| |   | Have you ever heard of the antibody drug Evusheld? Many people haven't — even though they could benefit. Read on.
- Meghana | | | Why isn’t anyone using Evusheld? A little-used prophylactic drug, Evusheld, can offer protection from Covid-19 for people who are immunocompromised. But although it’s been authorized by the FDA for eight months, only a small slice of the 7 million patients who might be able to receive the drug actually have. Hundreds of thousands of unused doses sit on hospital and infusion center shelves across the country. Immunocompromised people, even if vaccinated, still have a high likelihood of being hospitalized with Covid-19. Evusheld, which is made up of two antibodies that stay in the blood for about six months when injected, work by smothering the virus in case of exposure or infection. But there’s been a dearth of education about the AstraZeneca product, and as a result, providers aren’t prescribing it. “Why are there so many doses sitting on shelves?” one infectious disease expert asked. Read more. | Does any CEO deserve $500 million a year? How did Moderna hit it big? And who wants to run Biogen? We cover all that and more this week on “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. STAT's Bob Herman joins us to explain why health care CEOs get paid so much — and why company-reported numbers don't tell the full story. Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Loftus calls in to talk about his book chronicling how Moderna went from secretive startup to household name. And we discuss the latest news in the life sciences, including Amazon's latest multibillion-dollar foray into primary care and Biogen's search for a new CEO. Listen here. | Let’s reach your brand’s goals, together. Launch a new campaign with expert collaboration and helpful resources from STAT. Together, we can unlock your brand’s KPIs and drive growth.
See how far you can go when advertising with STAT. | Roche will have a new CEO next year Roche CEO Severin Schwan is stepping down as chief executive next year, and plans on becoming the company’s chairman. Thomas Schinecker, Roche’s head of diagnostics, will take his place. Schwan has been CEO since 2008, and has helped the company shift from its primary focus, cancer, helping it regain revenues lost when blockbusters like Herceptin, Avastin, and Rituxan went off patent. Today, drugs like Hemlibra, which treats hemophilia, and Ocrevus, which is used for multiple sclerosis, drive the company’s growth. Schwan’s made several major deals, most notably when he forged a deal with Novartis that involved the Roche rival selling back its one-third voting stake for $20.7 billion. Schinecker has a difficult job ahead: The company just nixed five of its early and midstage clinical trials, and says that two of its highest priority projects — including Alzheimer’s therapy ganterumab” — are “high-risk.” | Does rare disease deserve its own moonshot? Covid and cancer have one major thing in common: They’re deemed important enough to earn major government research projects — “Warp Speed” and “Moonshot,” respectively. But rare diseases, cumulatively, affect more than 30 million Americans, and there’s no major initiative or large-scale research funding that serves as a correlate. That’s unfair, opines Craig Martin, CEO of rare disease advocacy group Global Genes. And that’s particularly unfortunate for patients, since biotech companies have pulled back on their rare disease investments in the past two years. “This contraction is devastating for rare disease families who have been waiting on seemingly promising development programs for their disease only to see them shattered,” he writes. But there’s still opportunity to protect and encourage future innovations in rare disease — by advocating to policymakers to incentivize investment in the space, and more. Read more. | More reads - After STAT report, GOP lawmakers seek answers about defunct NIH oversight committee, STAT
- 5 burning questions about Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical, STAT
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