How the pandemic is actually helping ALS research

Welcome to Dispensed Daily, your daily dose of healthcare news from Business Insider's healthcare editor Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer and the healthcare team. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday.

Hello,

Hope you all had restful weekends. Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer here with your daily dispatch of healthcare news.

Today: A look at how the pandemic changed ALS research, new data on remdesivir suggests it might not improve outcomes in COVID-19 patients, and 9 candidates that are our best short at a coronavirus treatment.

And in case you missed it: Over the weekend, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma for COVID-19 after feeling pressure from the White House to do so.

The coronavirus pandemic disrupted clinical trials. A top ALS researcher explains how that helps the work she's doing.

• Researchers led by Massachusetts General Hospital are testing several different drugs for ALS at the same time.
• They had to delay clinical trials because of the coronavirus pandemic, but ended up finding ways to help people participate from their homes.
• Lead researcher Dr. Merit Cudkowicz expects to have answers for three of the ALS drugs by next summer.

Read the full story from Kimberly Leonard here>>

Remdesivir, the only FDA-authorized drug for COVID-19, may not significantly improve outcomes, a study found

• The antiviral drug remdesivir was shown to speed up recovery times for COVID-19 patients in early research.
• But a new study found that that patients given a 10-day course of remdesivir didn't fare much better than those treated without the drug.
• Medical experts said based on these findings, making remdesivir widely available right now may not be worth the cost.

Read the full story from Susie Neilson here>>

The world desperately needs coronavirus treatments, even if we get a vaccine. These 9 candidates are our best hope so far.

• Hundreds of experimental COVID-19 treatments have entered clinical testing in the past several months.
• Some of those therapies are designed to help during a certain stage of infection, while others target the body's inflammation response.
• We've rounded up the nine candidates that the scientific community finds most promising, including antibody therapeutics, plasma, and interferon drugs.

Read the full story from Aria Bendix and Andrew Dunn here>>

More stories we're reading:

• Rapid coronavirus tests can give results in 15 minutes, but they aren't a pass for partying or seeing your parents (Business Insider)
• Hospitals are still suing patients in coronavirus hotspots (Axios)
• A wedding reception in Maine is linked to 53 coronavirus cases, including a woman who died but wasn't at the event (Business Insider)
• The Trump administration is barring the FDA from regulating some lab tests including COVID-19 tests (Washington Post)

What's on your radar going into the fall when it comes to the race for coronavirus treatments and vaccines? Let me know at lramsey@businessinsider.com.

You can reach the whole team at healthcare@businessinsider.com.

Subscribe to this newsletter here.

- Lydia