A new study has found that hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug recommended by President Trump as a possible treatment for coronavirus, does not help patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Vietnam Airlines pilot one of only two serious cases in country with mass testing regime

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

A 43-year-old British man may undergo a lung transplant in Vietnam, where he is critically ill with Covid-19.

The man, a Vietnam Airlines pilot, developed a fever and cough on 17 March, and was later admitted to Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

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Dimitar Berbatov says Jose Mourinho broke government guidelines to meet with Tanguy Ndombele because the manager is "impatient for football to return".

As vulnerable patients arrive at one hospital's psychiatric ward with just the clothes on their back, a support service is ensuring access to free, clean garments of their choice.

A team of scientists studied more than 1,300 patients admitted to a hospital for COVID-19

Snap's stock took a tumble after a disappointing year-end earnings report, but analysts say there's ample reason to think the company's upward trajectory will continue.

A recent survey from the George Washington University suggests that patients do not take social media into consideration when looking for a dermatologist and recommend that practitioners should use social media as a tool in engaging and educating patients.

The first study to report use of the rheumatoid arthritis drug anakinra to treat COVID-19 patients found that high-dose anakinra was safe and was associated with respiratory improvements and reduced signs of cytokine storm [1] in 72% (21/29) of patients, according to results from patients studied for 21 days (enrolled from 17 to 27 March 2020) in a Milan hospital, published in The Lancet Rheumatology journal.

New modeling of coronavirus behavior suggests that an intervention strategy based on shield immunity could reduce the risk of allowing the higher levels of human interaction needed to support expanded economic activity.

Olanzapine, a generic drug used to treat nervous, emotional and mental conditions, also may help patients with advanced cancer successfully manage nausea and vomiting unrelated to chemotherapy. These are the findings of a study published Thursday, May 7, 2020 in JAMA Oncology.

A new antigen test for detecting COVID-19 can return results within 15 minutes. Researchers who evaluated the assay, which was developed by a biotech company in Belgium, say it could help with patient diagnostics in areas hardest hit by the pandemic. While not as sensitive as tests that use viral RNA to detect the presence of an antigen, the COVID-19 Ag Respi-Strip test could be a useful tool in slowing the spread of the virus.

A Texas A&M AgriLife Research team has good news for patients with copper-deficiency disorders, especially young children diagnosed with Menkes disease.

Hospitals in London and Birmingham have been supplied with fourteen units of convalescent plasma to see if it helps people who are battling

There are 50 beds inside Geelong's new coronavirus hospital, but the team who worked around the clock to hastily prepare this facility aren't bothered that they so far haven't seen a single patient.

The spread of today's scourge may seem breathtaking in its scale and carnage, but in some ways we are lucky. We could be dealing with a modern-day plague with global deaths measured in their hundreds of millions.

As a medical oncologist in Connecticut, Dr. Justin Persico was all too aware of the people he treats, who would be at greater risk for exposure to the virus.

Une étude rapporte que les patients cancéreux sont jusqu’à 6 fois plus à risque de développer des complications sévères et de décéder de la Covid-19.

(MedPage Today) -- You make the call

(MedPage Today) -- Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who received a combination therapy with three antivirals -- protease inhibitor lopinavir-ritonavir (Kaletra), nucleoside analogue ribavirin, and injectable interferon beta-1b (Betaseron...

The coronavirus pandemic is threatening Mexico's fragile public health infrastructure.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, many healthcare facilities around the world are inundated with critically ill patients, and resources such as equipment and staff are stretched thin. Shortages of critical equipment, such as ventilators, can mean the difference between life and death for patients, and the need to keep critically ill patients comfortable and alive […]

VitalConnect announced that it has received FDA Emergency Use Authorization status for use of its VitalPatch to detect changes in the QT interval of hospitalized patients undergoing drug treatment for COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, used to treat some COVID-19 patients, are associated with risk of prolonged QT interval that can lead to life-threatening arrhythmias. VitalPatch allows […]

HealthBeacon, a medication adherence technology company, has launched a new Covid-19 support offering for patients on injectable therapies.

