The first approved COVID-19 drug is far from 'amazing'

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The coronavirus pandemic is overwhelming the US yet again, with the country recording its 2 worst-ever days of infection over the weekend.

"We are not going to control the pandemic," White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Sunday on CNN.

Also in healthcare news: Gilead's set to make billions on a drug that's far from "amazing", AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have restarted vaccine trials in the US, and universal masking could save 130,000.

Gilead is set to sell billions of dollars of a coronavirus drug that's far from 'amazing' after the US approved remdesivir to treat COVID-19

• Gilead Sciences is poised to sell billions of dollars worth of the first COVID-19 treatment approved by US regulators, despite mixed evidence on whether or not the drug actually works.
• A trial conducted earlier this year found hospitalized COVID-19 patients taking remdesivir recovered modestly faster than those on getting a placebo. The study did not find that the drug reduced deaths in a statistically meaningful way.
• Despite the uncertainty on its efficacy, Wall Street analysts expect the drug to bring in more than $4 billion in revenue over 2020 and 2021.

Read the full story from Andrew Dunn here>>

AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson get FDA green light to resume coronavirus vaccine trials in the US after participants got sick

• Two major coronavirus vaccine trials — one by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, the other by Johnson & Johnson — will resume coronavirus vaccine trials in the US, the companies announced Friday.
• AstraZeneca's late-stage trial had paused September 6 after the company reported "suspected serious adverse reaction" in a UK-based participant.
• Johnson & Johnson halted trials on October 12 after a participant developed an unexplained illness.
• The UK resumed clinical trials for AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford vaccines in September, and in Japan earlier this month.

Read the full story from Allana Akhtar here>>

Universal mask-wearing could save 130,000 US lives before March, mitigating the worst of this 3rd coronavirus surge

• The US's total coronavirus deaths could surpass 511,000 by the end of February, according to a new University of Washington model.
• Nearly 130,000 of those lives could be saved if 95% of the country wore masks, the model found.
• Mask-wearing, the researchers wrote, could delay the need for lockdowns and mitigate the worst of the fall-winter surge.

Read the full story from Aria Bendix here>>

More stories we're reading:

• WATCH: Horseshoe crab blood could help scientists create a coronavirus vaccine. Here's why the liquid is so expensive. (Business Insider)
• An inside look at the FDA's efforts to push back at Trump's rush to a vaccine (Vanity Fair)
• Blood plasma didn't show benefit in COVID-19 patients, according to a new study (Stat News)
• Merck scientists wanted to get started on vaccine in February, but were overruled by senior execs (The Wall Street Journal)

Subscribe here for daily updates from the healthcare team!

- Lydia