Recon: Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine gets fast track designation; WHO sees 7 or 8 top vaccine candidates

• Moderna's potential coronavirus vaccine gains FDA's 'fast track' status (Reuters) (STAT)
• Novavax Jumps on $388 Million Funding From Vaccine Coalition (Bloomberg)
• Fauci Says ‘Consequences Could Be Really Serious’ for Reopening Too Soon (NYTimes)
• Hydroxychloroquine shows no benefit against coronavirus in NY study (Politico)
• White House Orders Staff To Wear Face Masks After New Coronavirus Cases (NPR)
• White House pushes states to test 2 percent of their populations for coronavirus (Politico)
• Mail-Order Drug Delivery Rises During Coronavirus Lockdowns (WSJ)
• Distribution of Key Drug Was Flawed, Says White House Official (WSJ)
• With little data, doctors struggle to decide which Covid-19 patients should get remdesivir (STAT)
• Merck to move global headquarters, returning to an old home (Endpoints) (Fierce)

• WHO says 7 or 8 `top’ candidates for a COVID-19 vaccine exist (AP)
• WHO sees 'potentially positive data' on COVID-19 treatments (Reuters)
• EU signs contract with Philips on ventilators (Reuters)
• Japan to approve first coronavirus antigen test kits on Wednesday (Reuters)
• Mylan CEO says its global supply chain helped it experience ‘minimal disruption’ during pandemic (CNCB)
• WHO says 'extreme vigilance' needed in exit from lockdowns (Reuters)
• Nations ‘Sober Up’ and Start to Withdraw Medical-Export Bans (Bloomberg Law)
• French drug maker Genfit says NASH drug fails late-stage clinical trial (STAT) (Endpoints)
• Japan COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Could Begin as Early as July: Abe (PharmaJapan)
• Zolgensma to Get Japan’s Highest List Price ¥167M Yen, but Peak Sales Put at Just ¥4B (PharmaJapan)

• A strategic approach to COVID-19 vaccine R&D (Science)
• As States Rush to Reopen, Scientists Fear a Coronavirus Comeback (NYTimes)
• Coronavirus cases are on the rise in Texas and other states that reopened early, former FDA chief says (CNBC)
• Mass coronavirus testing plans unrealistic, warns Italian biotech boss (Financial Times)
• Enzyme makes men more vulnerable to coronavirus; adding interferon may improve treatment (Reuters)
• COVID umbrella trials multiply (Nature)
• What’s Up With Ivermectin? (In The Pipeline)
• Factories In Syria Ramp Up Production Of Hydroxychloroquine Amid Soaring Demand (NPR)
• Govt Officials Urge Japan Pharma Companies to Be More Proactive in Coronavirus Vaccine Development (PharmaJapan)
• Post-market evaluation of serology-based point of care tests (TGA)
• China's Wuhan plans city-wide testing for coronavirus over period of 10 days: sources (Reuters)
• Japan sees 20% fall in number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients in 9 days (Reuters)
• U.S. coronavirus death toll tops 80,000 - Reuters tally (Reuters)
• UK's COVID-19 death toll tops 38,000, worst in Europe (Reuters)
• UK needs to boost 'trustworthiness' of COVID-19 test target, regulator warns (Reuters)

• A secret experiment revealed: In a medical first, doctors treat Parkinson’s with a novel brain cell transplant (STAT)
• Prominent Broad Institute scientist leaves to lead R&D at Genentech (STAT)
• Novartis-backed Gamida hits goal in phase 3 cancer trial (Fierce) (Endpoints)
• Sanofi takes aim at J&J's myeloma star Darzalex with latest Sarclisa trial win (Fierce) (Press)
• AryoGen’s bevacizumab biosimilar BE1040V found noninferior to AVASTIN in phase III study (Big Molecule Watch)
• Merck doubles down on Skyhawk's tech to drug RNA, promising $600M per autoimmune, metabolic target (Endpoints)
• Chinese biotech aims $232M in IPO cash to push next-gen prostate cancer drug; Immunomedics raises nearly a half-billion off approval (Endpoints)
• Ex-DARPA chief Regina Dugan, former Illumina CEO Jay Flatley lead $300M Wellcome Trust fund to tackle global health's Sputnik moment (Endpoints)
• Vivek Ramaswamy’s brother, Shankar, spins out on his own, launching audacious gene therapy play (Endpoints)
• With money flowing, Pliant Therapeutics heads to public well (Endpoints)
• MasterPharm, LLC. Issues Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Finasteride Plus 1.25mg Due to the Presence of an Undeclared Antihypertensive Drug (FDA)

• European Commission's Device Standardization Request Imminent (MedtechInsight)
• Zimmer posts $509M loss in Q1 as 80% of business faces COVID-19 hit (MedtechDive)
• BD stops selling COVID-19 antibody test it touted in March (MassDevice)
• CardioFocus wins FDA approval for HeartLight X3 endoscopic ablation system (MassDevice)
• Endologix shares fall on missed Q1 projections (MassDevice)
• Conformis slides on missed Q1 projections (MassDevice)

• Advertising pharmacist-only (Schedule 3) medicines (TGA)
• Work plan 2020 of the Good Clinical Practice Inspectors’ Working Group (EMA)
• J&J Must Face Revived Risperdal Labeling Claims In Calif. (Law360)
• 6th Circ. Opioid Opinion On Federal Rules Helps Cos. In MDLs (Law360)
• Theranos Offers Defense Lessons For Multi-Agency Probes (Law360)
• Illumina Nears Win In Bid To Block BGI's DNA Product Sales (Law360)
• Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Slayback Pharma LLC (Fed. Cir. 2020) (Patent Docs)
• Plaintiffs’ Beast of Burden: Adverse Event Reports Precede Causation (Drug & Device Law)