The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee needed two days of hearings to get through a spending measure that provided the FDA with $500 million for its part in the government response. The CDC would receive $7.5 billion for vaccine distribution and tracking, all developments that ran parallel to an announcement that another 200 million doses of vaccine will be delivered by the end of July at a cost of $3.7 billion.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (Labcorp) reported its financial performance for the fourth quarter of 2020, which included a jump in revenues of 52%, a result enabled in part by its quick response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Labcorp said that revenues related to pandemic testing could decline by anywhere from 35% to 50% over the course of calendar year 2021.

Limited manufacturing capacity, supply chain disruptions and a dearth of personnel with specialized skills are all challenges vaccine makers are facing as they race to produce contracted quotas of COVID-19 vaccines that were developed and authorized in record time.

Preventive medicine hasn’t always had the backing of hard data, but research into genomics at the U.S. National Institutes of Health may soon change that.

Another monoclonal antibody therapy has entered the pandemic fray with the FDA granting emergency use authorization (EUA) for bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555) 700 mg and etesevimab (JS016 or LY-CoV016) 1,400 mg as a cocktail for treating mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients aged 12 and up at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization.

Among the low-hanging fruit for pruning back U.S. drug prices is the development of generics referencing complex drugs, a category that includes drug-device combination products and nonbiologic drugs with a complex molecular base, route of administration or formulation, such as abuse-deterrent opioids.

Preventive medicine hasn’t always had the backing of hard data, but research into genomics at the U.S. National Institutes of Health may soon change that. Evan Eichler of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute said on a recent NIH webinar that phased genome assembly may allow medical science to efficiently treat diseases caused by genetic disorders, but will also enable preventive medicine, the holy grail of those who seek to restrain the ever-increasing cost of medical care.

The Biden administration said it will use the U.S. Defense Production Act to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic in a plan that includes a large increase in vaccine purchases. Also on tap is an increase in production of at-home test by six companies in addition to Ellume Ltd., of Perth, Australia, which will ship more than 8 million of their tests to the U.S. by the end of the year.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. continued its transformation, disclosing Friday that it will spin off its spine and dental businesses into a separate, publicly traded company. The move will enable the independent company, identified as Newco, to pursue strategies and growth in spine and dental solutions that have not been a major focus for Zimmer Biomet, while allowing the latter to focus on high-growth orthopedic segments.

Novasignal Corp. has a launched a cloud-based app to provide alerts to clinicians directly from its cerebral ultrasound device. The new app allows physicians to get instant notifications from the company’s Novaguide device, a transcranial doppler ultrasound technology that allows for real-time assessment of blood flow in the brain by combining robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).