Featured Story | By Angus Liu As drugmakers ramp up COVID-19 vaccine production, governments are looking for ways to stretch their stocks before additional doses kick in. Moderna may reduce the dosing strength in the U.S., while the U.K.'s solution to limited initial supply is longer dosing intervals for the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech shots. read more |
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Top Stories By Angus Liu By using a combination of computational screening tools, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology showed that Acrotech’s Folotyn, a chemotherapy originally developed to treat lymphoma, could potentially be repurposed to treat COVID-19. read more By Fraiser Kansteiner The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on Wednesday cleared AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford’s adenovirus shot for emergency use in people 18 years and older. The authorization allows AZ to release doses immediately, paving the way for vaccination starts early next year, the company said. read more By Dennis W. Pullin, Virtua Health The CEO of Virtua Health says he won't jump the line ahead of frontline workers to get the vaccine. But he will talk "boldly about the safety, effectiveness and importance of vaccinations to everyone" and let people know he plans to get the vaccine as soon as his number comes up. read more By Ben Adams China-backed biotech Sinopharm has published a top-line view showing its COVID-19 vaccine is 79% effective, a fair chunk below the high efficacy seen from its rivals. The company previously said the vaccine was around 86% effective but gave no detailed evidence. Wednesday, in a press release, it said this number was in fact around 79%. read more By Heather Landi Color scored a $167 million Series D financing round that values the company at $1.5 billion. Color is now the latest health technology “unicorn,” an industry term for a private startup worth over $1 billion. read more By Beth Snyder Bulik Half of Americans remain skeptical about COVID-19 vaccines. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services calls that group the “movable middle,” and it plans to spend $250 million to convince them otherwise. The bulk of the effort aimed at promoting vaccinations will officially kick off in late January in a bid to convince people to get the vaccine when its their turn. read more By Brian T. Horowitz Medical proctoring has gone remote during the COVID-19 pandemic. ExplORer Surgical has added augmented reality technology that acts as a virtual laser pointer for medical device specialists to provide on-screen guidance for surgeons. Here's how AR and AI could change medical proctoring going forward. read more By Eric Sagonowsky AstraZeneca's early COVID-19 trial data not only fell short of Pfizer and Moderna's expectation-beating stats, they raised a host of questions thanks to a dosing error in one group of trial patients. But with the U.K. suffering under a new viral strain and a quick vaccine approval expected, CEO Pascal Soriot says AZ has a new "winning formula." read more By Nick Paul Taylor RedHill Biopharma has presented phase 2 data on opaganib in COVID-19 patients on supplemental oxygen. The 40-subject trial linked the oral SK2 inhibitor to a numerical improvement in total oxygen requirement but was too small to provide conclusive answers. read more By Conor Hale After COVID-19 testing sales pushed the company’s quarterly income to over $1.3 billion last year, Hologic is beginning to spend some of that cash—kicking off 2021 with a $64 million acquisition of a German manufacturer of breast cancer biopsy markers and guidance equipment. read more By Conor Hale Senseonics’ plans to roll out its new, long-term diabetes sensor implant will be pushed to the middle of next year as FDA reviewers continue to be swamped by product submissions aimed at the COVID-19 pandemic. read more By Eric Sagonowsky,Angus Liu,Kyle Blankenship,Conor Hale,Fraiser Kansteiner Some U.S. health experts think it's unwise to delay second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. South Korea started its review of AstraZeneca's shot. RedHill's oral SK2 inhibitor opaganib helped patients on oxygen support in a small trial. Bharat Biotech tapped Ocugen to co-develop its vaccine stateside. And Indian health experts questioned Bharat's emergency nod. read more By Fraiser Kansteiner Beckton Dickinson has taken orders for more than 1 billion pandemic needles and syringes, and that's just a piece of the company's COVID-19 battle plan. Next up, BD will overhaul its prefilled syringe capacity to keep the vaccine supply chain running as mass immunization campaigns ramp up. read more |
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