by Matt Peters In 2016, historian Sydney Halpern found something unexpected when she was searching library archives to learn about vaccine studies from decades past. Among the more ordinary documents was a strange batch of consent forms from the 1940s. They were from a group of civilian volunteers who agreed to be infected with hepatitis as part of a military research program during World War II. Their inoculation with the virus, it was hoped, would lead to medical advances that could keep soldiers safe from hepatitis during wartime deployments. What Halpern uncovered was a forgotten chapter in the history… Read More
Captain Bio: Are You at Risk for Hepatitis B? and Captain Bio: Attack of the Hep B Virus!
by Matt Peters In the 1990s, pharmaceutical giant Merck partnered with marketing firm Tim Peters and Company to launch a line of comic books called Bio Comics. The flagship character of that line was Captain Bio, a superhero whose advanced technology gives him unique abilities to fight pathogens and other microscopic threats to human health. The comic books served as free patient education materials that were distributed in hospitals and other healthcare settings. The comics weren’t explicit pitches for Merck products but aligned Merck’s brand with important healthcare needs. Two of the comics that came out of the project… Read More