Author: Peter

Denmark...removed the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 shot from its vaccination program to investigate reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots...Denmark, which has been very cautious with all vaccines, has already taken the AstraZeneca shot out of its vaccination program for the same reason. Both the J&J and AstraZeneca shots are made with similar technology...The Danish Health Authority said in a statement that it “has concluded that the benefits of using the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson do not outweigh the risk of causing the possible adverse effect.”...READ MORE

Britain’s medicine regulator on...said there had been a further 41 reports of rare blood clots after doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, but that the benefits of the shot continued to outweigh the risks for the majority of people...In a weekly update on side effects from COVID-19 vaccines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said there were a total of 209 clots with low platelet counts following vaccination with AstraZeneca's shot, compared to a total of 168 reported last week...READ MORE

Johnson & Johnson has been hit with billions in talc verdicts, but it's had mixed success in appeals. With a new decision...the company chalked up its latest appeals win...A court in J&J's home state of New Jersey struck down a $117 million verdict against the drugmaker originally handed down there in 2018...The court ruled that the trial judge shouldn’t have allowed certain expert testimony, so J&J and its talc partner Imerys—which has since declared bankruptcy—deserve another trial...READ MORE

The European Commission said on Monday it had launched legal action against AstraZeneca for not respecting its contract for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and for not having a "reliable" plan to ensure timely deliveries...Under the contract, the Anglo-Swedish company had committed to making its "best reasonable efforts" to deliver 180 million vaccine doses to the EU in the second quarter of this year, for a total of 300 million in the period from December to June...But AstraZeneca said in a statement on March 12 it would aim to deliver only one-third of that by the end of June, of which about 70 million would be in the second quarter. A week after that, the Commission sent a legal letter to the company in the first step of a formal procedure to resolve disputes...Read More

The American Federation of Teachers successfully lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change its guidance on school reopenings, emails show...As the CDC was preparing to issue guidance that it was safe to reopen schools fully in February, emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the AFT was behind the scenes, lobbying the agency and the Biden administration to adjust the guidance to make it friendlier to school closures and hybrid learning...The CDC was preparing to update its guidance to reflect its belief that schools could fully reopen, regardless of community spread of COVID-19...READ MORE

Work-at-home arrangements created to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic have forced numerous companies in most sectors to reevaluate their work deals. This has also resulted in rethinking site locations and real estate needs. Here’s a look...READ MORE

• Sanofi Closing Pennsylvania Plant, Laying Of 75
• Pfizer, Novartis and Moderna Studying Onsite/At-Home Work Arrangements
• Switzerland’s Lonza Recruiting Nestle Workers

In 2020, Indivior resolved the federal government's long-running probe into its aggressive marketing of the opioid addiction therapy Suboxone, reaching a $600 million plea deal. Now, it's paying up...Indivior will shell out $300 million to all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to resolve claims that it “falsely and aggressively” marketed its opioid addiction drug Suboxone, leading to misuse of state Medicaid funds, California Attorney General Rob Bonta...READ MORE

CVS Health is expanding its program to offer no-cost, community-based screenings to 14 more markets...Project Health, which is now in its sixteenth year, offers a slew of free biometric screenings at CVS Pharmacy locations, including blood pressure, glucose levels and cholesterol. Patients can then meet with a nurse practitioner, who can provide additional guidance and referrals for treatment if needed...The program is also launching four new mobile units, CVS said, and anticipates providing 1,700 screening events across its 32 markets by the end of the year...READ MORE

Drugmakers who seized the opportunity to develop vaccines against the coronavirus are on their way to reaping significant revenues...In its annual forecast for global drug spending, the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science put the figure at $157 billion through 2025...In regard to global COVID-19 vaccine spending, IQVIA projects roughly $53 billion this year and $51 billion in 2022. The group sees a precipitous drop in total spending in 2023, to roughly $23 billion...READ MORE

The United States is sending supplies worth more than $100 million to India to help it fight a surge of COVID-19 cases...The supplies...include 1,000 oxygen cylinders, 15 million N95 masks and 1 million rapid diagnostic tests...The United States also has redirected its own order of AstraZeneca manufacturing supplies to India, which will allow it to make over 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine...READ MORE