• The photography company Eastman Kodak Co. was awarded a $765 million, first-of-its-kind loan from the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. under the Defense Production Act to aid its transition into producing ingredients used in several generic drugs, including hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug President Donald Trump has championed as a coronavirus treatment. Kodak Chief Executive Jim Continenza said the production of pharmaceutical ingredients will account for roughly 30 to 40 percent of its business over time, providing a much-needed boost to a company that declared bankruptcy in 2012 while also helping the United States rely less on countries like China and India as drug sources. (The Wall Street Journal) 

• The White House’s coronavirus task force has placed 21 states — Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin — in the “red zone,” meaning they each had more than 100 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the past week, according to a report sent to state officials and obtained by a media outlet. The report, which was dated July 26, implored officials to implement more restrictions in their states and noted that a “statewide mask mandate is critical to stop the spread.” (The New York Times)

• According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Moderna Inc.’s experimental coronavirus vaccine produced a “robust” immune response in monkeys, with the National Institutes of Health noting that this is “the first time an experimental COVID-19 vaccine tested in nonhuman primates has been shown to produce such rapid viral control in the upper airway.” The vaccine, which NIH has co-developed with Moderna, was delivered in two doses to three groups of monkeys, and both injections proved effective in stemming viral replication in the subjects’ lungs and noses. (Axios)

• A new blood test was able to differentiate people with Alzheimer’s and those who did not have the disease with accuracy rates between 89 and 98 percent, several studies unveiled at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference showed. One study conducted in Colombia, which tested patients that possess a rare gene that almost guarantees that they’ll develop Alzheimer’s at a young age, showed that their p-tau217 blood levels began to rise about 20 years before the onset of symptoms. (The Associated Press)

After Reopening, Coronavirus-Hit States Chart Their Own Paths to Close Up Again
Ted Mann and Allison Prang, The Wall Street Journal

States are relying on their own public-health indicators when deciding whether to reclose portions of their economies to try to stop rising coronavirus infections that many attribute to the reopening of shops, bars and restaurants.

A Viral Epidemic Splintering Into Deadly Pieces
Donald G. McNeil Jr., The New York Times

To assess where the country is heading now, The New York Times interviewed 20 public health experts — not just clinicians and epidemiologists, but also historians and sociologists, because the spread of the virus is now influenced as much by human behavior as it is by the pathogen itself.

The Coronavirus Could Dodge Some Treatments, Study Suggests
Katherine J. Wu, The New York Times

In a laboratory in New York City, researchers coaxed a key piece of the coronavirus — its infamous outer “spike” — to mutate so that it became invisible to disease-fighting antibodies, according to a new study that has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

Trump retweeted a video with false covid-19 claims. One doctor in it has said demons cause illnesses.
Travis M. Andrews and Danielle Paquette, The Washington Post

After social media companies removed a viral video showing doctors spreading unsubstantiated information about the novel coronavirus, a phrase inspired by one doctor’s past claims began trending on Twitter: demon sperm. It turns out Stella Immanuel has a history of making particularly outlandish statements — including that the uterine disorder endometriosis is caused by sex with demons that takes place in dreams.

Fauci defends himself, urges masks after Trump deletes video
Susan Heavey and Elizabeth Culliford, Reuters

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert who has led the country through multiple health crises for decades, on Tuesday defended his work to protect Americans’ health after the president retweeted a controversial video later removed by social media companies.

Moderna pitches virus vaccine at about $50-$60 per course
Donato Paolo Mancini et al., Financial Times

Moderna is pitching its coronavirus vaccine at about $50 to $60 per course, according to people familiar with talks between the company and potential buyers — higher than other vaccine makers have agreed to charge governments.

Pfizer Says Covid Could Endure, Sees Long-Term Need for Shot
Riley Griffin, Bloomberg

Pfizer Inc. is preparing for the novel coronavirus to endure, leading to long-term demand for a seasonal shot to protect against Covid-19.

Coronavirus cases on the rise in the Midwest as they ebb in the Sun Belt
Carol Morello, The Washington Post

As new coronavirus infections appeared to plateau in the Sun Belt but creep up in the Midwest, governors and local authorities imposed additional restrictions Tuesday, and a powerful teachers union warned that its members would strike if ordered to return to unsafe schools this fall.

‘I happen to think it works’: Trump doubles down on hydroxychloroquine
Quint Forgey and Caitlin Oprysko, Politico

“Many doctors think it is extremely successful, the hydroxychloroquine coupled with the zinc and perhaps the azithromycin,” Trump asserted at a White House briefing, though there is no evidence from at least five rigorous clinical trials that hydroxychloroquine has any impact in preventing the virus or treating mildly to severely ill cases.

Public Health Experts Fear a Hasty FDA Signoff on Vaccine
Arthur Allen, Kaiser Health News

The vaccine trial that Vice President Mike Pence kicked off in Miami on Monday gives the United States the tiniest chance of being ready to vaccinate millions of Americans just before Election Day. It’s a possibility that fills many public health experts with dread.

Black and dual-eligible Medicare patients among hardest hit by COVID-19
Steven Ross Johnson, Modern Healthcare

A “snapshot” analysis of Medicare claims and encounter data between Jan. 1 and June 20 released by CMS on Tuesday shows Medicare beneficiaries made up more than 549,000 of the 2.2 million total coronavirus cases reported in the U.S. during that period, accounting for more than 160,000 hospitalizations.

