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Today's Rundown

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Johnson & Johnson takes control at troubled Emergent vaccine plant after major production snafu

Johnson & Johnson is in. Emergent BioSolutions is out—at least when it comes to managing its own plant in Baltimore. After a manufacturing mix-up forced J&J to discard up to 15 million doses of its vaccine made there—and after news emerged of Emergent's history of violations there—the U.S. government stepped in, handing control of the plant to the pharma giant.

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Top Stories

Digital health's red-hot quarter: $6.7B raised in 147 deals

In the first quarter of 2021, investors doubled down on digital health, pouring $6.7 billion into the sector, making it the most-funded quarter to date, according to investment firm Rock Health. Here are four big trends in digital health funding during the quarter.

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England pitches free, nationwide COVID-19 testing twice per week

As it works to get more shots into arms across the country, the U.K. government announced that it would make routine, rapid COVID-19 testing available for free to everyone in England. The plan includes two tests per week starting April 9, with results expected at home within 30 minutes, regardless of whether a person is showing symptoms.

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AstraZeneca is forced to scout for new COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing partner, dealing the launch another setback

The U.S. will help AstraZeneca find a new manufacturer for its COVID-19 vaccine after ordering Johnson & Johnson's takeover of an error-prone Emergent plant in Baltimore.

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Moderna shells out for CEO security as its COVID-19 vaccine grabs the spotlight

Moderna stepped onto the world stage last year when it pivoted its mRNA research to target COVID-19, scaled up manufacturing, staffed up in sales and marketing and then launched a highly effective shot. And under that spotlight, CEO Stéphane Bancel and his team needed backup, Moderna decided.

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COVID-19 accelerates trend of hospitals acquiring ambulatory surgery centers

The pandemic accelerated a trend of hospitals acquiring ambulatory surgery centers as the facilities become more popular among payers and patients.

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Takeda, CSL pandemic plasma therapy fails phase 3, as COVID Alliance axed

A phase 3 clinical trial of concentrated levels of convalescent COVID-19 antibodies has missed its endpoints. The failure marks the end of a CSL Behring-Takeda alliance that set out one year ago to develop a plasma-derived treatment for COVID-19.

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Ortho signs $53.7M government contract to triple its COVID-19 test production

Vaccination rates may be steadily climbing across the country, but companies hope COVID-19 testing won't slow down any time soon. In fact, manufacturers are now ramping up production of antigen and antibody tests, with Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, for one, expecting to triple its output within the next year.

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COVID-19 tracker: India's Panacea to produce Sputnik V shot; U.K. plans nationwide testing program

Panacea Biotech is the latest Indian CDMO to sign up to produce the Sputnik V vaccine. The U.K. will kick off free, twice-a-week COVID testing. A Takeda-CSL Behring COVID treatment has failed a phase 3 test. The Biden administration has turned an error-prone Emergent plant over to J&J to oversee COVID-19 vaccine production. And in a related story, AstraZeneca has lost its capacity at the Emergent plant.

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CEO Dan O'Day, tasked with boosting Gilead's oncology presence, scores $19M for a year focused on COVID

Gilead Sciences didn't bring CEO Dan O’Day on board to usher a COVID-19 antiviral to an FDA approval, but his company’s success in that arena certainly lifted Gilead's fortunes last year. Still, the CEO’s pay package fell quite dramatically year-over-year, thanks to one-time payments he collected in 2019 as incentive to join the drugmaker. 

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OptumCare scaled up its home colon cancer screenings due to COVID-19. Here's how

UnitedHealth Group's OptumCare unit pivoted to care in the home as much as possible under the pandemic.

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Pfizer's Vizimpro is among 3 FDA-approved drugs that combat COVID-19 in lung cells: report

A Penn team found that Pfizer’s lung cancer treatment Vizimpro (dacomitinib), the antibiotic salinomycin and anti-rejection drug cyclosporine inhibited SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory cells. The study also shed light on the varied mechanisms the virus uses to invade different types of cells.

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