The companies are committing to find ways to use their businesses to help patients with cancer.

Two different groups of researchers have shown that electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, combined with months of intense training, can allow some people who have been paralyzed to regain some walking ability.

The solutions enable continuous remote monitoring of body temperature and other vitals, either at home or in care centers, for clinical trials.

The technology enables sponsors to continue gathering cardiac data for clinical trials without interruption or risk to patient safety.

RESCHEDULED: This event has been rescheduled for November 11-13, 2020. Click here to learn more.

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Informa Connect-CBI’s Patient Support Services Congress
June 16-18, 2020 | The Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village | Princeton, NJ
www.informaconnect.com/patient-support-services-congress

Informa Connect-CBI’s Patient Support Services Congress is a comprehensive meeting for insightful and engaging dialogue around navigating compliance hurdles while strengthening and innovating patient-oriented programs.

Visit www.informaconnect.com/patient-support-services-congress for more information. Drug Channels readers will save $500 off the standard registration rate when they use code BNP667*.

Download the agenda here and see in-depth coverage on industry trends and next-generation patient services, such as:

• Critical Regulatory Updates and Effective Strategies for Monitoring & Oversight
• Novel Approaches to Services, Program Architecture and Operational Management
• The pros and cons of different support service models
• Measuring the Success of Patient Support Programs
• Innovation, AI, Changing Distribution Models and Market Mergers
• Transparency with Charitable Organizations

Create Your Own Customized Learning Experience for 2020!

Choose from Two In-Depth Tracks

• Legal and Compliance
• Innovation and Operations

Plus! Four Tailored Summits

• Summit A: Patient Adherence – Educate, Engage and Collaborate to Enhance Outcomes
• Summit B: Case Management for Novel and Innovative Therapies
• Summit C: Strategic Planning for Product Launch
• Summit D: Primer Course for Partnering with Patients

Leading Perspectives from Industry Trendsetters:

• Robert Britting, Director, Patient Services and Strategic Solutions, Teva Pharmaceuticals
• Stella Vnook, Chief Executive Officer, Diverse Biotech
• Katherine Chaurette, Vice President healthcare Law and Compliance, Blueprint Medicines
• Kimberly Goldberg, Director, U.S Data Privacy Counsel, Novartis
• Imtiaz Hussain, Senior Director, Patient Services, Bayer
• Cory Potomis, Associate Director, Ethics & Compliance Operations, Novo Nordisk, Inc.
• And so many more!

Visit www.informaconnect.com/patient-support-services-congress for more information. Drug Channels readers will save $500 off the standard registration rate when they use code BNP667*.

*Offer applies to standard rates only and may not be combined with other offers, category rates, promotions or applied to an existing registration. Offer not valid on workshop only or academic/non-profit registrations.

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The content of Sponsored Posts does not necessarily reflect the views of Pembroke Consulting, Inc., Drug Channels, or any of its employees.

Today’s guest post comes from Rob Brown, Vice President and General Manager of RxCrossroads by McKesson and Biologics by McKesson.

Rob discusses the importance of access, adherence, and affordability for specialty therapy patients who are uninsured, underinsured, or low-income. He describes three criteria companies should use to evaluate patient assistance program solutions.

Click here to learn more about program pharmacy solutions for biopharma from RxCrossroads by McKesson.

Read on for Rob’s insights.
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I hope you are staying healthy and are managing to navigate your work-at-home mandates.

Last week, I tapped the collective insights of the Drug Channels’ audience. Nearly 700 readers shared their perspectives and projections for how the coronavirus pandemic could ultimately affect behavior, policy, and industry structure. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond.

I will share the results over three articles this week:

• Today, in Part 1, I will review the responses relating to patient behavior, pharmacies, and wholesalers. 
• In Part 2 (tomorrow), I’ll focus on expectations for pharmaceutical manufacturers and third-party payment. 
• In Part 3 (Thursday), I’ll examine how the coronavirus may affect the public perception of the industry’s participants.

