Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Report Of A Coronavirus-Related Drug Shortage Could Herald Things To Come
The United States has its first novel coronavirus-related drug shortage, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The maker of an unnamed drug that has recently been added to the FDA Drug Shortages list told the agency that the shortage is due to the novel coronavirus.On Tuesday, the FDA warned that these types of shortages could happen, and said it was monitoring the situation closely. The agency identified 20 drugs that either solely sourced their active pharmaceutical ingredients, or produced finished drug products, from or in China. (Christensen, 2/28)
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said the agency has been "closely monitoring" the medical product supply chain "with the expectation" that the outbreak of the novel coronavirus would "likely" have an impact. "A manufacturer has alerted us to a shortage of a human drug that was recently added to the drug shortages list," Hahn said in a statement Thursday night. "The manufacturer just notified us that this shortage is related to a site affected by coronavirus. The shortage is due to an issue with manufacturing of an active pharmaceutical ingredient used in the drug." (Windsor, 2/28)
Meanwhile —
A push by Democratic leaders to ensure the availability of low-cost vaccines could complicate negotiations on an emergency funding bill to combat the deadly disease caused by a coronavirus. There is no vaccine yet to combat the COVID-19 disease that has spread around the globe from China. But lawmakers are eager to ensure that any future vaccine doesn’t become subject to price gouging that would deny people access to it. (Lerman and Siddons, 2/27)
Health-care firms searching for treatments and accurate tests for the coronavirus are extending a surge that has added more than $26 billion to their market value this week. Gilead Sciences Inc., the largest company to see its share price jump in response to its plans to combat the virus, has added $9.7 billion to its value this week alone. Moderna Inc., a drug developer with an eye on a potential vaccine, extended a 90% rally to a record, adding more than $6 billion to its value this week. (Lipschultz, 2/27)
