pharma & tech 081920

Turning Anger Into Action: Minority Students Analyze COVID Data on Racial Disparities
By Esther Landhuis About 70 college students are enrolled this summer in a program developed by San Francisco researchers and funded by the National Institutes of Health that allows them to explore the pandemic’s impact on communities facing health disparities.

Contact Tracers in Massachusetts Might Order Milk or Help With Rent. Here’s Why.
By Martha Bebinger, WBUR Massachusetts offers support and resources for people isolating because of COVID-19 — helping them make choices that keep everyone safe. Experts say that is work that more states need to fund.

Could Labs That Test Livestock Ease COVID Testing Backlog for People? Well … Maybe.
By Julie Appleby Experts say aid from certain veterinary labs could relieve some of the pressure on commercial and hospital-based labs to lessen the current delays in COVID-19 testing and results, but it is unlikely to be a game changer.

Business Is Booming for Dialysis Giant Fresenius. It Took a $137M Bailout Anyway.
By Jordan Rau and Rachana Pradhan Half of the money the Trump administration gave dialysis companies was collected by Fresenius, an international juggernaut with a robust balance sheet, a KHN analysis has found.

America’s Obesity Epidemic Threatens Effectiveness of Any COVID Vaccine
By Sarah Varney Vaccines engineered to protect the public from influenza, hepatitis B, tetanus and rabies are less effective for obese people, leaving them more vulnerable to serious illness. As scientists race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, experts say obesity could prove an impediment — a sobering prospect for a nation in which nearly half of all adults are obese.

Test Sites Quickly Attract Thousands for COVID-19 Vaccine Study
By Phil Galewitz and JoNel Aleccia People have flooded U.S. testing sites with requests to participate in the pivotal, late-stage clinical trials of the first two COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

COVID Data Failures Create Pressure for Public Health System Overhaul
By Harris Meyer Poor information-sharing between hospitals and public health agencies has hurt the response to the pandemic. Some health care systems and IT companies are making inroads, but an overhaul would cost billions.

With COVID Vaccine Trial, Rural Oregon Clinic Steps Onto World Stage
By JoNel Aleccia A small allergy clinic in Medford, Oregon, might seem an unlikely place to recruit hundreds of volunteers to test the Moderna vaccine against COVID-19. But its steward has a record of leading hundreds of clinical trials.

COVID Testing Choke Points
By Hannah Norman A case study of COVID-19 testing in Sacramento, California, shows that bottlenecks in the testing supply chain this summer limited people’s access to tests and dramatically delayed results. Similar scenarios played out in communities across the country.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Kamala Harris on Health
The Democratic presidential ticket is complete, with Joe Biden’s selection of California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate. Health has not been a major issue for Harris, whose career priority has been the criminal justice system. But expect Republicans to pounce on her on-again, off-again support for “Medicare for All.” Meanwhile, with Congress still in a stalemate over another round of COVID-19 relief, President Donald Trump is trying to use his executive power to do what lawmakers have not — with mixed success. Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health stories of the week they think you should read, too.

What Seniors Can Expect as Their New Normal in a Post-Vaccine World
By Bruce Horovitz Experts say folks 60 and up must continue to limit exposure in the years to come — even after there is a vaccine for COVID-19.

Fauci Unfazed as Scientists Rely on Unproven Methods to Create COVID Vaccines
By Liz Szabo Teams are starting to test vaccines using messenger RNA or chimpanzee cold viruses to inoculate humans. Will their benefits last?

Don’t Fall for This Video: Hydroxychloroquine Is Not a COVID-19 Cure
By Daniel Funke, PolitiFact This statement is taken from a video in which a group of doctors air unproven conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. Dr. Immanuel's claims were among the most inaccurate. And, before it was removed from social media platforms, thee video was viewed millions of times. President Donald Trump retweeted it.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Republicans in COVID Disarray
President Donald Trump’s sobering view of COVID-19 didn’t last long – this week, he was back to pushing hydroxychloroquine, a drug that has been shown not to work in treating the virus. Meanwhile, Republicans on Capitol Hill are still scrambling to agree among themselves and with the White House on the next coronavirus relief bill, as both a moratorium on evictions and extra unemployment payments expire. And the debate over drug prices, which was going to be one of the biggest health issues of this election year, makes a brief appearance. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews KHN’s Markian Hawryluk, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” story about a surprise bill from a surprise surgical assistant.

Public Health Experts Fear a Hasty FDA Signoff on Vaccine
By Arthur Allen The FDA must approve any coronavirus vaccine before it’s widely distributed, but political pressure could cloud the decision.