Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Gilead, Maker Of Remdesivir, Criticized As 'Taking Advantage Of The Situation'
ABC News: For Company Behind Coronavirus Drug, Sharp Questions Over Pricing, Potentially Cheaper Option
After initial excitement about the discovery of a promising treatment for some coronavirus patients, executives with Gilead Sciences are now facing harsh criticism over the initial business decisions they’ve made in the midst of a pandemic. In recent days, state leaders and a government watchdog group have leveled complaints against the company for the price point it set for its antiviral drug remdesivir, a promising treatment shown to diminish recovery time in hospitalized coronavirus patients, and for allegedly not more quickly pursing a potentially cheaper alternative. Gilead holds exclusive manufacturing rights for remdesivir. (Bruggeman, 8/13)
Stat: A Long-Awaited Report On Orphan Drugs In Europe Suggests Incentives To Pharma Need Change
After being kept under wraps for a year, an expansive review of European regulations designed to spur development of drugs for rare diseases and children found the number of medicines has increased. But at the same time, drug makers often did not address some of the most urgent needs. Instead, the pharmaceutical industry sometimes targeted more profitable therapeutic areas, raising questions about whether incentives offered to the pharmaceutical industry should be changed, according to the long-awaited report from the European Commission. As in the U.S., these incentives include market exclusivity for a period of time. (Silverman, 8/12)
Boston Globe: 'We’re Going To Keep Going': A New Clinical Trials For ALS Gives Patients Hope
As a cardiologist, Dr. Marc Litt has plenty of arrows in his quiver for patients with heart disease: Medications that thin blood. Drug-coated stents that widen blocked arteries. Implants that replace damaged valves in minimally invasive surgery. But when the 63-year-old physician was diagnosed with ALS in March 2019 at Massachusetts General Hospital, he was dismayed to see how little medicine had to offer him. (Saltzman, 8/12)
In other pharmaceutical industry news —
San Jose Mercury News: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes’ Twice-Delayed Trial To Start In March: Judge
After being delayed twice by the coronavirus pandemic, the criminal trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has been scheduled to start in March. Holmes, a Stanford University dropout who founded her now-defunct Palo Alto blood-testing startup in 2003, is charged with a dozen felony counts of fraud, and has denied federal government allegations that she and her co-accused, former company president Sunny Balwani, misled doctors and patients and bilked investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars. (Baron, 8/11)
Stat: 4 Questions For Neurology Startups As Investment Surges
As pharmaceutical companies stepped back from developing new drugs for neurological conditions, venture capitalists took a big step forward. Venture investors have poured more than $500 million into early-stage neurology startups this year, according to a recent health care venture capital report from Silicon Valley Bank — more than six times as much money that was invested in the same over the first six months of last year. (Sheridan, 8/12)
CNN: CEO Does 180 Zoom Calls In Three Days To Help Take Company Public
Being in charge of a health care company during a pandemic is a ton of work — just ask Eric Hobbs, CEO of Berkeley Lights, who met with 180 investors over Zoom over three and a half days — and lost 10 pounds over the process. You don't have to go on a virtual roadshow to work tirelessly in the drug business nowadays. Major drug companies are racing to develop a Covid-19 vaccine. But Hobbs says it won't be easy to come up with one that works right off the bat. (La Monica, 8/12)
