About Covid-19
J&J's COVID-19 vaccine remains paused in US as advisory panel seeks more data: “Advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday that they need further data in order to make recommendations on how to respond to reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) in some people administered Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine Ad26.COV2.S. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is expected to meet again within a week to 10 days.”
Novavax Admits Supply Shortages Will Delay Vaccine Production: “Novavax said it does not expect to hit its target of manufacturing 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses per month until the third quarter of this year.
The production delay is caused in part by problems with the bioreactors used to grow cells needed for manufacturing the vaccine.”
Former world leaders call on Biden to suspend Covid-19 vaccine patents: “A group of 175 former world leaders and Nobel laureates is urging the US to take “urgent action” to suspend intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines to help boost global inoculation rates. A measure to allow countries to temporarily override patent rights for Covid-related medical products was proposed at the World Trade Organization by India and South Africa in October, and has since been backed by nearly 60 countries. Doing so would allow developing countries to make their own copies of the vaccines that have been developed by pharmaceutical companies without fear of being sued for intellectual property infringements.”
AstraZeneca vaccine elicits stronger T-cell response in elderly than Pfizer jab: “The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine induced a stronger cellular immune response in elderly adults than the BioNTech/Pfizer shot, potentially providing more protection against severe Covid-19 and new virus variants. In the first head-to-head comparison of the two vaccines, scientists discovered that both shots elicited an antibody response in the group of over-80s, tested five to six weeks after the first shot. However, participants who received the AstraZeneca jab were more likely to also have a T-cell response.”
Many millions have been vaccinated against the coronavirus; 396 were later hospitalized with Covid-19: “About 5,800 people who have been vaccinated against coronavirus have become infected anyway, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells CNN.
Some became seriously ill and 74 people died, the CDC said. It said 396 -- 7% -- of those who got infected after they were vaccinated required hospitalization.
This is the CDC's first public accounting of breakthrough cases, and the agency is searching for patterns based on patient age and gender, location, type of vaccine, variants and other factors.”
About healthcare IT
Coding to Hide Health Prices from Web Searches Is Barred by Regulators: “Federal regulators said healthcare pricing data that health insurers must post under a new requirement shouldn’t be blocked from web searches, issuing new guidance after The Wall Street Journal reported that hospitals used special coding that shielded such information from Google and other search engines.
Under new federal requirements, both hospitals and insurers must reveal long-confidential pricing data, including the rates that insurers pay for services. Hospitals were supposed to post data at the start of this year, while insurers must comply beginning in 2022. The hospital industry had fought the requirement in court but lost.”
IBM finds more cyberattacks against COVID-19 vaccine supply chain: “A hacking campaign detected by IBM tried to attack the organizations involved in manufacturing, transporting and storing COVID-19 vaccines last year. Now it has been found to be a much bigger operation than was originally thought.”
VA pauses $16B Cerner EHR rollout for 3rd time: 6 details: The long saga continues: “The Department of Veterans Affairs is pausing deployment activities for its new $16 billion Cerner EHR system at a second site until it has completed a strategic review of the project and shared the results with Congress, according to an April 14 Federal News Network report.”
About the public’s health
Explore the Management Top 250: How does your company rank in the 2020 analysis of well-run companies for customers, employees and investors?: By far the #1 company is Microsoft. The highest ranked healthcare company is Merck (#11).
About health insurance
What if the American Rescue Plan’s [ARPA]Enhanced Marketplace Subsidies Were Made Permanent? Estimates for 2022: “We find the number of people uninsured would drop by 4.2 million, or almost 14 percent, in 2022 if the ARPA’s enhanced marketplace subsidies were permanent and consumers, employers, and insurers responded to the new subsidy schedule as if it were fully phased in. We estimate subsidized marketplace enrollment would increase by 5.1 million people, an increase of 60 percent in 2022. Because of our different assumptions and models, our estimates differ from those by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).”
Change Healthcare shareholders approve $13B UnitedHealth deal: ”Shareholders of Change Healthcare approved a $13 billion deal to become part of UnitedHealth Group's OptumInsight…
The approval comes as the deal is facing scrutiny from the Department of Justice. The American Hospital Association had urged the department to investigate the deal, which the association claims is anticompetitive.“
Patient Recruiter Sentenced to Prison for $3.3 Million Cancer Genetic Testing Fraud Scheme: “According to court documents, [Andre] Scott was the owner of Scott Global, a telemarketing call center located in Orlando. The evidence showed that Scott targeted Medicare beneficiaries with telemarketing phone calls falsely stating that Medicare covered expensive cancer screening genetic testing, or ‘CGx’ tests. Each test cost as much as $6,000. After beneficiaries agreed to take the test, the evidence showed Scott paid unlawful bribes and kickbacks to telemedicine companies to obtain doctor’s orders authorizing the tests.”
About pharma
Biologics Legislation Is Headed to Biden's Desk for Signature: “The Advancing Education on Biosimilars Act would require more robust federal efforts to educate the public about biosimilars, and the Ensuring Innovation Act would impose more restrictions on what biologics and generics drugs qualify for product exclusivity protections.” The latter Act cuts the ability of pharma companies to maintain exclusivity by using patents on all chemical entities in the product. For non-biologics, the Act strikes ‘‘‘active ingredient (including any ester or salt of the active ingredient)’ each place it appears” and inserts ‘‘‘active moiety (as defined by the Secretary in section 314.3 of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations)…’” The Acts await Presidential signatures.
Thermo Fisher Scientific to Acquire PPD, Inc., a Leading Clinical Research Organization: “Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc….and PPD, Inc….,a leading global provider of clinical research services to the pharma and biotech industry, today announced that their boards of directors have approved a definitive agreement under which Thermo Fisher will acquire PPD for $47.50 per share for a total cash purchase price of $17.4 billion plus the assumption of approximately $3.5 billion of net debt…
Upon close of the transaction, PPD will become part of Thermo Fisher's Laboratory Products and Services Segment.”