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April 2, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus

For anyone following the COVID-19 pandemic – and who isn’t? – it’s evident that we’re awash in punditry, speculation, and modeling. But we two are Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates, and we’re looking past the noise to what critical data we don’t yet have that will affect the management of the outbreak – which will, in turn, affect both public health and our economic recovery. On the medical front, let’s consider what we do know. First and foremost, the situation in the...

March 31, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus

Private pharmaceutical companies and the National Institutes of Health have outdone themselves. Thanks to the funding provided by the NIH, a Phase 1 clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine  is underway. In separate efforts, Inovio, Sanofi, Vaxart, GlaxoSmithKline, and Johnson & Johnson are all developing potential vaccines. In total, “about 35 companies and academic institutions are racing to create a vaccine, at least four of which already have candidates they have been testing in animals. The first of these – produced by Boston-based...

March 30, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus

As scientists race to develop vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, Democrats in Congress have renewed their push for price controls on drugs designed to protect us from the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, along with other illnesses. The Democrats claim many Americans will only be able to afford the therapies that emerge if the government caps their prices. But price controls are a counterproductive way to bring down the cost of vaccines and drugs to treat diseases. They'd not only result in shortages...

March 26, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Radio

PRI's Dr. Henry Miller talks to Lars Larson on the nationally-syndicated Lars Larson Show about the new timeline to remove the shelter in place orders as well as estimates in the United States and United Kingdom about the actual infection rate of the coronavirus. Dr. Miller is a former U.S. FDA official and is a senior fellow with PRI focuses on science, technology, and medicine. Dr. Miller's segment beings at the 48 minute mark. ...

March 25, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Innovation

Optimism is in short supply as the coronavirus pandemic grows deadlier by the day. COVID-19 has taken thousands of lives around the world and upended nearly every aspect of daily life. But there is at least one bright spot in this global public health emergency. That's the astounding speed with which private firms have begun tackling the problem. While federal regulators have exacerbated the crisis at seemingly every turn, private firms have rolled out promising new therapies and technologies that could...

March 24, 2020 Price and Costs

SAN FRANCISCO – As prescription drug pricing and accessibility has become a greater topic of discussion during the current coronavirus pandemic, a new series of animated videos launched today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute aims to guide Americans through the “drug pricing maze”. The new series will educate viewers on how the current drug pricing system is fueled by misguided policies that drive up costs, and how free-market reforms would steer us toward...

March 23, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Innovation

As the United States ramps up rapid testing for the coronavirus, the results will surely show a sharp uptick in the number of cases of coronavirus-caused COVID-19. Those tested will learn whether they are infected, but, paradoxically, the public – and public health officials – will not know whether the overall results are encouraging or discouraging, because the rates of the coronavirus infectivity and mortality will remain poorly understood. The existing tests will not identify the potentially large numbers of people who were...

March 23, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Policy Proposals

As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks more and more medical and social havoc worldwide, we need to recall the observation of The Great One—no, not Dr. Tony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health—the other one, hockey player Wayne Gretzky, who said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” Anticipating what’s coming is especially important in confronting an emerging infectious disease whose dynamics and possible impacts we don’t yet know. If we react too...

March 23, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Industry Trends, Radio

Dr. Henry Miller joined the nationally-syndicated Lars Larson Show to talk about the latest updates with the coronavirus, including the rapid spread of the number of cases in the United States and across the globe and how different states have reacted to the threat of COVID-19. Miller also talks about the questionable coverage by both sides of the media on the coronavirus. ...

March 17, 2020 Blog, Policy Proposals

The costs of economic fallacies are magnified during times of crises. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration’s trade fallacies are not only threatening our economic well-being, they are now putting people’s lives at risk. It is becoming politically incorrect to recognize that the expansion of international trade has helped Americans live better, more prosperous, lives. But, that does not change the reality that Americans benefit greatly from the global economy. As Dr. Arthur Laffer explained in a 2007 speech on the pillars of Reaganomics at the...

March 17, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Industry Trends

The excellent and informative articles “Want a Test? Depends Where You Live” (The Coronavirus Pandemic, March 12) and “Don’t Jump to Conclusions” (Heard on the Street, March 11) about testing for the new coronavirus didn’t cover some important nuances. The test kits in use in the U.S. described in the articles detect viral genetic material—RNA, in the case of coronaviruses—which can be infectious material or noninfectious fragments. Once the patient has recovered and the RNA has been cleared, the tests will...

March 15, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Policy Proposals

Even for a nation as mighty, wealthy, and innovative as the United States, some problems don’t have ready solutions. Instead, we need to try to gather information, limit damage, and perform the needed course corrections. That’s where we are with the outbreak of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (the illness caused by which is designated COVID-19). There are some harsh, even frightening realities. First, we are past the point at which “containment” (the prevention of spread beyond known sources, such as travelers to China or...

March 12, 2020 Blog, Industry Trends

The New York Post last week published an article with the ominous headline, “Pharmacists quietly panicking over looming respiratory drug shortage.” The gist was that in addition to the rush on personal protection products such as face masks, hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and rubber gloves, the supply chains for various important prescription drugs, especially generics with components made in China, are fraying. This should come as no surprise. As the number of cases of infection with the novel coronavirus (formally SARS-CoV-2, with the illness it...

March 11, 2020 Blog, Coronavirus, Innovation

When President Trump met with drug-company executives at the White House on March 2, at the top of the agenda was the development of a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, the respiratory infection caused by the Wuhan coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (the World Health Organization’s designation for the virus). “We’ve asked them to accelerate” work, the president told reporters. As the coronavirus outbreak accelerates, with cases now found on every continent except Antarctica, and the world is hit with widespread social and economic disruption,...