STAT Plus: Despite skepticism, Gilead’s remdesivir could become a ‘multi-year commercial opportunity’
As speculation mounts over pricing for remdesivir, a Gilead Sciences (GILD) executive suggested the experimental…
Category: Biotech
STAT Plus: Alexion becomes latest company to face pressure to sell from activist investor
When Elliott Management knocks, it’s difficult not to answer the door. The New York investment firm led…
In combative remarks, Azar tells WHO that its Covid-19 response ‘cost many lives’
WASHINGTON — Health secretary Alex Azar on Monday publicly blasted the World Health Organization, telling…
EMA urged to release full clinical trial data upon authorizing Covid-19 treatments
Amid a worldwide clamor for Covid-19 medicines and vaccines, the European Medicines Agency is being…
STAT Plus: Google develops AI to identify patients at high risk of blindness
Artificial intelligence has shown an increasing ability to detect and diagnose eye diseases by analyzing…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: U.K. will get first access to an AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine; VA will continue using old malaria drug
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend interlude was…
Early data show Moderna Covid-19 vaccine generates immune response
A candidate vaccine for Covid-19 developed by the drug maker Moderna appears to generate an…
Opinion: Hospitals shouldn’t be exempt from reporting faulty radioisotope injections
Medical imaging has experienced tremendous growth since the discovery of X-rays: the x-ray-based CT scanner,…
Opinion: If J&J really wants to support nurses, it should make the TB drug bedaquiline affordable
As nurses who worked in 5B, the first U.S. hospital ward dedicated HIV/AIDS, which opened…
Life as a Covid-19 contact tracer: sleuthing, stress, and veering off-script
All Maddie Bender knew when she called the New Haven, Conn., family was that a…
Utah went all-in on an unproven Covid-19 treatment, then scrambled to course-correct
Even before President Trump started plugging chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as Covid-19 treatments, enthusiasm for the…
Opinion: A pandemic plan was in place. Trump abandoned it — and science — in the face of Covid-19
President Obama was bothered. It was the summer of 2009 and he was in a…
WHO embraces plan for Covid-19 intellectual property pool
In response to the global race to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization…
The Trump administration outlines audacious plan to deliver ‘hundreds of millions’ of Covid-19 vaccine doses by end of 2020
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday rolled out a hyper-ambitious plan to develop and…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: France piles pressure on Sanofi over Covid-19 vaccine; GOP fails to land a punch on Bright
And so, another working week will soon draw to a close. Not a moment too…
STAT Plus: Pfizer says efficacy of its Duchenne gene therapy outweighs side effects
Pfizer’s experimental gene therapy to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy appeared to improve muscle function in…
FDA says Abbott’s 5-minute Covid-19 test may miss infected patients
The Food and Drug Administration said late Thursday that the Abbott ID Now rapid test…
Opinion: Contact tracing must balance privacy and public health
Contact tracing armies in California and New Jersey. Rapid-response contact tracing in Washington. Track and…
Opinion: Life with an autistic child can be difficult. During a pandemic it can be grueling
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted daily life for most people around the world. It has…
Opinion: Testing everyone for Covid-19 doesn’t make sense. We need to test smarter, not harder
In response to calls for Covid-19 testing of the entire U.S. population, several large universities,…
Under an ‘America First’ president, will the U.S. corner the market on Covid-19 vaccine?
The United States is sprinting headlong toward the development and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. But…
Less than a movie ticket or ‘impossible to overpay’? Experts name their price for remdesivir
Two weeks ago, the world learned that remdesivir, a treatment from Gilead Sciences, has a…
STAT Plus: Many pivotal drug studies don’t include data on race or ethnicity, analysis finds
Amid concerns that clinical trials do not adequately represent patient populations, a new analysis finds…
Rick Bright is facing attacks from Republicans across Washington, but his opponents can’t seem to land a punch
WASHINGTON — It may have been Rick Bright’s best day in two months. The ousted…
Listen: Covid-19 in the White House, an audacious approach to Parkinson’s, and the public health lessons from porn
What can the adult film industry teach us about fighting coronavirus? Does the FDA approve…
Trump administration fires back at ousted vaccine expert as he testifies on his role in U.S. coronavirus response
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration accused a federal whistleblower Thursday of “one-sided arguments and misinformation”…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: Sanofi walks back Covid-19 vaccine remarks; Trump to name vaccine czar with conflicts
Good morning, everyone, and how are you today? We are doing just fine, thank you,…
Opinion: Is Anthony Fauci today’s Galileo Galilei, the champion of science?
