- Special Report: Doctors embrace drug touted by Trump for COVID-19, without hard evidence it works (reuters.com)Doctors Express Hope, Questions About Using Malaria Drugs To Combat Coronavirus (thefederalist.com)Scoop: Inside the epic White House fight over hydroxychloroquine (axios.com)
The decades-old drug that President Donald Trump has persistently promoted as a potential weapon against COVID-19 has within a matter of weeks become a standard of care in areas of the United States hit hard by the pandemic — though doctors prescribing it have no idea whether it works...Doctors and pharmacists from more than half a dozen large healthcare systems in New York, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Washington and California told Reuters they are routinely using hydroxychloroquine on patients hospitalized with COVID-19. At the same time, several said they have seen no evidence that the drug, used for years to treat malaria and autoimmune disorders, has any effect on the virus...READ MORE
- UK ramps up coronavirus trials but results ‘a few months away’ (reuters.com)
Britain said...it was launching the biggest clinical trial of possible treatments for coronavirus in the world but a leading health official cautioned that the results were likely a few months away...Almost 1,000 patients from 132 hospitals had been recruited in 15 days and thousands more were expected to join in the coming weeks...The trial is testing medicines more commonly used to treat malaria and HIV, and is designed so that when further medicines are identified, they can be added to the study within days...England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said the next round of clinical trials should include new medicines, including those that might be in development for other diseases and might “have a role to play”...READ MORE
- Drug supplies, costs hurt by unintended consequences of COVID-19 policies, suppliers tell White House (fiercepharma.com)
Associations representing generic drug makers, health insurers, pharmacy benefit managers and pharmacies have sent a letter to top administration and congressional leaders laying out how some policies and proposals to fight COVID-19 are making the situation worse...In an unusual display of coordinated frankness for the industry, a coalition representing generic drug makers, insurers, pharmacies and benefit managers told Vice President Mike Pence and congressional leaders that some policies in place or under consideration to fight COVID-19 are making it difficult and more expensive for patients to get some drugs...Signers of the letter are the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Association for Accessible Medicines, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America...READ MORE
- CVS Caremark Sets Limits on Off-Label Treatments for COVID-19 (drugtopics.com)
CVS Caremark is setting limits on the quantities of certain medications being used off label to treat coronavirus disease symptoms...The pharmacy benefit manager will set new “appropriate” limits on the quantity of hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) and azithromycin (Zithromax Z-Pak), along with 1 protease inhibitor and albuterol inhalers...However, CVS Caremark members who already take the treatments—which are approved for the treatment of lupus, bacterial infections, HIV, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma—can bypass the new quantity limits...CVS Caremark is “working with clients to implement new measures to balance the burgeoning interest in off-label use of certain medicines to treat COVID-19 pneumonia with the ongoing needs of members who use these drugs for chronic conditions,”READ MORE
- CVS to launch two new drive-through COVID-19 testing sites (reuters.com)
CVS Health Corp said that it will launch two new drive-through COVID-19 testing sites in Georgia and Rhode Island...using new, faster tests than had previously been available, with up to four more locations to follow...The company said both drive-through testing sites will use testing equipment made by Abbott Laboratories that can deliver results within minutes. It expects to be able to perform around 1,000 tests per day at each site...“We want to get some experience under our belt with these sites and understand exactly sort of what the volume looks like. And we’ll also be improving the logistics associated with each of the sites over time,” CVS Chief Medical Officer Troy Brennan said...READ MORE
- Gilead fails to overturn $752M CAR-T patent verdict. Will BMS win case for larger penalties? (fiercepharma.com)
Bristol Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences have been locked in a CAR-T patent fight, with BMS scoring a lucrative victory following a trial late last year. Now, Gilead has failed to persuade a judge to overturn the $752 million verdict—and the company could face bigger damages down the line... Judge James Otero rejected numerous arguments from Gilead’s Kite Pharma unit that patents held by BMS’ Juno Therapeutics are invalid, plus that procedural flaws in the legal process warrant a new trial...READ MORE
- New dashboard tracks top COVID-19 content among life sciences companies, influencers and media (fiercepharma.com)COR (dashboard.corcomms.com)
News about COVID-19 runs rampant on the internet and changes by the hour, or even by the minute. It’s difficult to stay on top of what’s happening, much less what’s important, in the life sciences industry without scrubbing the entire internet. That's what W2O Group and the California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) are looking to change with a new data-driven platform...Their jointly launched dashboard, called COR, uses W2O’s machine and artificial intelligence data engine to scrape its life science industry data set for news and posts mentioning COVID-19. It then serves up the top-ranked information across different sectors—life sciences, healthcare providers, media, California, and the scientific community—to reveal what’s trending in each one from that segment’s leading voices and sources in almost real time...READ MORE
- Greece suggests EU buy patent rights for vaccines and coronavirus tests: FAZ (reuters.com)
Greece has suggested EU member states jointly buy patent rights for vaccines against COVID-19 and rapid tests under development to help ensure that if they are effective they are quickly distributed to those in need across the bloc...Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said finding a solution for a rapid distribution of vaccines, when they are available, is difficult but also urgent...At least 20 vaccines against COVID-19 are under development, many of which are subsidised by individual governments or charities...“Ideally, once their efficacy has been proven, such vaccines should be distributed as quickly and fairly as possible, and at a reasonable cost,”...Purchasing such patent rights would give global pharmaceutical companies incentives for further research and development and ensure that European taxpayers’ money was “spent sensibly...READ MORE
- In pharma, cancer is king Inside the industry’s quest for its next crowning achievement in oncology (pharmamanufacturing.com)
Pharma’s pursuit of innovative oncology drugs has hit a fever pitch like the industry has never felt. On the heels of a treatment revolution that has fundamentally changed how we understand, fight and, in some cases, can cure cancer, pharma is mobilizing at a dazzling speed to develop the next holy grail in oncology...The current generation of cancer treatments is also still stymied by a number of challenges including manufacturing issues, limited therapeutic benefits for many patients and sky-high prices that have drawn public ire...All told, oncology has become a segment of the industry that is both bursting at the seams and begging for further innovations. Recognizing the potential to help both patients and business, pharma has become obsessed with oncology...READ MORE
- After ‘initial shock,’ generics supply chain likely to weather COVID-19 blows: analyst (fiercepharma.com)
The specter of global drug shortages looms large amid the coronavirus pandemic. But so far, the supply chain is holding steady and prices are going up—in the generic drug business, at least. One analyst, in fact, figures COVID-19 could turn out to be a profitable time for the generics industry...After some "initial shocks" from COVID-19, the global generic drug supply chain is likely to rebound and deliver strong growth numbers despite some potential "spot shortages,"...A potent mixture of patient and channel stockpiling and manufacturer "allocation" measures will drive generics pricing upward in the short term...READ MORE