Senate GOP’s COVID-19 response sets up battle over Medicaid
Jessie Hellmann, The Hill

The Senate didn’t include a funding increase for Medicaid in its COVID-19 response bill, ignoring pleas from both Democratic and Republican governors and teeing up a contentious fight with the House over spending on the health care program for the poor. 

Obamacare Surge During Crisis Will Boost State Health Exchanges
Sara Hansard, Bloomberg Law

Obamacare sign-ups spiked after millions of people lost their jobs and work-related coverage due to Covid-19. An increase in enrollees will likely reduce per-person costs for insurers, particularly as more healthy people look to get covered. That in turn could draw more insurers to the exchanges, leading to increased competition and reduced premiums, state health officials and analysts said.

CHS generates $70M in profits in Q2, got $448M in COVID-19 relief funds
Robert King, FierceHealthcare

Community Health Systems generated $70 million in profits in the second quarter of 2019 as government relief funding helped soften the blow of COVID-19.

UHS reports 6.3% increase in profit during second quarter 2020
Shelby Livingston, Modern Healthcare

King of Prussia, Pa.-based UHS grew profit 6.3% to $256.5 million, beating analysts’ projections in a quarter that was expected to be rough for hospitals as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down elective procedures and routine care appointments. The results came a week after HCA Healthcare reported a 38% jump in profit.

Lawmakers urge congressional watchdog to probe U.S. government’s role in discovering remdesivir
Ed Silverman, Stat News

Amid concerns over access to medicines that were hatched with U.S. taxpayer funds, Democratic lawmakers have asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the discovery and development of remdesivir, which is the first drug authorized to treat Covid-19. In a letter to the congressional watchdog, the lawmakers argue that the medicine, which is sold by Gilead Sciences (GILD), eventually reached patients thanks, in part, to an estimated $70 million in federal funding and ”key scientific contributions” from U.S. government scientists.

Better than the rest or behind the competition? Moderna’s future hinges on how its Covid-19 vaccine fares
Damian Garde and Adam Feuerstein, Stat News

Among the pharmaceutical companies closest to developing a Covid-19 vaccine, none has more riding on the outcome than Moderna, a decade-old firm with no approved products and a vast valuation to live up to.

23andMe and GSK Head to Clinical Trials With Cancer Drug
Kristen V Brown, Bloomberg

U.K. drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc and genetic-testing giant 23andMe Inc. have begun their first joint human clinical trial as part of a collaboration to leverage the Silicon Valley firm’s DNA database to develop drugs.

Pfizer CEO says Trump’s executive orders overhauling U.S. drug pricing will upend the industry
Berkeley Lovelace Jr., CNBC

President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at lowering U.S. prescription drug costs will cause “enormous destruction” as the pharmaceutical industry races to develop vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told investors Tuesday.

Could You Have Covid-19? Soon Your Smartwatch or Smart Ring Might Tell You
Joanna Stern, The Wall Street Journal

Tech companies and medical researchers are hard at work figuring out if wearable devices can spot Covid-19, the flu and other illnesses—even seeing if they can function as a personal early-detection system to contain the virus. They take wearable sensor data from both healthy people and those afflicted by Covid, compare and look for patterns in the data, and then create artificial intelligence that could alert others whose own data patterns point to trouble.

The Time Is Now for a Comprehensive COVID-10 Testing Registry
Scott Whitaker, Morning Consult

Has a second wave of COVID-19 already begun? Or are we still in the middle of the first wave exacerbated by opening up the economy too soon? Or is the uptick in hospitalizations the result of patients resuming the much-needed care they were forced put on pause as a result of the pandemic? Or is it a combination?

Evaluation of the mRNA-1273 Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in Nonhuman Primates
Kizzmekia S. Corbett et al., The New England Journal of Medicine

Nonhuman primates received 10 or 100 μg of mRNA-1273, a vaccine encoding the prefusion-stabilized spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, or no vaccine. Antibody and T-cell responses were assessed before upper- and lower-airway challenge with SARS-CoV-2. Active viral replication and viral genomes in bronchoalveolar-lavage (BAL) fluid and nasal swab specimens were assessed by polymerase chain reaction, and histopathological analysis and viral quantification were performed on lung-tissue specimens.

‘This is health care moonshot time’: Pandemic pulls Biden, Dems further left
Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico

Biden keeps inching closer to the Bernie Sanders wing of the party without embracing “Medicare for All,” by proposing to lower the eligibility age of the entitlement program from 65 to 60 and potentially extend government coverage to an additional 23 million people. He’s also backing a robust government-run public health insurance option that would auto-enroll low-income people who lose their jobs and provide another choice for Americans covered under Obamacare or at their job.

VA Hospital Faulted in Suicide of Patient Who Sought Care
Brett Forrest, The Wall Street Journal

An internal report released Tuesday faulted the Department of Veterans Affairs for the suicide last year of a veteran who had sought treatment through the VA’s medical center in Washington.

FDA adds to list of potentially deadly hand sanitizers
Rebecca Klar, The Hill

The FDA has added at least seven new hand sanitizers to its online table noting which hand sanitizers could be deadly. 

Harry Reid and Alex Trebek tried Patrick Soon-Shiong’s experimental cancer therapy. Can their results be duplicated in a clinical trial?
Rebecca Robbins and Adam Feuerstein, Stat News

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s pancreatic cancer went into remission. “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, diagnosed last year with the same disease, has said his “numbers are going in the right direction.” Both celebrities attribute their improvement to the same experimental immunotherapy treatment being developed by the physician and billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong.