This issue is #600!
Thanks to all the readers from around the world for your support.
About Covid-19
Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine Demonstrates 90% Overall Efficacy and 100% Protection Against Moderate and Severe Disease in PREVENT-19 Phase 3 Trial: This piece is a company press release. The two-shot vaccine is not FDA approved, even for emergency use. The protection is due to immunity derived from injection of a modified spike protein, rather than injection of the coding (mRNA) to produce the spike protein.
”—93% efficacy against predominantly circulating Variants of Concern and Variants of Interest
—91% efficacy in high-risk populations
—100% efficacy against variants ‘not considered Variants of Concern/Interest’
—All COVID-19 hospitalizations/death occurred in the placebo group”
A dangerous Covid-19 variant on the rise could cause outbreaks in US states with lower vaccination rates, expert says: “Currently 10% of Covid-19 infections in the US can be attributed to the variant, also called the B.1.617.2 variant, but that proportion is doubling every two weeks, said Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said in a CBS interview Sunday.
He added that it probably will become the dominant strain in the US.”
Current vaccines offer good protection against this strain, also known as delta; obviously it is a problem for those who are not vaccinated. In a related article:
G7 leaders commit to plan to tackle next global health crisis: “The rise of the Delta variant has put more pressure on G7 leaders to address the global gap in COVID-19 vaccinations. Public health officials in Britain have said that two shots of vaccine were still highly effective against the Delta variant, especially in preventing severe illness. However, only a fraction of people in developing countries have had even one shot, leaving ample opportunity for the variant to spread, especially as countries begin to ease lockdown measures…
During their meeting in Carbis Bay, England, the G7 leaders — from Canada, Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — agreed on a plan to cut the time it takes to develop vaccines and to bolster global surveillance networks to track viruses. The G7 has also committed to donating more than one billion doses of vaccine to low-income countries over the next year.”
AMA survey shows over 96% of doctors fully vaccinated against COVID-19: FYI
Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by Houston hospital system employees who refused coronavirus vaccine: The complaint, filed last month, argued that the mandate is unlawful and forces “employees to be human ‘guinea pigs’ as a condition for continued employment.” The real crux of these protests is that the vaccines are only approved for emergency use. When the FDA gives them full approval, the cases for refusal will greatly diminish.
UK insurers pay out over £750m in business interruption claims: The reason for bringing this article to your attention is to contrast the UK with the US, where many insurers are refusing to pay for such claims.
About healthcare IT
Biden Orders Software Developers to List Third-Party Components: “To improve the security of the software supply chain, the administration is introducing a Software Bill of Materials that will require a formal record of the sources of all components used in developing software.”
Personalized machine learning [ML} of depressed mood using wearables: Wearables have been touted for detection of physical illnesses like atrial fibrillation or diabetes-related problems. This article demonstrates their use to detect parameters associated with depression.
The authors found ”distinct feature determinants of depression over time for each person ranging from co-morbid anxiety, to physical exercise, diet, momentary stress and breathing performance, sleep times, and neurocognition. In future, these personalized features can serve as targets for a personalized ML-guided, multimodal treatment strategy for depression.”
Astronomy meets pathology to identify predictive biomarkers for cancer immunotherapy: “A new platform, called AstroPath, melds astronomic image analysis and mapping with pathology specimens to analyze microscopic images of tumors.” The article provides a good explanation of how the algorithm works.
Doctor on Call? Lawmakers Debate How Much to Pay for Phone Appointments: A good discussion of this issue, with a special focus on California.
About health insurance
Primary care group buys Miami's University Health Care for $600M: “Cano Health, a primary care provider for seniors and underserved communities, acquired Miami-based University Health Care for $600 million, the organization said June 14.
The deal, financed through cash on hand and a common equity issued to University's shareholders, includes $540 million in cash and $60 million in equity.
Cano Health, backed by billionaire Barry Sternlicht, operates value-based primary care centers and supports affiliated medical practices that support primary care for seniors in Florida, Texas, Nevada and Puerto Rico. University Health Care has been providing comprehensive primary care in Florida for 25 years.”
The acquisition was to increase Cano’s Medicare Advantage business.
About pharma
Investor behind Moderna raises $3.4bn biotech-focused fund: “Flagship Pioneering, the venture capital company behind Moderna, has raised its largest fund as it aims to build the next generation of biotech companies. The $3.4bn fund is one of the biggest amassed in the pharmaceutical industry and comes at a time when investment is flooding into the sector, fuelled by the numerous early-stage companies racing to make treatments and vaccines to tackle Covid-19…
Rather than hunting for existing early-stage biotechs to finance, the Massachusetts-based group invests in developing technologies and establishing companies within its own four walls. Teams are built around specific areas of interest with the aim of spinning out to form individual companies as the research develops.”