STAT Plus: Foundation Medicine wins FDA approval for first liquid biopsy able to detect multiple cancers
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the first comprehensive “liquid biopsy” platform that…
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Scientists create a synthetic lining for the intestine to make delivering drugs easier
Scientists have created a synthetic small intestinal lining designed to treat certain digestive diseases or…
STAT Plus: Catalyst takes it fight over a rare disease drug to Canada, suing the country’s regulator
An unusual battle between two small companies over the market for a rare disease drug…
STAT Health Tech: Elon Musk’s secretive brain implants startup & Verily’s move into health insurance
A version of this digest first appeared in the weekly STAT Health Tech newsletter. To…
STAT Plus: Telehealth company Amwell files to sell shares to public, Google
American Well Corp., a Boston telehealth company known as Amwell, said it plans to sell…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Covid-19 vaccine makers push EU for liability protections; pharma plans counteroffer to Trump
Good morning, everyone, and how are you today? Another busy day is unfolding here on…
Opinion: Americans aren’t listening to coronavirus warnings because the messaging is wrong
Images of bars and restaurants packed with maskless people fill the news along with new…
A dilemma for ‘long-haulers’: Many can’t prove they ever had Covid-19
As the coronavirus pandemic rolls on, an unknown number of seemingly recovered patients are experiencing…
‘We do belong here’: The scientist behind #BlackInNeuro hopes to transform a Twitter movement into a lasting community
Angeline Dukes, a graduate student in neuroscience, didn’t intend to organize an entire movement. But…
STAT Plus: U.S. authorities expected to file charges against Teva in generic price fixing probe
Federal prosecutors reportedly plan to charge Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) of conspiring with other manufacturers of…
STAT Plus: Drug industry lobbyists circulate two drug pricing proposals in hopes of warding off a Trump executive order
WASHINGTON — The pharmaceutical industry is weighing two drug pricing policies that it could offer…
STAT Plus: Cardinal Health is accused of running a ‘rent-a-vet’ scheme to win government contracts
The largest association of independent nuclear pharmacies in the U.S. is accusing Cardinal Health (CAH),…
STAT China: Two more Hong Kong IPO filings, and Beijing’s latest drug price cuts
A version of this digest first appeared in the weekly STAT China newsletter. To receive…
STAT+ Conversations: A conversation with 23andMe
Editor’s note: A livestream of the conversation will be embedded above at 1 p.m. ET. …
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Hahn apologizes for statistical blunder; Fauci warns of approving a Covid-19 vaccine too soon
Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is. Blue skies and…
STAT Plus: Acadia Pharmaceuticals buys pain drug maker, part of effort to expand on psychosis treatment
Acadia Pharmaceuticals is purchasing a small Texas startup, CerSci, for $52 million in order to…
Opinion: To improve our dismal Covid-19 performance, establish common ground between lockdown and open economy
In these stridently partisan times, the U.S. has coalesced around two polarized default narratives about…
Opinion: Lifetime risk: a new way to understand deaths from firearms and drug overdoses
Shortly before the coronavirus shuttered schools last spring, I toured a new elementary school in…
STAT Plus: As Elon Musk’s Neuralink prepares to draw back the curtain, ex-employees describe rushed timelines clashing with science’s slow pace
The hype from Elon Musk has been coming for weeks: This Friday, his secretive brain-implants…
Four scenarios on how we might develop immunity to Covid-19
As the world wearies of trying to suppress the SARS-CoV-2 virus, many of us are…
As Covid-19 pressures mount, political newcomer Stephen Hahn struggles to protect an FDA under siege
WASHINGTON — Stephen Hahn, a political novice who moved here in December to take over…
STAT Plus: Sun Pharma unit to pay $21 million for giving docs false instructions for an acne treatment
A unit of Sun Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay nearly $21 million to settle allegations of…
STAT Plus: Pharmacists say they tell patients about physical changes to pills, but consumers say that isn’t always the case
Most consumers say they aren’t notified of physical changes in their prescription pills, even though…
Amid pressure from scientists, NIH will study Gilead’s remdesivir-like compound against Covid-19
The National Institutes of Health plans to independently explore whether a Gilead Sciences (GILD) compound,…
Opinion: We don’t know if convalescent plasma is effective against Covid-19. With the emergency authorization, we might never know
Convalescent plasma has been used to fight many infectious diseases, from scarlet fever in the…
Straight talk on the FDA’s tumultuous weekend — and new questions about its independence
This weekend, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency clearance to convalescent plasma, a treatment…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: FDA decision to OK Covid-19 plasma prompts skepticism; will Trump fast track AstraZeneca vaccine?
