Bloomberg reports that Johnson & Johnson now expects to receive Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization for its single dose COVID-19 vaccination in late February or early March 2021 which is later than initially anticipated.
J&J’s vaccine offers advantages in ease of distribution and administration [over the currently authorized Pfizer and Moderna vaccines]. Health systems have been navigating relatively complex two-shot campaigns for vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. J&J’s shot will likely protect people with a single dose, and can be stored at refrigerator temperatures for three months; the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines must be frozen. Speaking Wednesday at a JPMorgan Healthcare Conference event, [Moncef] Slaoui said he expects the J&J shot to have 80% to 85% efficacy, surpassing the objective the company outlined in its clinical trial design.
Speaking of the virtual annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, the National Law Review reports on Day 1 of the conference here and Day 2 of the conference there. Take a gander at this interesting tidbit from Day 1
[Blue Shield of California CEO] Paul Markovich spoke to the need for real-time quality information that can result in real-time feedback and incentivization to physicians and other providers, rather than the costly and slow HEDIS pursuits we see today. One health plan noted that it spends about $500 million a year going into physician offices looking at medical records for HEDIS pursuits, but the information is totally “in the rearview mirror” as it is too old when finally received and digested to allow for real-time treatment changes, improvement or planning. Markovich suggested four initiatives (including the above, pay for value and shared decision making through better, more open data access) that he thought could save $100 billion per year for the country. Markovich stressed that all of these four initiatives required a digital ecosystem and asked for help and partnership in creating one. He also noted that the State of California is close to creating a digital mandate and statewide health information exchange that could be the launching point for this exciting vision of data sharing and a digital ecosystem where the electronic health record is the beginning, but not the end of the healthcare data journey.
Health Payer Intelligence informs us that
The tension between payers and pharmaceutical companies over drug pricing has carried into 2021, as evidenced by a press release from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) criticizing pharmaceutical companies for January 2021 drug pricing increases.
“Americans are being hurt by out-of-control drug prices, which are set and fully controlled by Big Pharma alone,” Matt Eyles, president and chief executive officer of AHIP, said in a related blog post.
“The incoming Biden-Harris administration should focus on bipartisan, workable solutions to protect patients, taxpayers, and all Americans from higher drug prices, especially in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.”
Meanwhile STAT News reports that
In an unexpected move, the high-profile billionaire [Mark Cuban] has launched the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which its website says is “dedicated to producing low-cost versions of high-cost generic drugs” and claims that everyone will get the same low price for every drug it makes.
As part of its mission, the company pledged to provide “radical transparency” about its manufacturing, distribution, and marketing costs. The plan is to add a flat 15% margin to wholesale prices to ensure profitability, but Cuban also promised there will be no hidden costs, no middlemen, and no rebates available only to insurers.
“This is our first step towards taking on the pricing of generic drugs,” Cuban tweeted in announcing the company, which will start by producing a medicine to treat parasites, but plans to introduce more than 100 other medicines by the end of 2021. There are also plans to build a factory in Dallas by next year, according to its web site.
The article reminds us that
[In 2018] several large hospital systems form[ed] Civica Rx, a nonprofit that contracts with manufacturers to ensure sufficient supplies to hospitals across the U.S. The idea is to entice companies, which make injectable and infused medicines but have a minimum amount of sales, to ramp up investment in production. The Civica network, which began with $100 million in capital and loans from three philanthropic organizations, now has more than 50 health systems that represent more than 1,200 hospitals and over 30% of all licensed U.S. hospital beds. The nonprofit is also teaming with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and 18 of its health plans to supply copycat medicines and combat rising prices.
Bleeping Computer provides us with an update on the SolarWinds backdoor hack, including an explanation of how the hack was implemented and the hacker’s various malware strains.
A week ago, the FBI, CISA, and the NSA also disclosed in a joint statement that a Russian-backed Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group is likely behind the SolarWinds hack.
“The U.S. government and many private-sector experts have stated the belief that a foreign nation-state conducted this intrusive operation as part of a widespread attack against America’s cyberinfrastructure,” SolarWinds CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna said today.
“To date, our investigations have not independently verified the identity of the perpetrators.”