The support for permanent changes to Medicare coverage of telehealth has risen drastically in the months since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but Krista Drobac of Sirona Strategies said on a July 23 webinar that stakeholders will have to help make the case that telehealth is cost effective. That cost effectiveness argument may be absolutely crucial if any of the related legislative proposals are to stand up to budget scoring in a time of skyrocketing U.S. budget deficits, she said.
In the shadow of COVID-19, experts at the BIO Asia-Taiwan conference on Wednesday warned of present and future challenges for the biotech industry. Changes in manufacturing logistics and financial distress will continue to cause concern for the industry.
Med-tech happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Bionano Genomics, Codex DNA, Empirical Spine, Gs, Helixbind, Nuvasive, Oncocyte, Perfectprime, Personalis, Progenetics, Vectracor.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Adial, Cymabay, Elsalys, Inotrem, Milestone, Neumentum, Vita.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Acurx, Ampio, Aravive, Clarity, Corcept, Genfit, Incyte, Pipeline, Quadriga.
The U.S. government has charged two citizens of China with cybercrime in connection with purported hacking of research into vaccines for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but more than one speaker on a July 22 webinar said scientists involved in basic life science research at universities fail to appreciate the need for cybersecurity, a problem they may take with them to the private sector.