P.S. A special shout out to the respondent who hoped that the coronavirus would not impact the quality of Drug Channels memes. Never fear, dear readers: Drug Channels will remain the internet’s top destination for pharmaceutical-related humor!
Read more »

Today’s guest post comes from David Holladay, President of CoverMyMeds and Austin Raper, Healthcare Writer at CoverMyMeds.

First, David discusses how CoverMyMeds supports medication access. Then, Austin highlights key findings from CoverMyMeds’ 2020 Medication Access Report. This new report includes industry research, patient interviews, novel survey data, and strategies for boosting patients’ medication access.

Read on for David’s and Austin’s insights.
Read more »

Today’s guest post comes from Scott Dulitz, Chief Strategy Officer at TrialCard. Scott discusses how combining payer intelligence with market-leading technology can enhance patient access.

TrialCard recently acquired Policy Reporter, a healthcare software solutions company that provides payer intelligence to the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries. To learn more, schedule a demo of Policy Reporter or contact Scott (scott.dulitz@trialcard.com).

You can also register for Trialcard’s upcoming webinar: Leveraging Payer Intelligence in Patient Service Programs.

Read on for Scott’s insights.
Read more »

Today’s guest post comes from Miranda Gill, Senior Director of Provider Network at CoverMyMeds.

Miranda reviews how the pandemic affects the ability of healthcare workers to complete administrative responsibilities like prior authorization. She then outlines how electronic automation is helping patients get needed medications while face-to-face interactions are restricted.

Learn more about healthcare IT solutions for providers and patients in CoverMyMeds’ 2020 Medication Access Report, or schedule a virtual meeting.
Read more »

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while I prepare for this Friday’s video webinar: Industry Update and COVID-19 Impact: PBMs & Payers.

Today's rerun highlights one of the most effective tactics that PBMs have developed to extract deeper discounts from brand-name drug makers. COVID-19 seems likely shift the U.S. payer mix away from commercial health plans. Expect even tighter formulary management and more restrictions as PBMs work even harder to cut costs for their plan sponsor clients.

Click here to see the original post and comments from January 2020.

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For 2020, the two largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)—Express Scripts and the Caremark business of CVS Health—have again increased the number of drugs they have excluded from their standard formularies. The 2020 formulary exclusion lists are available below for your downloading pleasure.

Below, I highlight my key takeaways from the 2020 lists:

• The number of exclusions

• Management of specialty drugs

• Indication-based formularies

• The slow adoption of biosimilars

• The PBMs’ patient-unfriendly exclusions in the hepatitis C category

Formulary exclusions have emerged as a powerful tool for PBMs to gain additional negotiating leverage against manufacturers. The prospect of exclusion leads manufacturers to offer deeper rebates to avoid being cut from the formulary. Exclusions are therefore a key factor behind falling brand-name net drug prices.

Read on for a look at this year’s exclusions along with some closing thoughts on what exclusions mean for patients.
Read more »

The FDA has released a safety communication reiterating the need for doctors to closely monitor COVID-19 patients who are treated with either hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine.

Sanofi’s MedQuadfi Meningococcal Conjugate Vaccine has scored FDA approval for the prevention of invasive meningococcal disease, becoming the first and only product available in the US for this indication in patients of at least two years old.

The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety have approved a local trial to evaluate nafamostat’s effectiveness in COVID-19 patients.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) wrote a letter to Republican Arizona Governor Doug Ducey urging the wider use of hydroxychloroquine, based on data they have collected.

The first findings of two new studies have been revealed detailing the efficacy of Gilead’s antiviral therapy remdesivir in the treatment of patients hospitalised with COVID-19.

British scientists are testing an experimental drug to help some of society’s most vulnerable fight off the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Gilead’s antiviral therapy remdesivir has shown tentatively promising efficacy in the race to find an effective treatment for COVID-19, one of the only therapies to do so at this early stage of the pandemic. Now, the FDA has invoked its Emergency Use Authorization powers to approve the drug for the treatment of patients hospitalised with the novel coronavirus.

South Korea says that remdesivir, traditionally used in treating Ebola, may not be effective enough in treating COVID-19 patients.