully develop new medicines for hepatitis C, blood cancers and other diseases that will spur continued earnings growth. Hepatitis C affects an estimated 170 million people worldwide, and if left untreated can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer or the need for a new liver. Current treatments include use of interferon, an injectable drug that causes flu-like symptoms. AbbVie shares were trading at $49.93 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

SOLUTION:
AbbVie sees 2014 approval of hepatitis drugs, shares rise.