Recon: House kicks off two-day hearing on drug prices; Moderna COVID-19 vaccine appears safe in early study

• Moderna COVID-19 vaccine appears safe, shows signs of working in older adults (Reuters) (NEJM)
• All Eyes Are on Pfizer as Trump Pushes for Vaccine by October (NYTimes)
• Trump’s debate highlights his hunger for a rushed, election-eve vaccine approval (STAT)
• Trump claims his policies made insulin ‘so cheap, it’s like water.’ But for most people, it costs just as much as before (STAT)
• House panel says drugmakers inflated prices to boost profits and reap bonuses (Politico) (STAT)
• Unsustainable Drug Prices: Testimony from the CEOs (House Oversight and Reform)
• Regeneron’s Covid-19 antibody may help non-hospitalized patients recover faster, early data show (STAT)
• Democrats eye Wednesday vote on $2.2T COVID-19 relief bill (The Hill)
• Congress Set To Approve CR, Freezing FDA Spending Level For Next Three Months (MedtechInsight)

• China Greenlights Another Covid-19 Vaccine for Human Testing (WSJ) (Reuters)
• WHO chief urges more countries to join COVAX as death toll exceeds 1 million (Reuters)
• UN chief: time for national plans to help fund global COVID-19 vaccine effort (Reuters)
• Oxford to study anti-inflammatory drug Humira as potential COVID-19 treatment (Reuters)
• CureVac plans global late-stage COVID-19 vaccine trial in fourth quarter (Reuters)
• Russia completes clinical trials of second potential COVID-19 vaccine: RIA (Reuters)
• 15-minute coronavirus test gets the green light in Europe (CNBC)
• Pfizer infuses $200M into CStone, scoring a second PD-L1 and outlining a sprawling China pact (Endpoints)

• GlaxoSmithKline CEO optimistic COVID-19 vaccine widely available in 2021 (Reuters)
• How Operation Warp Speed's Big Vaccine Contracts Could Stay Secret (NPR)
• On the road with Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine effort (Science)
• Lonza confident of 2020 target for Moderna COVID-19 vaccine supply (Reuters)
• Huge Study of Coronavirus Cases in India Offers Some Surprises to Scientists (NYTimes)
• What We Know About the Airborne Spread of the Coronavirus (KHN)
• Patents Not 'Barrier' To COVID-19 Vaccine Access, Iancu Says (Law360)
• Trump-touted hydroxychloroquine shows no benefit in COVID-19 prevention: study (Reuters)
• Relief Therapeutics announces supply deals while awaiting COVID-19 trial data (Reuters)
• Testing devices for COVID-19: Antigen testing devices (Health Canada)
• ANVISA suspends expedited registrations for COVID-19 products (Emergo)
• MHLW Urges Healthcare Stakeholders to Comply with Distribution Guidelines Even in COVID-19 Outbreak (PharmaJapan)

• New research shows older adults are still often excluded from clinical trials (STAT)
• 5 FDA approval decisions to watch in the 4th quarter (BioPharmaDive)
• BioIndustry Association Slams New UK Guidance On Batch Testing (Pink Sheet)
• UnitedHealth has acquired DivvyDose, a competitor to Amazon’s PillPack (CNBC)
• Where are the bugs? FDA knocks Indian manufacturer for 'crude' microbe testing (Fierce)
• Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin’s Avastin Biosimilar Approved in Europe (PharmaJapan)
• MHLW’s Health Policy Bureau Requests New Budgets to Forge Clinical Trial Network in Asia (PharmaJapan)
• NICE gives go-ahead for Sandoz's Rizmoic to treat opioid-induced constipation (Pharmafile)
• MHRA deems Sanofi’s avalglucosidase alfa ‘promising’ for Pompe disease (PharmaTimes)
• Alnylam phase 3 links lumasiran to 'clinically significant' improvement in infants (Fierce)
• Takeda taps Elektrofi's microparticle delivery platform for potential subq plasma offerings (Fierce)
• For two decades, the FDA approval process for opioids had numerous shortcomings, study finds (STAT)
• Brent Saunders rides $400M wave to the top of the SPAC boom (Endpoints)
• RNAi trailblazer Alnylam teases more positive data for a potential third commercial drug (Endpoints)
• A pharma exec gets $100M to chase a cancer-fighting idea uncovered in a 2017 Novartis study (Endpoints)
• News briefing: Ovid shows mixed results on epilepsy program; Iliad reports positive whooping cough data (Endpoints)
• BARDA boosts the fight against antibiotic-resistant infections with $144M awards (Endpoints)
• Jeffrey Bluestone recruits a trio of biopharma vets to the startup team at Sonoma — while adding $30M to the launch round (Endpoints)

• Medtronic to expand dialysis access position with Avenu Medical buyout (MedtechDive)
• Medtech M&A exploded in August and September. Will 2020 go out with a bang? (MedtechDive)
• Smith & Nephew inks $240M deal to buy orthopaedic assets from Integra (MedtechDive)
• Head Of New Digital Health Center Looking For A Few Good FDA Staff (MedtechInsight)

• Judge allows $1.5 billion Tamiflu stockpiling lawsuit against Roche to go ahead (Pharmafile)
• Surgery Robot Maker Accused Of Banning Third-Party Repairs (Law360)
• J&J, Mallinckrodt Push For Stay Of NY Opioid Fraud Cases (Law360)
• 3rd Circ. Vexed By Vagueness In Abbott Artery Device Suit (Law360)
• Full Fed. Circ. Won't Undo Sandoz Loss In Patent Fight (Law360)
• Biogen MA, Inc. v. EMD Serono, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2020) (Patent Docs)