Is starting with $3 billion a better way to make new drugs?
Category: pharma & healthcare
Stripping Covid’s Camouflage
The SARS-CoV-2 virus is equipped with various tricks to bypass the host immune system. A recent study by Park et al. discusses one such trick, the formation of viral RNA’s five prime cap.
Covid-19 Infection Increases Heart Disease Risk, Even In Mild Cases
A new study demonstrates that infection with Covid-19 appears to impact the risk of cardiovascular events up to 12 months post infection, even in those who weren’t hospitalized or had mild cases. Risks increased regardless of age, race, sex or other ca…
Covid-19 Damage To The Male Reproductive Tract
Animal studies in monkeys and hamsters show that Covid-19 can inflict serious damage to the male reproductive organs. Damage includes low sperm count, shrunken testicles, erectile dysfunction, and decreased testosterone levels. Preliminary evidence su…
Medicare National Coverage Determination For Lung Cancer Screening Substantially Expands Eligibility
Last month, CMS announced its final decision regarding expansion of reimbursement eligibility for annual lung cancer screening with low dose computed tomography. CMS is lowering the eligible age for smokers from 55 to 50, and reducing pack-year smoking…
Antibody-Activated Endothelial Cells Increase the Risk of Blood Clots with Covid-19
Antiphospholipid antibodies activity may help explain hypercoagulation associated with late stages of Covid-19 and long-haul disease. Blood samples from nearly 250 individuals hospitalized for Covid-19 found that these “rouge” antibodies activate endot…
Covid Ping-Pong: Human To Deer, Deer To Human
Here we describe a recent paper by Pickering et al. that describes a series of SARS-CoV-2 sequences originating in white-tailed deer highly divergent from previous variants, with as many as 76 consensus nucleotide mutations from the original Wuhan virus.
Updated CDC Prescription Opioid Guidelines Appear More Flexible And Patient-Centric, But Fall Short
CDC has issued an updated draft guidance on prescription opioids that accounts to some degree for the changing landscape of the opioid crisis. The recommendations acknowledge the importance of a more patient-centric approach to pain management. Nonethe…
If Medicare Part D Redesign Ever Happens, It Could Lead To Lower Prescription Drug Prices
Build Back Better probably isn’t completely dead. Parts of it may be resurrected. Given its bipartisan support, it’s likely that Medicare Part D restructuring would constitute an integral component of any passable legislation, which would likely exert …
Covid-19 Pathogenesis: Spike Protein Alone Can Damage Cells
New research indicates that SARS-CoV-2 may be able to impact viral pathogenesis without entering host cells— extracellular binding of the spike protein to host ACE2 has the potential to alter both cell physiology and expression of viral proteins.
