Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
After Previous Mixed Results, Arthritis Drug Found To Help Severe Covid
Stat: Arthritis Drug Cuts Deaths In Hospitalized Covid Patients, Major Study Finds
Tocilizumab, a drug usually used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, reduced the rate for death in Covid-19 patients, according to a major clinical trial. The result, from a U.K.-based study called RECOVERY, upends the thinking about the drug, which is made by Roche and which had produced inconclusive results in earlier studies. (Herper, 2/11)
In other pharmaceutical and biotech industry news —
The Washington Post: Drug Companies Seek Billion-Dollar Tax Deductions From Opioid Settlement
Four companies that agreed to pay a combined $26 billion to settle claims about their roles in the opioid crisis plan to deduct some of those costs from their taxes and recoup around $1 billion apiece. In recent months, as details of the blockbuster settlement were still being worked out, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson and the “big three” drug distributors — McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health — all updated their financial projections to include large tax benefits stemming from the expected deal, a Washington Post analysis of regulatory filings found. (MacMillan and Schaul, 2/12)
Stat: Drug Maker Agrees To Plead Guilty To Destroying Files Before FDA Inspection
A unit of Fresenius Kabi, a major supplier of infused and intravenously administered drugs, has agreed to plead guilty to hiding and destroying records before a 2013 plant inspection by the Food and Drug Administration, and will also pay $50 million in fines and forfeiture. (Silverman, 2/11)
Stat: Amicus Drug For Pompe Disease Falls Short In Key Clinical Trial
Amicus Therapeutics said Thursday that its drug for patients with Pompe disease, a rare genetic condition, failed to demonstrate superiority over the current standard treatment in a large clinical trial. The company, however, believes it was close enough to achieving a positive outcome that its results, combined with other data showing patients with Pompe benefit, could still lead to regulatory approvals. (Feuerstein, 2/11)
Stat: A Closer Look At SoftBank's Investment In Pacific Biosciences
SoftBank, the Japanese tech conglomerate famous for paying questionable sums to invest in startups, has paid a hefty sum to invest in the genome sequencing company Pacific Biosciences. It’s a $900 million investment in the form of convertible debt, meaning SoftBank can exchange the money for stock at a price of $43.50 per share. (Garde, 2/11)
Stat: Scientists Use Machine Learning To Tackle A Big Challenge In Gene Therapy
As the world charges to vaccinate the population against the coronavirus, gene therapy developers are locked in a counterintuitive race. Instead of training the immune system to recognize and combat a virus, they’re trying to do the opposite: designing viruses the body has never seen, and can’t fight back against. (Palmer, 2/11)
