Well over one quarter of state legislators nationwide have accepted campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry since the start of 2019. A first-ever study of the industry’s influence on state legislative campaigns, conducted by STAT in partnership with the National Institute on Money in Politics, also reports that pharma has donated more than $5 million to these campaigns during the past two years. (STAT)
Pfizer announced that it wouldn’t seek emergency authorization of its coronavirus vaccine before the third week of November. CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said that it would take at least until then before the company could collect the necessary safety and manufacturing data. (The New York Times)
Remdesivir failed to prevent deaths from the virus and to substantially effect the length of a coronavirus patient’s hospital stay in a large multinational trial, according to a study sponsored by the World Health Organization. That judgment about the data was disputed by the drug’s manufacturer, Gilead, which claimed that the study’s findings were “inconsistent with more robust evidence.” (Reuters)
Open Orphan ORPH.L is having advanced talks with the British government to create and provide strains of the coronavirus. If the pharmaceutical services group and the government agree on a contract, human challenge trials of COVID-19 vaccines, in which volunteers would be infected with the virus, could begin soon. (Reuters)
The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can thrive throughout the year, even in warm, humid climes, according to a new study published in Nature. It found that environmental factors, such as humidity and temperature, don’t affect the coronavirus as much as other viruses that do best in the dry, cold winter months. (WebMD)
