Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Ethics Watchdogs Want Vaccine Czar In Charge Of 'Operation Warp Speed' To Reveal Pharma Ties
The Hill: Watchdog Groups Want Trump's Coronavirus Vaccine Czar To Disclose All Pharma Ties
Watchdog groups want President Trump's new coronavirus vaccine czar to disclose all of his ties to drug companies. Moncef Slaoui, who leads "Operation Warp Speed," the administration's initiative to find a COVID-19 vaccine, has extensive ties to the pharmaceutical industry and has come under fire from advocates and Democrats including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) for potential conflicts of interest. However, his position in the administration is on a contract and he is not considered a government employee. As such, he is not subject to the same federal disclosure rules that would require him to list his stock holdings and other potential conflicts. (Weixel, 5/28)
ABC News: Ethics Groups Call On Coronavirus 'Vaccine Czar' To Disclose Potential Conflicts
When it was announced two weeks ago that Moncef Slaoui would head up "Operation Warp Speed" to find and distribute a vaccine, the administration described him as “chief advisor,” but did not explicitly say he would not be a formal government employee. As a private contractor, he is not bound to the same disclosure regulations and criminal ethics laws as many formal executive branch employees, ethics experts told ABC News. (Kim, Rubin, Faulders and Mosk, 5/29)
The Wall Street Journal: Novartis Inks Deal To Make Experimental Coronavirus Vaccine
Novartis AG has agreed to manufacture a gene-based coronavirus vaccine being developed by scientists at Massachusetts Eye and Ear hospital, Massachusetts General and the University of Pennsylvania, paving the way for human testing to begin later this year. The Swiss drugmaker’s gene therapy unit AveXis is already making test batches of the vaccine and plans to start producing doses later in the summer that can be used for a clinical trial, said Dave Lennon, the unit’s president. (Roland, 5/28)
Stat: Big Gene Therapy Names Line Up Behind Experimental Covid-19 Vaccine
An early stage vaccine against Covid-19 based on the same basic technology used in gene therapy is gaining some support from some of that field’s biggest names. Earlier this year, James Wilson, a gene therapy pioneer, got a call from Luk Vandenberghe, who had been a graduate student in Wilson’s lab two decades ago. Vandenberghe wondered if a virus they had worked on as a potential component of gene therapies might work as part of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. “It’s a great idea,” said Wilson, who heads the Gene Therapy Program at the University of Pennsylvania. “What can I do to help?” (Herper, 5/28)
Axios: How U.S. Might Distribute A Coronavirus Vaccine — Once We Have One
Now that there are glimmers of hope for a coronavirus vaccine, governments, NGOs and others are hashing out plans for how vaccines could be distributed once they are available — and deciding who will get them first. (O'Reilly, 5/29)
