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As the novel coronavirus crisis continues, one key issue for pharmacists, other health care professionals, and patients is the potential for drug shortages in the United States...There is growing concern because although reserves exist, China experienced a drop-off in drug production during the height of its COVID-19 outbreak, though that is leveling off. And India, another big supplier, has also said that it will keep some of the medications it makes on reserve...“We are now starting to see spot shortages for a few different products, in part due to disease progression around the world, especially across Europe, which is a large producer of drugs,”... the FDA has announced a drug shortage caused by the COVID-19 outbreak but has not identified the drug or the country where it is made, in an effort to prevent hoarding and panic...READ MORE

Abbott Laboratories won U.S. approval for its molecular test for the Coronavirus strain COVID-19, which will be used by hospitals and academic medical centers to speed diagnostic capabilities...The “emergency use authorization” from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows Abbott to begin shipping 150,000 laboratory tests immediately, the company said Wednesday. The tests are run on Abbott’s “m2000TM RealTime System,” which is already located in more than 175 U.S hospitals and academic medical centers...Abbott said the company will begin scaling up production at its U.S. manufacturing plant “to reach capacity for 1 million tests per week by end of March.” Abbott said its systems have “the ability to run high volumes of up to 470 tests in 24 hours, helping to meet the increasing demand for testing.”...READ MORE

A clinical trial evaluating an investigational vaccine for the 2019 novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has been launched, with volunteers receiving the first injection on Monday, March 16, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute...This is the first trial to be launched in humans for a vaccine for this virus, which caused COVID-19, according to Kaiser Permanente...The phase 1 federally sponsored study involves 45 volunteer participants and is evaluating the investigational vaccine called mRNA-1273, developed by Moderna, over a 6-week period. In this phase of the study, Kaiser Permanente researchers are testing the safety of various doses and whether these doses produce an immune response...READ MORE

The Trump administration has issued blanket waivers and new flexibilities to help hospitals and facilities cope with the coronavirus outbreak...“It is vital that federal requirements designed for periods of relative calm do not hinder measures needed in an emergency,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. “The nationwide waivers we are activating today will be a godsend for those on the frontlines of the fight against this new virus.”...Some of the waivers and flexibilities that CMS took on Friday include:

• Waiving requirements that critical access hospitals limit the number of beds to 25 and length of stay to 96 hours;
• Enabling acute care hospitals to house acute care patients in a separate unit;
• Waiving replacement requirements when durable medical equipment gets damaged or unusable. A contractor can waive requirements such as a new physician’s order, face-to-face requirement and other documentation; and
• Allowing long-term care hospitals to exclude patients stays from the 25-day average length requirement if treatment is required in conjunction with the emergency.
• CMS also sought to quickly approve waivers for states and territories for Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program...READ MORE

The HHS Office for Civil Rights announced... that during the coronavirus pandemic it will use discretion when enforcing HIPAA-compliance for telehealth communications tools...Even though some of those technologies may not fully comply with HIPAA requirements, OCR says it "will not impose penalties for noncompliance with the regulatory requirements under the HIPAA Rules against covered health care providers in connection with the good faith provision of telehealth during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency."...Covered entities seeking to use audio or video communication tech to reach patients where they live "can use any non-public facing remote communication product that is available to communicate with patients," said the agency. "This exercise of discretion applies to telehealth provided for any reason, regardless of whether the telehealth service is related to the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions related to COVID-19."...READ MORE

One of the measures that President Trump announced on Friday when he declared the coronavirus national emergency was a website that Google was supposedly developing to facilitate the access to coronavirus testing. Google had 1,700 engineers working on the project, he said. But it turned out that Google didn’t really know it was making such a website. Instead, Google-sister company confirmed that a more limited site was in the works and that it wasn’t the nationwide project Trump referred to. Since Friday Google confirmed it’s working with the US government on a nationwide site, stopping short from revealing any specific details about it. Verily, meanwhile, launched its coronavirus screening site, proving this isn’t the COVID-19 website you expect...READ MORE

The World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic last week, with more than 120,000 cases around the world. As new coronavirus cases spread around the globe, questions surrounding this new virus grow exponentially as well...We asked Dr. Brian Labus of the UNLV School of Public Health questions about what you should know about the virus and how you should prepare for it...READ MORE

• Where do coronaviruses come from and how do they spread?
• Can the coronavirus spread through animal products imported overseas?
• Should I be worried about my pets contracting the virus?
• Who is most vulnerable to the virus?
• Should I avoid the Strip or other heavily populated areas in Las Vegas?
• Why do health experts advise people not to stock up on masks?
• Who is qualified to get tested?
• Why are we so limited in our capacity to test for the virus?
• Do you think we’ll see cases slow down as the weather warms up?
• Should I cancel my vacation plans?
• If I am flying, how can I protect myself from getting infected?
• How likely is it that a city like Las Vegas could go into lockdown?
• How prepared do you think Clark County is to handle a pandemic?
• How does the response to COVID-19 compare with other past global pandemics, such as H1N1 in 2009?
• Do you think social media has played a role in how most of the public has responded to the illness?
• What lessons can we use from global pandemics that have happened in history?
• What else can I do to protect myself?
• Should I still get my flu shot?
• Is there any estimate on when this will all be over?
• Do you think U.S. response (i.e. canceling travel, public sporting events) is appropriate? Is it over the top or should we be doing more?
• Do we know how long the virus can live on a surface?
• Is there anything you think is missing from the overall public discourse on COVID-19 you'd like to note?

U.S. researchers, following the lead of scientists in other countries, have launched studies to see whether widely-available, low-cost generic drugs can be used to help treat the illness caused by the new coronavirus...But a 1,500-person trial, led by the University of Minnesota, began this week to see whether malaria treatment hydroxychloroquine can prevent or reduce the severity of COVID-19. Two other trials are studying the blood pressure drug losartan as a possible treatment for the disease...READ MORE

The novel coronavirus is putting pharma's complicated global supply chain under strain, no question. What's up in the air is just how supplies could be affected––and unfortunately, analysts just can't be sure...Why? Lack of transparency, for one thing. A dearth of information is making it hard on pharma watchers who'd like to diagnose the growing impact COVID-19 has had on individual companies' struggles...READ MORE

Gov. Steve Sisolak said that while a testing kit shortage makes it impossible to tell how much coronavirus has affected Nevada, the pace of the virus’ spread around the world means Nevada must “act quickly” to slow it — including taking drastic measures such as shutting state offices, limiting the size of gatherings and encouraging employees to work from home if possible...the governor asked local governments to enforce a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guideline that all events with attendance above 50 be canceled or postponed for the next eight weeks...READ MORE