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Four years after passing the state’s first drug transparency law, lawmakers may finally put dollars behind the effort as they continue to build upon the original legislation this session...Members of the Senate Finance Committee this week considered a $780,000 fiscal note from the Department of Health and Human Services on the latest drug transparency bill, SB380, which would allow state health officials to transfer the existing drug transparency database to the state’s Enterprise Information Technology Services Division, where it would live and be maintained moving forward. It also would allow the state to hire a pharmacist to manage the drug transparency program and a management analyst to assist with the program’s facilitation...READ MORE

The Russian Direct Investment Fund announces the launch of vaccination with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus in India...Sputnik V has become the first foreign-made vaccine that is used in India contributing to the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Inoculations with Sputnik V in Hyderabad...followed the arrival of the first batch of the vaccine in India on May 1, 2021...Sputnik V was approved for use in India on April 12, 2021 and granted an emergency use authorization...READ MORE

In a first for the U.S., the FDA has authorized the use of Pfizer's BioNTech-partnered COVID-19 vaccine for use in adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15—months ahead of the upcoming school year in the fall...The FDA will amend the existing emergency authorization for the vaccine, which was first issued in December, the agency said. Pfizer’s vaccine is currently the only shot allowed in the U.S. for Americans as young as the age 16. The vaccine's two-dose regimen will be the same for adolescents as it is for adults, the agency said...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

A few state lawmakers are hoping to establish greater legislative oversight over how the state spends billions of dollars in opioid settlement funds projected to be won by the attorney general in litigation throughout the next decade...SB390, a bill presented by Sen. Julia Ratti (D-Sparks) and sponsored by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, would create a state fund to house proceeds from opioid settlements, such as the $45 million Nevada is set to receive from the settlement of a lawsuit against consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which provided services for opioid manufacturers...READ MORE

Denying organ transplants for people with intellectual and physical disabilities is considered illegal under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, but disability rights advocates say a lack of enforcement means the law isn’t being fully followed throughout the United States...Nevada lawmakers are looking to beef up that section of law this session — during an Assembly Health and Human Services Committee hearing last week, Sen. Scott Hammond (R-Las Vegas) presented his bill SB305 that would prohibit medical providers from denying access to organ transplants based on disability status..."We are attempting to ensure people with disabilities, whether intellectual or cognitive, are not denied an organ transplant because of their disability," Hammond said...READ MORE

Quality control problems have already plagued one COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer in Baltimore, Maryland. Now, it appears they’re threatening to trip up a major pandemic therapeutic supplier as well...Eli Lilly employees have accused an executive at the drugmaker’s Branchburg...manufacturing site of altering FDA-required documents in an effort to downplay serious quality control problems...citing internal complaint documents...The complaint, dated April 8, said the executive tasked with quality controls rewrote findings from Lilly’s technical experts at the facility, which produces doses of the company’s COVID-19 antibody treatment bamlanivimab, in order to make them look more favorable...READ MORE

Beginning last summer, several drug manufacturers announced they would no longer extend 340B drug pricing to contract pharmacies. The manufacturers said the restrictions are part of a much-needed adjustment to a program that has seen “egregious markups” and other abuses. But the pharmacies caught up in the crossfire say the policy is having unintended consequences, including compromised patient care...Affected 340B facilities say they also are worried about the financial fallout if the restrictions continue...READ MORE

Europe’s drug regulator says it’s evaluating an assortment of potential side effects following inoculation with leading COVID-19 vaccines, including heart inflammation, facial swelling and a rare nerve-degenerating disorder. Yet in most circumstances, it’s not clear whether the vaccines are to blame...In AstraZeneca’s case, the European Medicines Agency’s safety committee...said it’s examining reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome among people who received the drugmaker’s COVID-19 vaccine...The agency is tracking the data for all coronavirus shots as part of its routine safety procedures...READ MORE

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