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was…
First Covid-19 reinfection documented in Hong Kong, researchers say
Researchers in Hong Kong on Monday reported what appears to be the first confirmed case…
Opinion: Hospital CEOs, med school leaders shouldn’t sit on for-profit health care company boards
In late July, Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, president of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, came under…
Opinion: Is Covid-19 growing less lethal? The infection fatality rate says ‘no’
Recent reports have suggested that Covid-19 has become markedly less lethal in the United States….
STAT Plus: In the race for a Covid-19 vaccine, Pfizer turns to a scientist with a history of defying skeptics — and getting results
For the pharma behemoth Pfizer, the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine is not just…
Is convalescent plasma safe and effective? We answer the major questions about the Covid-19 treatment
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue an emergency authorization Sunday for doctors…
FDA, under pressure from Trump, expected to authorize blood plasma as Covid-19 treatment
WASHINGTON — President Trump is expected to announce Sunday evening that the Food and Drug…
FDA commissioner needs to push back and tell Trump the agency is not part of the ‘deep state’
The next 73 days are going to be very difficult for Stephen Hahn. As the…
Drug makers rebut Trump tweet that FDA ‘deep state’ is delaying Covid-19 vaccines and drugs
WASHINGTON — In a tweet Saturday morning, President Donald Trump accused the Food and Drug…
PhRMA scrambles to respond to Trump’s drug pricing ultimatum, as Monday deadline looms
WASHINGTON — Drug makers and their lobbyists are struggling to agree on a strategy that…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: FDA official would resign if agency pressured to OK Covid-19 vaccine; J&J plans huge vaccine trial
And so, another working week will soon draw to a close. Not a moment too…
Opinion: The Trump administration’s ‘public charge’ rule and Covid-19: bad policy at the worst time
As Covid-19 sweeps across the country, many immigrant communities are being hit hard by the…
Opinion: Infections acquired in health facilities are a big problem. National reporting can help fix it
Contagious diseases are as old as time and routinely appear in health care settings. New…
STAT Plus: Biomarin, Gilead drug rejections don’t signal a change in attitude at the FDA
It’s tempting to interpret the Food and Drug Administration’s surprise rejections of drugs from Gilead…
‘No miracle is coming’: In acceptance speech, Biden rips Trump for Covid-19 mismanagement
WASHINGTON — Former vice president Joe Biden excoriated President Trump’s Covid-19 response as he accepted…
Listen: Shocking FDA rejections, a setback in longevity science, & the latest on Covid-19 immunity
Did the FDA suddenly get stringent about new drugs? Is longevity research over-hyped? And what…
STAT Plus: Drug makers seek to curtail discounts paid to hospitals as part of a controversial federal program
A growing number of drug makers are taking steps to curtail the discounts they offer…
Wary hemophilia patients say they’re willing to wait longer for a safe gene therapy
The Food and Drug Administration’s rejection of a gene therapy for hemophilia A on Wednesday…
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STAT Plus: Boehringer to pay $379,000 to settle charges of wage discrimination against female employees
Following a review by the Department of Labor, a unit of Boehringer Ingelheim agreed to…
Pfizer and BioNTech’s favored Covid-19 vaccine has fewer side effects than their first
Pfizer and BioNTech surprised many industry watchers on July 27 when they announced they would…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Mail slowdown could limit access to drugs; CureVac nears a Covid-19 vaccine deal with Europe
Hello, everyone, and how are you today? We are doing just fine, thank you, courtesy…
Covid-19 test accuracy supplement: The math of Bayes’ Theorem
Example 1: Low pre-test probability (asymptomatic patients in Massachusetts) First, we need to estimate the…
Opinion: Even Covid-19 tests that aren’t perfect can help control the pandemic
A key component to managing the Covid-19 pandemic is frequent, rapid, and routine testing of…
As Covid-19 cases in prisons climb, data on race remain largely obscured
By mid-August, jails, prisons, and other detention centers accounted for all of the top 10…