COVID-19

UK special envoy on antimicrobial resistance Professor Dame Sally Davies, who is also the former chief medical officer for England, talks to In Vivo about the challenges of 2020, the importance of a strong working relationship between the public and private sectors, and reaching a turning point on AMR.

The annual J.P. Morgan Health Care Conference has come to a close. In Vivo has summarized some of the key themes to appear from 2021’s virtual meeting of industry leaders, investors and technology creators.

The COVID-19 pandemic is serving as a catalyst to draw attention to other destructive infectious diseases that continue to ravage communities across the world. This is to be welcomed, but we must also ask what we have learnt from our recent experiences that can be deployed to help accelerate approaches to fighting other, similarly devastating, established and emerging infectious diseases.

Last year Bristol Myers Squibb teamed up with GRYT Health to create a virtual conference and information hub geared toward connecting patients and advocates with industry leaders, clinicians and other health experts. In 2021, the COVID Advocacy Exchange will create formal working groups to address ongoing needs identified by the Exchange’s growing number of users.

Coronavirus has definitively changed health care delivery and the perceptions of health technologies and digital ecosystems. Industry will need to adjust to the aftermath of COVID-19, take opportunities and learn lessons from 2020 or 2021 could be every inch as challenging.

A singular focus on defeating COVID-19 will likely dominate the biopharma agenda at the beginning of 2021 and will determine how quickly the industry, and world, can bounce back to something like normalcy. New digital capabilities and learnings will continue to emerge as the pandemic ebbs, and strong industry balance sheets will keep the deal volume moving, according to experts and executives.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout, pharmaceutical companies could face a range of measures designed to cut government spending on medicines. From relaxing intellectual property rights to delaying reimbursement, In Vivo examines what might be in store for industry.

Guidelines outline permitted practices and patient safeguards for both physicians and technology platforms.

Executives at Pfizer and Moderna expressed confidence in their US government partners for initial COVID-19 vaccine distribution and expect pediatric studies to begin before the end of the year. Regeneron will “do the right thing” in pricing its antibody cocktail.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered extraordinary levels of collaboration. But competition remains, and many newly created coalitions have yet to be stress tested.

Months of pandemic-induced disruption to health care systems and freedom of movement undoubtedly carries a cost. For the biopharmaceutical industry, this can be mitigated by its essential role in providing therapeutic interventions and leading the fightback via prophylactic vaccines. This softens the blow somewhat, certainly compared to other industries that are fully exposed to COVID-19 headwinds.

RSNA is the next major global medtech event to be run under a virtual format this fall. Under COVID-19, the major medtechs are finding different ways to demonstrate value, as Royal Philips explains.

COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of telehealth, but lasting change will only happen once digital health is institutionalized in health system work flows, says Teladoc Health’s Joe DeVivo.

Supply chain expert outlines to In Vivo how pharma can create resilient and secure supply chains and some benefits of localization.

The global COVID-19 crisis has presented a chance for industry to improve its reputation by highlighting the value of its R&D engines. Pharma executives and observers outline why they are optimistic about a chance to regain public trust.

GlamorousAI is developing technology to uncover new targets and take on previously intractable disease challenges. Founder Noor Shaker hopes to license a drug to big pharma within the next three years.