Coronavirus
Vaccines and masks: Biden plan aims to break pandemic cycle
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Bill Barrow, The Associated Press
Biden hopes his multidimensional strategy, expected to be detailed in a Thursday evening speech, will put the country on the path to recovery by the end of his first 100 days.
Amid last minute changes and funding shortfalls, Biden adviser predicts a slow start to the ‘100 million vaccines in 100 days’ goal
Nicholas Florko, Stat News
President-elect Joe Biden is promising to administer 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in his first 100 days — but some of his top advisers are already warning that the early days of that effort are going to be rocky.
US researchers say they have found new coronavirus variants
Kiran Stacey, Financial Times
Researchers in the US have discovered two new variants of coronavirus, one of which they say has become the dominant strain in the state of Ohio’s capital, Columbus, within just three weeks.
CDC Mulls Easing Curbs on EU, Brazil Travel as Covid Tests Begin
Emma Court and Alan Levin, Bloomberg
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is weighing new measures that could allow for expanded travel after unveiling Covid-19 testing requirements for people flying into the U.S., said Martin Cetron, director of the agency’s division of global migration and quarantine.
Cash, Breakfasts and Firings: An All-Out Push to Vaccinate Wary Medical Workers
Rebecca Robbins et al., The New York Times
Some staff in hospitals and long-term care facilities don’t want to take the Covid-19 vaccine. Their employers are trying to change their minds.
Health and tech groups aim to create digital Covid ‘vaccination passport’
Hannah Kuchler, Financial Times
Health and technology groups are working together to create a digital vaccination passport in the expectation that governments, airlines and other businesses will require proof people have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
Coronavirus cases among lawmakers who sheltered in lockdown show one vaccine dose may not immediately protect against infection
Ben Guarino, The Washington Post
Three members of Congress contracted the coronavirus after sheltering in a crowded room as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, testing positive despite having been vaccinated against the virus.
States across the U.S. scramble to meet the skyrocketing demand for vaccines.
Karen Zraick and Amanda Rosa, The New York Times
More than 50 million people in the United States who are 65 or older — as well as younger people with underlying conditions — are now cleared to receive a coronavirus vaccine in the wake of the federal government’s abrupt course reversal on who should get priority. But that’s much easier said than done.
China bars two members of WHO coronavirus mission as depleted team reaches Wuhan
Lily Kuo, The Washington Post
A World Health Organization mission to discover the origins of the coronavirus got off to an inauspicious start on Thursday when two members of the team were barred from entering China.
Payers
Obamacare Sign-Ups Steady as Trump Administration Touts Exchange
Sara Hansard, Bloomberg Law
The Trump administration touted its success in getting people enrolled in Obamacare plans for 2021, highlighting how improvements to the federal HealthCare.gov exchange facilitated the sign-ups.
Providers
Vaccine distribution spurs boom in pharmacy jobs
Erica Pandey, Axios
Pharmacy job postings were up 9.7% in December compared with December 2019 levels, according to data from the jobs site Indeed.
Pandemic propels health systems to mull insurer acquisitions, partnerships: JPM21
Samantha Liss, Healthcare Dive
Nearly a year after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S., some of the nation’s largest health systems made a case for the need to accelerate toward value-based arrangements and potentially acquiring or partnering with health plans to become an integrated system.
Pharma, Biotech and Devices
Medicare Drug Price Bill Returning to Senate on Democrats’ Watch
Alex Ruoff, Bloomberg Law
The Senate debate over prescription drug pricing will pick up where it left off last year as the chamber undergoes a change in control, a key Democrat said.
Drugmakers sue HHS over 340B advisory opinion in feud over contract pharmacy access
Robert King, Fierce Healthcare
Drug companies AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Sanofi filed separate lawsuits seeking to preserve their ability to restrict offering 340B-discounted drugs to contract pharmacies.
Sana Biotechnology, filing for IPO, aims for astronomical valuation
Kate Sheridan, Stat News
After years of rumors, Sana Biotechnology is positioning itself to file for an initial public offering that could give it the largest-ever valuation for a preclinical company in biotech.
Drug Lobby, Eli Lilly Freeze Donations to GOP Election Deniers
Sara Hansard and Jacquie Lee, Bloomberg Law
The powerful pharmaceutical industry joined the growing ranks of corporate America in suspending political donations to Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Biotech Startup Acquisitions Jumped in 2020, Leaving VCs Optimistic for New Year
Brian Gormley, The Wall Street Journal
Acquisitions of biotechnology startups jumped in 2020, as buyers moved upstream to grab promising drugmakers while they were still private and relatively cheap.
Mark Cuban wades into the generic drug shark tank with a new company
Ed Silverman, Stat News
In an unexpected move, the high-profile billionaire has launched the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which its website says is “dedicated to producing low-cost versions of high-cost generic drugs” and claims that everyone will get the same low price for every drug it makes.
Health Technology
Walmart is working on a stealth health-tech venture that could change how you shop
Blake Dodge and Áine Cain, Business Insider
Walmart is building a new health venture through its incubation arm Store No. 8 that it’s hoping will change the way customers shop, Business Insider has learned.
FTC Reaches Settlement With Flo Health Over Fertility-Tracking App
John D. McKinnon, The Wall Street Journal
The Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with Flo Health Inc., the developer of a widely used period and fertility-tracking app, over allegations that it improperly shared personal data with Facebook and others, including whether users were ovulating.
JPM21: Cerner wants to build a $1B data business as it expands reach into pharma market
Heather Landi, Fierce Healthcare
Building on its acquisition of clinical research company Kantar Health, health IT giant Cerner is setting its sights on building a $1 billion data business for the healthcare and life sciences industries.
What comes after the telehealth boom? Hybrid care models are drawing investor interest
Mario Aguilar, Stat News
Buoyed by the pandemic, 2020 was undoubtedly the year that telehealth turned the corner to mainstream. But for savvy investors, the big question isn’t what’s hot now — it’s what’s the future holds.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
The Trump administration finally did something right in the fight against covid-19
Leana S. Wen, The Washington Post
After nearly a year of failing to contain covid-19, the outgoing Trump administration is finally taking steps that are likely to improve our national pandemic response.
In Search of a Baby, I Got Covid Instead
Anna Almendrala, Kaiser Health News
As I lay in my hospital bed, my roommate’s TV blaring, I started thinking about my daughter’s understanding of death.
Research Reports
Price Transparency and Variation in U.S. Health Services
Nisha Kurani et al., Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker
In this analysis of health services that are fairly standard and often planned, researchers found that the prices of select services — i.e., knee and hip replacements, cholesterol tests, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRIs) — vary widely even within a given geographical region.
General
Judge Rules U.S. Indian Health Service Must Disclose Sex-Abuse Report
Christopher Weaver, The Wall Street Journal
A federal judge ordered the U.S. Indian Health Service to disclose a report detailing the agency’s decadeslong mishandling of a pediatrician who sexually abused Native American boys in his care, thwarting the agency’s efforts to keep the findings secret.
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