Author: Peter

Sisolak, his staff, officials from various state agencies met with representatives of the Southern Nevada and Washoe County health districts...to address the concerns the local health officials had raised in a letter last week about being shut out of the governor’s decision making process for COVID-19 directives, according to a joint statement from Sisolak and the local health officials...In their original letter, health officials said they received less than a day’s notice that the governor would increase the state’s gathering limit from 50 to 250, and allow for even larger crowds for sporting events and other live entertainment, with approval from local authorities. The health districts added that their resources are already strained from responding to the pandemic, and expressed frustration with the state adding more responsibility to their plate without discussing the issue with them...READ MORE

The head of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reiterated support for Medicaid work requirements as enrollment in the program swells this year...CMS Administrator Seema Verma spoke about work requirements...Her remarks come less than a month after a study in Health Affairs found that work requirements in Arkansas did not lead to more employment...“I am supportive of states making decisions about their programs and deciding what has worked best,” Verma said...She added that 20 states have been interested in the work requirements program...CMS has approved waivers for 10 states but currently no states are running a work requirement program. Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan and New Hampshire all started work requirement programs, but court rulings struck them down. Utah implemented its work requirement program in January, but it was suspended in April due to COVID-19...Verma said that the goal of the programs were to help improve the health of able-bodied Medicaid beneficiaries...READ MORE

Cancer cells could play a key role in the delivery of tumor-fighting drugs, thanks to a new DNA transport system that keeps its therapeutic payload locked away until it comes into contact with diseased cells...Scientists at the Technical University of Munich and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology...say they’ve developed a synthetic DNA transport system for targeted delivery of cancer drugs...the team has created a nano-carrier using mucin, glycerol and synthetic DNA, which wraps up cancer drugs in a secure package that can only be unlocked by a certain RNA sequence unique to diseased cells...READ MORE

Researchers have developed an algorithm that is able to accurately predict sex differences in drug response through the implementation of pharmacogenomic data...The study...presented AwareDX, a resource that uses machine learning to understand sex-specific adverse drug effects with the potential for use in drug discovery, repositioning, and pharmacogenetic studies, as well as for further analyses of electronic health records and clinical trials, according to investigators...Women are twice as likely as men to develop adverse drug reactions to a drug, partly due to differences in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics that induce increased drug bioavailability and sensitivity to medication and women [remain] severely underrepresented in clinical trials...READ MORE

Moderna, a biotech advancing one of the leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates, has faced questions for several months over its patents and intellectual property. Responding to investor questions, the company now says it won't enforce its vaccine patents against other companies during the pandemic...company President Stephen Hoge said Moderna is “quite studiously not asserting infringement.” Without naming names, the biotech says other COVID-19 vaccines in development might be using Moderna-patented technology...“We’re not interested in using that IP to decrease the number of vaccines available in a pandemic,”...Further, the company is open to licensing its technology after the pandemic. Moderna made the pledge in response to investor questions around its patents...READ MORE

Patients are asking to join clinical trials of antibody-based COVID-19 drugs after U.S. President Donald Trump was treated last week with an experimental therapy from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc...Medical experts said more data is needed to assess the treatment’s efficacy before wider use should be allowed...The company said...that it has submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an emergency use authorization for its antibody combination...READ MORE

...Presidential Proclamation 10051 suspended immigration into the United States for anyone holding H-1B, J-1, and L visas, and suspended granting new ones. Most worrisome for the pharmaceutical industry is the ban on H-1B visas, because it will limit, and in some instances entirely prevent, biopharma companies from recruiting the specialized talent they need...the suspension and limitation are aimed at ensuring “that the presence in the United States of H-1B nonimmigrants does not disadvantage United States workers.” The proclamation ends on Dec. 31, at which point the limitations will cease or the administration may extend them as it sees fit...READ MORE

Nevada health officials said they would resume the use of rapid “point of care” tests after federal health officials chided them for banning their use and accused them of violating federal law...Dr. Ihsan Azzam, Nevada’s chief medical officer, doubled down on his insistence that too many questions remained about the accuracy of rapid antigen tests. He said his team was “disappointed” in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...“We are not saying the tests have no use, we are just saying pause for further review and additional training,”... Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told reporters that federal law prohibits states from imposing a ban like the one that Nevada health officials ordered Oct. 2. He said Nevada is the only state to do so...READ MORE

As one of few COVID-19 therapeutics with global regulators on board, Gilead Sciences' remdesivir saw immediate U.S. demand that has somewhat tapered off in recent months. But in the EU, some nations have seen spot shortages, and Gilead is stepping in with more supply...Gilead has shipped enough doses of its antiviral Veklury (remdesivir) to the EU to treat 3,400 patients—or 20,300 doses—after countries reported rationing and shortages of the COVID-19 therapy, a Gilead spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday. That $8.2 million order would be enough to meet roughly one to two weeks of treatment supply...READ MOVE

Since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic more than six months ago, we have passed many grim milestones...One of the glaring global inequities creating enormous quality-of-care challenges for doctors, nurses, and other health care providers, especially in countries with fragile health systems, is limited access to medical oxygen. In low-resource settings around the world, where many lack access even to electricity and clean water, oxygen availability is severely limited...The disparity in safe, reliable access to medical oxygen — which is needed to treat a range of diseases and health conditions, and is absolutely essential for treating Covid-19 — is further compounded as health systems are overwhelmed by surges of patients...READ MORE