A recent CVS Health/Morning Consult survey of Americans age 18+ found that mental health concerns are continuing to rise among individuals of all backgrounds, especially Black, age 65+, young adult, and LGBTQIA+ respondents.

Sander Flaum

Looking past COVID, the medical world is in turmoil. It’s hard enough for us in manufacturing and marketing to keep up with innovative technologies. Patients and caregivers have it especially tough since they are on the brunt end of disruptive innovations. Every day, patients face a ceaseless onslaught of sort of truths, half-truths, and flat-out lies about their healthcare, and HCPs no sooner graduate from med school than they discover much of their training is obsolete. Flaum Navigators Principal Sander A. Flaum explores how we can engage patients and physicians in the “Next Big Thing.”

Following the record surge in COVID-19 cases during the Omicron-driven wave, some 58 percent of the U.S. population overall and more than 75 percent of younger children have been infected with the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to a U.S. nationwide blood survey released on April 26.

The head of the World Health Organization on April 26 urged countries to maintain surveillance of coronavirus infections, saying the world was “blind” to how the virus is spreading because of falling testing rates.

Of all the communities touched by the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals (HCPs) are arguably among those most affected. Specialists on the front lines in primary care, critical care, infectious diseases, and pulmonology roles have experienced COVID-19 first hand—often risking their own health and that of their families to help. A new report from Apollo Intelligence provides a barometer on physicians’ sentiments for 2022, and together with other research, frames a wake-up call to medical device and pharma teams in charge of building a brand presence with prescribers.

Novartis’ Sandoz business unit saw a strong financial performance in the first quarter of 2022, with overall sales growth of 8 percent, mostly outside of the United States. Sales for the generics and biosimilar unit benefited from what the company called a normalization of the impacts of COVID-19.

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.

Roche’s first-quarter 2022 sales rose 10 percent on strong U.S. demand for rapid COVID-19 antigen tests and specialty drugs but the Swiss drugmaker reaffirmed that a drop in pandemic-related demand would put the brakes on growth.

CureVac and GSK’s second-generation vaccine candidate targeting two recent COVID-19 variants has been shown to be highly effective in preclinical studies on mice, CureVac said, as the biotech firm seeks to catch up with rivals’ development work.

Moderna plans to submit an application to the U.S. health regulator for emergency use authorization (EUA) of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine among kids between the ages of six months to five years by the end of the month, a company spokesperson said.