Defending science and scientific integrity can be a frustrating and lonely battle. As I watch…
Biotech’s new chief lobbyist says she’s a social justice advocate. Will the industry walk the walk?
WASHINGTON — Michelle McMurry-Heath doesn’t talk about biotech the way her peers do. Where other…
Opinion: Americans think the government should regulate profits from Covid-19 treatments. Be careful what you wish for
As the death toll from the novel coronavirus climbs toward 90,000, a new national survey…
Opinion: Covid-19, a ‘supernova in human history,’ will need multiple perspectives to understand and manage
Covid-19 is a tragic infection that is killing hundreds of thousands of people around the…
Opinion: Gilead should ditch remdesivir and focus on its simpler and safer ancestor
In the midst of a pandemic like Covid-19, for which there are no FDA-approved drug…
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Ethics questions swirl around historic Parkinson’s experiment
A secretive experiment revealed this week, in which neurosurgeons transplanted brain cells into a patient…
CVS long-term care pharmacy pays $15 million penalty for failing to track opioids
Omnicare, which is the largest long-term care pharmacy in the U.S., agreed to pay a…
Cats can catch Covid-19 from one another, study finds. The question is: Can we?
With sporadic reports in recent weeks of cats infected with the coronavirus that causes Covid-19,…
STAT Plus: Amgen’s KRAS-blocking drug shows small improvement in colon cancer response
Amgen’s experimental KRAS-blocking drug is showing a modest improvement in response rates for patients with…
STAT Plus: Roche’s novel checkpoint inhibitor delivers mixed results in new lung cancer study
Roche on Wednesday said a two-drug combination that includes a novel but still experimental checkpoint-blocking…
STAT Plus: Some blood cancer patients see remission with Allogene’s off-the-shelf CAR-T cells, early data show
Allogene on Wednesday released the first data on tumor responses to its off-the-shelf CAR-T cell…
STAT Plus: ‘Good’ bacteria could help fight a common vaginal infection, new data show
Most companies in the microbiome space have focused on recurrent, deadly C. difficile bacterial infections….
Covid-19 experts lament dismissal of early warnings and disease’s impact on communities of color
From testing failures to downplayed virus risks to the disproportionate effect on communities of color,…
World Health Assembly draft resolution boosts access to Covid-19 medicines
World Health Assembly negotiators have agreed on a draft resolution that ensures countries can navigate…
Gawande says leaving Haven CEO job will allow him to focus on Covid-19
Atul Gawande on Wednesday confirmed that he will step down as chief executive of the…
Where’s the data? In a pandemic, now is no time to sit on Covid-19 trial results
When Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, described the results…
23andMe study to recruit sickest Covid-19 patients in bid to unravel role of genetics in disease
As researchers probe DNA in search of clues about why some Covid-19 patients get so…
STAT Plus: Pharmalittle: FDA rejects drug from Bristol and Bluebird; Gilead signs deals to widen access to remdesivir
Rise and shine, everyone, another busy day is on the way. Although the days may…
STAT Plus: FDA refuses application for cell therapy from Bristol and Bluebird, dealing both a major setback
The Food and Drug Administration refused to even consider an application to approve a new…
Opinion: We’re psychiatry residents. We will take good care of you if you get Covid-19
As the number of Americans with Covid-19 rapidly rises, doctors are among them, having no…
Opinion: Palliative care needs tweaking in the coronavirus era
“This is my fault. I’m the one who got her sick,” my patient’s son tells…
Opinion: Wearing a face mask helps protect me against Covid-19, but not against racism
The Covid-19 pandemic is putting me in a difficult position as a physician and as…
Fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic, remote heart monitoring could become tech’s next big target
It was a shift that began long before the pandemic: Tech companies, health providers, and…