6 crucial questions about AstraZeneca's vaccine

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Hello,

Happy day-before-Thanksgiving! It's seeming like a pretty good time to log off and relax. For those looking for some holiday specific content, I was reminiscing this morning on some of my classic early BI stories. They include such gems as: how to have a (nutritionally) healthy Thanksgiving without sacrificing the good stuff, and how big turkeys are today compared to a few decades ago.

If you're more in the mood for a serving of healthcare news, I've got you covered there too.

Today: 6 unanswered questions about AstraZeneca and Oxford's shot, funding for healthcare startups could stall out in the last few weeks of the year, and a guide to how to interpret vaccine efficacy.

6 crucial unanswered questions about AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine results

• For the third consecutive Monday, a drugmaker said its coronavirus vaccine candidate was successful in late-stage studies.
• AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said preliminary results showed that their two-dose vaccine was effective at preventing COVID-19.
• AstraZeneca's news followed similar announcements from Pfizer and Moderna, both of which said their experimental COVID-19 shots appeared to be 95% effective at preventing COVID-19.
• While there are unanswered questions about all these programs, AstraZeneca's press release left a lot more to learn about its vaccine.

Read the full analysis from Andrew Dunn and Dr. Catherine Schuster-Bruce here>>

2020 has been a record fundraising year for healthcare startups, but a new report cautions that funding could stall in the last few weeks

• A CB Insights report out Wednesday analyzed funding for healthcare startups through November 17 to better predict how the industry will end the final quarter of 2020.
• Funding slowed in the first half of the quarter for all healthcare startups, and the projections for the remainder of the year were similarly lower compared to the record-breaking second and third quarters this year.
• However, CB Insights managing analyst Ja Lee told Business Insider that several large deals closed since the report data was pulled and could help the industry surpass the projected final totals for the year.

Read the full story from Megan Hernbroth here>>

How to interpret the 'efficacy' rates of coronavirus vaccines

• Vaccine efficacy measures how well a vaccine works at preventing disease among vaccinated people, when compared to unvaccinated individuals.
• The vaccine efficacy numbers for coronavirus injections being reported from Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca are all preliminary, and based on their trials in tens of thousands of volunteers around the world.
• Very few vaccines developed are 100% effective at preventing diseases. But, if enough people get their shots, they can prevent the spread of disease near-perfectly anyway through herd immunity.

Read the full story from Hilary Brueck here>>

More stories we're reading:

• ICYMI: Investors are betting $1.4 billion that gig workers are the future of in-home healthcare — here's an inside look at one startup leading the charge (Business Insider)
• The CDC is finalizing recommendations to shorten the 14-day quarantine, with the hopes it'll get more people to do it (The Wall Street Journal)
• Experts weigh in on 3 Thanksgiving plans, telling us what's safe, what we can do better, and what to avoid (Insider)
• Scientists are puzzling over one crucial number as they evaluate the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine (Business Insider)

I'll be back in your inbox first thing Monday, so in the meantime, have a great long weekend!

- Lydia