About Covid-19
Appeals court stays vaccine mandate on larger businesses: “The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay of the requirement by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that those workers be vaccinated by Jan. 4 or face mask requirements and weekly tests.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said the action stops President Joe Biden ‘from moving forward with his unlawful overreach.’
‘The president will not impose medical procedures on the American people without the checks and balances afforded by the constitution,’ said a statement from Landry, a Republican.
The U.S. Labor Department’s top legal adviser, Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda, said the department is ‘confident in its legal authority to issue the emergency temporary standard on vaccination and testing.’”
SARS-CoV-2 vaccine protection and deaths among US veterans during 2021: “Although breakthrough infection increased risk of death, vaccination remained protective against death in persons who became infected during the Delta surge. From July to October 2021, VE-D for age 65 years was 73.0% for Janssen, 81.5% for Moderna, and 84.3% for Pfizer-BioNTech; VE-D for age ≥65 years was 52.2% for Janssen, 75.5% for Moderna, and 70.1% for Pfizer-BioNTech. Findings support continued efforts to increase vaccination, booster campaigns, and multiple, additional layers of protection against infection.”
NIH scientists identify mechanism that may influence infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 variants: “The outer surface of SARS-CoV-2 is decorated with spike proteins, which the virus uses to attach to and enter cells. Before this can happen, though, the spike protein must be activated by a series of cuts, or cleavages, by host proteins, starting with the furin enzyme. In the alpha and delta variants, mutations to the spike protein appear to enhance furin cleavage, which is thought to make the virus more effective at entering cells.”
Israeli plan for COVID vaccine tablet gets $4.3m from Bill Gates-backed fund: “MigVax is aiming not only to produce a tablet vaccine, but also to make it particularly sturdy against new variants as well as adaptable to future viruses. It expects to achieve these aims using its subunit vaccine, which contains purified pieces of the virus that were selected for their ability to stimulate immune cells.”
The United States reopens to vaccinated international travelers: The previously reported travel rules have been officially implemented. Airlines are responsible for gathering and verifying information from their customers. Each state’s laws (especially masking) still apply. The article is a good reminder of the terms.
These two article are excellent explanations of the topics in their headlines:
Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccines: What Parents, Practitioners, and Policy Makers Need to Know
Understanding Breakthrough Infections Following mRNA SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination
Regeneron COVID-19 antibody drug reduces infection risk 82% in clinical trial: “Regeneron said Nov. 8 that its COVID-19 antibody cocktail reduced the risk of contracting COVID-19 by 81.6 percent for eight months after administration in a phase 3 clinical trial.
During the eight-month follow-up period, Regeneron said there were no hospitalizations from COVID-19 infection among the people receiving the antibody cocktail, called REGEN-COV, and six in the placebo group.”
30 pharmacies ranked by customer satisfaction: FYI: “Good Neighbor Pharmacy is the highest-ranked [brick and mortar and all-category] pharmacy in the U.S. in terms of customer satisfaction, according to consumer insight firm J.D. Power's annual pharmacy satisfaction survey.” Check the article or survey for the rest of the categories and rankings.
About hospitals and health systems
Michigan systems to disband 5,400-physician network: “Five Michigan health systems are ceasing operation of Affirmant Health Partners, their clinically integrated network, at the end of this year.
The following five Michigan organizations make up Affirmant Health Partners: Saginaw-based Covenant HealthCare; Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System; St. Joseph-based Spectrum Health Lakeland; Lansing-based Sparrow Health System; and Kalamazoo-based Bronson Healthcare Group.
The decision by Affirmant Health Partners' board to shutter operation of the 5,400-physician network was attributed to several factors, including changes in strategy among the five participating systems and reductions in Medicare participation.”
About pharma
Moderna finally cracks into gene editing with Metagenomi pact thanks to 'irresistible' data: Moderna “has signed a research partnership with CRISPR gene editing company Metagenomi…
[T]he partnership will involve in vivo treatment options for serious genetic diseases. Metagenomi will offer up access to its gene editing tools while Moderna will bring the expertise in mRNA and lipid nanoparticle delivery technologies.”
Pharmaceutical industry likely to shatter its lobbying record as it works to shape Democrats’ spending bill: “The influence campaign at times worked through groups whose funding sources are hidden. At least 20 different advertisements were run on television and online across the country. The advertisements were augmented by a campaign by PhRMA, which spent nearly $23 million on lobbying through the first nine months of 2021, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets, which tracks corporate spending and political influence. That puts PhRMA on track this year to beat its own spending recording of $29.3 million in 2019.”
About healthcare IT
On-Demand Telehealth Is Booming Even as a Fierce Competitor Remains: the Doctor’s Office : The article is a good summary of opinions of those who use telehealth.For example: “72% of U.S. adults who have used telehealth said they’ve accessed virtual care through their regular provider or health plan, while another 17% have gotten care through a direct-to-consumer platform and 11% have used both types of services.
53% of U.S. adults said they’d rather use in-person health care than telehealth moving forward, but that share fell to 45% among those who have used telehealth in the past.”
About 90% of those using telehealth found it to be friendly, easy and affordable.
What Healthcare Consumers Want and Need from Life Sciences Manufacturers: While the title sounds like a product marketing piece, it is really about how members of different generations seek information about healthcare and how much they trust the sources.
While there are obviously differences, in the category: “Which channels are the most effective in reaching consumers seeking healthcare information?”, all groups rate the physician’s office as the number one source.