Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Companies Look Past Immediate Coronavirus Treatment To Drugs That Help With Long-Term Damage
Stat: A Biotech Company Tries To Retrofit A Lung Drug For Covid-19 After Effects
As the world scrambles to find antiviral treatments and vaccines for the novel coronavirus, some scientists are looking ahead to a problem on the horizon: Many Covid-19 survivors will have long-term lung injuries, and medicine has little to offer them. There’s only scant data on how many patients who recover from Covid-19 are left with long-term fibrosis, or scarring of the lung. But studies on SARS and MERS, relatives of the novel coronavirus, suggest about 30% of patients had signs of fibrotic lung disease months after recovery. And, considering the novel coronavirus has already infected more than 5 million people worldwide, debilitating lung problems could become a global scourge. (Garde, 5/28)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Express News: With Coronavirus Treatment Drug Still In Short Supply, San Antonio Hospitals Confront Rationing It To Patients
The antiviral drug remdesivir has emerged as one of the only options for treating the sickest COVID-19 patients, but nearly a month after federal regulators fast-tracked its use, supplies are scarce. (Caruba, 5/26)
Boston Globe: Penn Researchers Take Inventory Of Drugs That Have Been Tried To Treat Coronavirus
More than 100 drugs have been tried around the world in the battle against the deadly coronavirus pandemic, according to a team from the University of Pennsylvania that is taking an inventory of them. Many drugs approved to treat other diseases are being tried against the coronavirus, a use that’s known as “off-label." (Finucane, 5/27)
Stat: Startup Spotlight: Going After Immune Regulators When They Cause Disease
Q32 Bio has two targets in its sights: the two arms of the immune system. The Cambridge, Mass., startup on Wednesday announced $46 million in Series A financing led by Atlas Venture, and disclosed it aims to address problems with both innate immunity, the body’s initial response to an invader, and adaptive immunity, which develops antibodies to the foreign interloper. (Cooney, 5/27)
