Paxlovid

Rising COVID-19 cases are driving up the use of therapeutics, with Pfizer Inc.’s oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid seeing a 315 percent jump over the past four weeks, U.S. health officials said on May 17.

The United States will share technologies used to make COVID-19 vaccines through the World Health Organization and is working to expand rapid testing and antiviral treatments for hard-to-reach populations, President Joe Biden said on May 12.

Just as Emergent BioSolutions looked to be making some headway in course corrections following a production mishap that ruined millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, new information indicates the Maryland-based company sought to hide the deficiencies from federal regulators, all while touting its manufacturing capabilities, according to a BioSpace article.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is aiming to expand access to COVID-19 oral antiviral treatments like Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid by doubling the number of locations at which they are available, the White House said on April 26.

The U.S. government will run out of supplies of COVID-19 treatments known as monoclonal antibodies as soon as late May and will have to scale back plans to get more unless Congress provides more funding, the White House said on March 15.

The three largest U.S. drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson agreed to finalize a proposed $26 billion settlement resolving claims by states and local governments that they helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic.

President Joe Biden said on February 18 the U.S. national emergency declared in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be extended beyond March 1 due to the ongoing risk to public health posed by the coronavirus.

U.S. health officials said on February 16 they are preparing for the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic as Omicron-related cases decline, including updating CDC guidance on mask-wearing and shoring up U.S. testing capacity.

Biogen Inc. is urging Medicare to broadly reimburse the company’s recently authorized Alzheimer’s drug, in response to a proposal by the U.S. government to sharply limit coverage of new drugs for the brain-wasting disease.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has hit companies unevenly, some biopharma firms that have produced new drugs or vaccines against the disease have shown big spikes in drug sales. BioSpace reviewed five companies that produced non-vaccine treatments for COVID-19.