Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Covid Treatment Efforts Pushed Aside By Vaccine Drive
Politico: How The Covid Vaccine Push Squeezed Out Drugs For Sick Patients
Coronavirus vaccines have reached American adults in record time, but the development of treatments for Covid-19 is stagnating — threatening efforts to stamp out clusters of infection and end the pandemic. While the Biden administration has committed to channeling billions of dollars into finding therapies, a key government agency that invests in drug development recently stopped reviewing requests for new treatments — in part because it doesn't have enough cash available, according to one senior health official. (Owermohle and Ellen Foley, 5/24)
Stat: Freenome, High-Profile Liquid Biopsy Company, Quietly Replaces Its CEO
Freenome, a high-profile startup that aims to develop a blood test to detect colon cancer, has quietly replaced its co-founder and chief executive, Gabriel Otte. The company’s chief business officer, Mike Nolan, a long-time veteran of the genomics and diagnostic industries, is Freenome’s new CEO. He was identified as such in a Freenome press release on Friday about new data on its experimental test; he is also listed as CEO on Freenome’s website and on his own LinkedIn profile. (Herper, 5/21)
And on the Theranos trial and opioid litigation —
The Wall Street Journal: Elizabeth Holmes Jury To Hear Of Faulty Theranos Tests From Patients
Jurors will be able to hear limited evidence of Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes’s wealth, and from customers who said they got faulty blood-test results, a judge concluded in a weekend order that will help shape her criminal fraud trial. Ms. Holmes faces multiple counts of mail fraud for allegedly deceiving investors, patients and doctors about Theranos’s blood-testing technology, which purported to test for a range of health conditions from a few drops of blood extracted from a finger prick. Ms. Holmes has pleaded not guilty and faces an August trial, after several delays due to the coronavirus pandemic and news that she is due to give birth in July. (Randazzo, 5/23)
CNBC: Elizabeth Holmes: Jury Can Hear Limited Evidence Of CEO Lifestyle
Jurors in the trial of Elizabeth Holmes will hear evidence about her extravagant lifestyle as Theranos CEO but with some limitations. That’s the ruling issued by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila late Saturday as part of a 100 page response to motions in Holmes’ upcoming criminal trial. (Khorram, 5/23)
The New York Times: Paul J. Hanly Jr., Top Litigator In Opioid Cases, Dies At 70
Paul J. Hanly Jr., a top trial lawyer who had been central to the current nationwide litigation against pharmaceutical companies and others in the supply chain for their role in the deadly opioid epidemic, died on Saturday at his home in Miami Beach. He was 70. The cause was anaplastic thyroid cancer, an extremely rare and aggressive disease, said Jayne Conroy, his longtime law partner. (Seelye, 5/22)
