Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Early-Stage Vaccine Testing Ignites Optimism That One Might Be Available 'Mid To Late Winter Of Next Season'
Three potential COVID-19 vaccines are making fast progress in early-stage testing in volunteers in China and the U.S., but it’s still a long road to prove if they’ll really work. China’s CanSino Biologics has begun the second phase of testing its vaccine candidate, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology said Tuesday. In the U.S., a shot made by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. isn’t far behind. The first person to receive that experimental vaccine last month returned to a Seattle clinic Tuesday for a second dose. (Neergaard, 4/15)
A San Francisco health startup is launching a new website to help people participate in clinical studies working on potential treatments for COVID-19 or a vaccine for the coronavirus that causes it. Backers say the free site, worldwithoutcovid.org, is for those who have tested positive for the coronavirus and those who have not. The goal is to make it easier for anyone to participate in a study, helping to speed up the process of developing new drugs or a vaccine — two crucial steps in the world’s fight against the pandemic. (Morris, 4/14)
From a century-old blood plasma therapy to an anti-malarial drug called hydroxychloroquine, the scientific community is exploring new ways to leverage existing treatments in the fight against the novel coronavirus. The latest surprising lead for researchers is an antiparasitic drug called ivermectin, sometimes used to treat head lice. (Bhatt and Bruggeman, 4/14)
Although would-be COVID-19 therapies like the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and the failed Ebola drug remdesivir have drummed up excitement as potentially life-saving treatments, a comprehensive review of available data finds that it's still too early to tell. The review, published in JAMA on April 13, 2020, summarizes what's currently known about medical therapies used to treat COVID-19, concluding that "no therapies have been shown effective to date." (Kung, 4/14)
Kaiser Health News: A Desperate Scramble As COVID-19 Families Vie For Access To Plasma TherapyÂ
Stephen Garcia’s family is frantic. The auto body worker, just 32 years old, has been on a ventilator in a Los Angeles-area hospital for nearly two weeks, gravely ill with COVID-19, unresponsive — and unaware of the battle they’re waging on his behalf. For days, Garcia’s mother, his aunt and his girlfriend have pleaded with doctors at Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center to try an experimental treatment — blood plasma from people recovered from COVID-19 — in hopes of saving his life. (Aleccia, 4/15)
