Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Researchers Race To Create More Potent Drug Cocktail Using Remdesivir As The Base
The Wall Street Journal: Gilead’s Remdesivir Tested With Other Drugs To Fight Covid-19
The promise and limitations of remdesivir, the first drug to prove capable of helping fight Covid-19, have kicked off efforts to see if it can work better in combination with other treatments and to create new, easier methods of administering it. Researchers are exploring whether the drug, made by Gilead Sciences Inc., can be combined with other antiviral treatments to make a more potent coronavirus-fighting cocktail. Six Covid-19 drug trials currently under way specify testing remdesivir with another medicine, according to Informa Pharma Intelligence. (Walker, 5/13)
Stat: Gilead Signs Deals For Generic Companies To Make And Sell Remdesivir
Seeking to blunt concerns about access to its remdesivir treatment for Covid-19, Gilead Sciences (GILD) signed deals with five generic companies in India and Pakistan to manufacture and distribute the experimental medicine to 127 countries. Under the agreements, the companies can set their own prices, but will not have to pay royalties to Gilead until the World Health Organization declares an end to the public health emergency for the novel coronavirus, or until another medicine or vaccine is approve to treat or prevent Covid-19. The companies include Cipla, Hetero Labs, Jubilant Lifesciences, Mylan, and Ferozsons. (Silverman, 5/12)
And in other treatment news —
Reuters: A Tale Of Two Japanese Drugs In Tests To Fight COVID-19
In the global hunt for coronavirus treatments, a Japanese antiviral medicine known as Avigan has won plaudits from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and $128 million in government funding. But it’s not the only game in town. Camostat, a 35-year old pancreatitis drug made by Osaka-based Ono Pharmaceutical Co, has captured the interest of scientists in Japan and overseas with little fanfare or state assistance. (Swift and Soares, 5/12)
Detroit Free Press: NanoBio Protect Nasal Antiseptic Kills Coronavirus, Company Says
With the blessing of British scientists, a Michigan bio-pharmaceutical company is hitting the market with an over-the-counter nasal antiseptic that it says has killed COVID-19 in lab tests. Neither the Center for Disease Control nor the FDA have conducted trials to know whether the antiseptic can actually kill COVID-19. And the makers stress: "It's not a cure." (Baldas, 5/12)
Reuters: UK Researchers Try To Crack Genetic Riddle Of COVID-19
British researchers will study the genes of thousands of ill COVID-19 patients to try to crack one of the most puzzling riddles of the novel coronavirus: why does it kill some people but give others not even a mild headache? Researchers from across the United Kingdom will sequence the genetic code of people who fell critically ill with COVID-19 and compare their genomes with those who were mildly ill or not ill at all. (Faulconbridge, 5/12)
