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Today's Rundown

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AstraZeneca scrambles to update COVID-19 vaccine data after NIH flags 'concerns' about Monday's triumphant release

AstraZeneca’s vaccine prospects were looking up Monday when the company reported solid results from a new phase 3 trial it needed to win U.S. approval. Then, sometime after midnight, U.S. officials took the rare step of publicly questioning whether those data were actually complete.

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Ro clinches $500M series D to scale telehealth, online pharmacy, in-home care services

Digital health company Ro has raised half a billion dollars to scale up its platform that includes online pharmacy services, telehealth and in-home care. The round values New York City-based Ro at $5 billion, according to media reports.

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Catalent's Bloomington plant cleared to turn out J&J's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine: reports

The FDA blessed Catalent's Bloomginton, Indiana, facility with an emergency nod to produce the active ingredient for Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine and ship out finished doses, Bloomberg first reported Tuesday. The CDMO could subsequently release millions of vials that have already been packaged and inspected.

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Again? AstraZeneca faces vaccine PR problems as regulators push back on data and pundits shake their heads

AstraZeneca is staring down another public relations ordeal as U.S. regulators push back on the COVID-19 vaccine data it released Monday to much fanfare. At issue? The wording of a press release, which so troubled a key trial monitoring committee that U.S. officials sent out their own skeptical statement in the middle of the night.

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Regeneron, Roche COVID-19 antibody cocktail slashes hospitalizations and tackles variants in phase 3

A combination of two antibodies, casirivimab and imdevimab, lowered the risk of hospitalization or death by 70% in a phase 3 trial in high-risk patients with COVID-19, Regeneron and its partner Roche said. The drug combo also retained its potency against five major variants of concern.

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DoorDash to stock COVID-19 test kits for home delivery

The people who bring you lunch can now also deliver a COVID-19 diagnostic test, as screening for the pandemic disease continues to become a more ubiquitous part of everyday life.

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AHA: Senate to vote this week to extend moratorium on Medicare sequester cuts

The Senate is likely to consider this week legislation to extend a moratorium on a 2% cut to Medicare payments, top American Hospital Association officials told reporters.

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COVID-19 tracker: Texas to open vaccines to all adults; Germany tightens pandemic restrictions

Texas will become the fourth state to open vaccinations to all adults, well ahead of President Biden's May 1 target for all states. With Europe facing a third COVID wave, Germany has tightened restrictions. Regeneron and Roche revealed strong data for their COVID-19 antibody cocktail. AstraZeneca's latest vaccine misstep piles onto the company's public relations problems.

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DaVita, Fresenius team up to bring dialysis care out of their clinics and into the home

The two largest dialysis providers in the U.S. are teaming up to pursue a business proposition that might seem antithetical in nearly any other field or at any other time outside of a worldwide pandemic. They aim to help get patients out of their respective clinics and have them access treatment from inside their own homes.

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Pfizer, after success in COVID-19, will go solo to develop other mRNA vaccines, CEO Bourla says

After developing a coronavirus vaccine with partner BioNTech in record time, Pfizer will attempt to apply mRNA technology to the development of other vaccines on its own, CEO Albert Bourla said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

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AstraZeneca eyes April OK for Dutch COVID-19 vaccine plant at heart of European vaccine supply row

Europe could soon approve the Dutch plant ensnared in the AstraZeneca vaccine spat between the EU and the U.K., Rudd Dobber, president of the company's BioPharmaceuticals business, said. The facility, run by AZ's manufacturing partner Halix, would supply vaccines to both Britain and the EU.

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Premas, Oramed unite to found oral COVID-19 vaccine startup

Premas Biotech and Oramed have joined forces to start an oral COVID-19 vaccine startup, Oravax Medical. The biotech starts life with exclusive licenses from both companies and plans to get into the clinic in the second quarter.

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