COVID-19

A potential decline in mRNA vaccine protection against the Delta variant is raising questions about the need for booster shots in the US. Ocugen Inc. and partner Bharat Biotech hope the changing dynamic of COVID-19 in the US will induce the FDA to reconsider additional clinical trial requirements for Covaxin, an inactivated whole virus vaccine authorized for emergency use in 16 countries. 

Royal Philips’ image-guided therapy business has rebounded, as expected, after the COVID-19 dip, and is now targeting expansion in a number of areas, as business leader Bert van Meurs explains. 

As the global access debate adapts to the stark inequities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool is emerging as a key player on issues ranging from vaccine tech transfer to making more drugs affordable against the spread of non-communicable diseases like cancer to middle- and low-income countries.

More COVID-19 vaccines are beginning to flow into Africa, as coordination between partner organizations and African governmental agencies improves. However, gaps remain in cold chain storage, information flow on the ground is lagging and vaccine hesitancy persists. Also, pandemic-related economic depression in some African countries is jeopardizing procurement and access to vaccines. 

With COVID-19 a residual but still very real issue globally, Novo Holdings asked the big diagnostics question at a recent high-level roundtable: How can stakeholders capitalize on this moment of acute public awareness of diagnostics to improve adoption of tests and screening in the long term? The CEOs of Roche Diagnostics, GE Healthcare, Labcorp and Synlab, among others, gave their thoughts on how the system must change.

Maintaining the positive changes that health care delivery underwent at the height of COVID-19 has been the talk of the health care industries, but will commercial organizations retain their enthusiasm once the pressures of the pandemic abate?

The divide between developed and developing countries for access to health care innovations has been spotlighted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Civil society groups pile on the pressure.

Concern looms in many countries as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise due to the delta variant. Vaccines are having a positive effect, but what is the outlook for those still vulnerable to the virus after inoculation? Not everyone will respond to vaccinations in the same way.

Shaped by Brexit, driven by COVID, squeezed by budgets and being engineered for the future, it seems that almost every element within UK health delivery and market access is undergoing change. How should the medtech industry prepare, and will there be implications beyond the UK?

Legal experts discuss the intricacies around pharma’s demand for indemnity, a key sticking point for supplies of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, and the path forward for countries like India.

Powered by prominent global health philanthropies and the UK’s world-class collaborative capabilities in disease surveillance, the new International COVID-19 Data Alliance (ICODA) is gearing up to address a crucial – and yet unanswered – policy question for public health:  can sharing data curated from a diversity of sources provide the hard evidence needed to improve patient outcomes against the virus – not just for today’s pandemic, but for future ones as well? Much will depend on a robust response from big pharma.

The rise of digital alongside long-established physical methods of care delivery should not give rise to notions of an "either/or" choice, but should rather be seen as an “and,” said Accenture’s Andrew Meade in conversation with In Vivo.

Reaching deep and being resourceful were the in-demand attributes that medtech industry leaders brought to bear when the COVID-19 pandemic stretched health care providers almost to breaking point.

Royal Philips anticipated a degree of negative sentiment from health system managers about the outlook for innovation and progress in health care delivery when it polled the provider C-suite for its 2021 Future Health Index report. It was surprised by the actual outcome.

Kate Broderick, SVP of research and development at INOVIO and one of In Vivo’s 2021 rising leaders, is hopeful that greater collaboration will be the lasting effect of COVID-19.

The pandemic has brightened pharma’s image, but drug pricing is still high on the political agenda. For US and European politicians, the health crisis has heightened the tension between supporting innovation and controlling rising costs.