Inside the 3-decade rise of Regeneron — How much taxpayers spent on hydroxychloroquine — Walgreens' $1 billion bet on primary care
Hello,
Welcome to Dispensed Daily, your daily dose of healthcare news from Business Insider.
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A chart to start off your Thursday: Coronavirus hospitalizations are rising in the US after falling for 2 months. Health systems are at risk of being overwhelmed.
Inside Regeneron: How a 32-year-old biotech that fought Ebola and made its founders billionaires is leading the coronavirus-treatment race
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is at the front of the pack in the race to develop a coronavirus treatment.
- The company's three-decade rise to the drug industry's top ranks is an outlier in biotech, where most companies are built to be acquired by bigger pharmaceutical companies.
- Here's the inside story on how Regeneron became an industry force, developed a COVID-19 therapeutic in a matter of months, and the questions it is now facing about its future.
Read the full story from Andrew Dunn here>>
Walgreens just made a $1 billion bet on bringing doctor's offices into its pharmacies, and it shows how the pharmacy giant is taking on CVS and Walmart as they beef up their health ambitions
- Walgreens is betting big that it can use its retail pharmacy to help people go to the doctor.
- Walgreens is planning to open 500 to 700 primary care locations in partnership with startup VillageMD.
- VillageMD is one of a handful of companies looking at new approaches to primary care.
- It's the latest move in Walgreens' push to partner with other companies in the face of growing competition.
Read more about the deal here>>
Trump's hydroxychloroquine obsession cost taxpayers at least $88 million
- President Trump repeatedly hyped an obscure antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, as a potential miracle cure for COVID-19.
- But there was almost no solid scientific evidence to back that claim, and researchers quickly established that it had no effect on the disease.
- Despite its unlikely profile as a cure, hydroxychloroquine has received more federal research funding than any other single potential treatment, an Insider investigation has found.
Read the full investigation from Kevin Dugan here>>
More stories we're reading:
- A theme park in Japan is asking people not to scream on roller coasters to prevent spreading the novel coronavirus (The Wall Street Journal)
- Morgan Stanley shared a detailed timeline for the top coronavirus vaccine efforts and says we'll know if a shot works by November (Business Insider)
- Walmart is getting into the business of selling insurance policies (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
- COVID-19 deaths in America are flat even though cases are soaring. Here's what that could mean.(Business Insider)
Thoughts? Questions? You can find me at lramsey@businessinsider.com. Don't forget to subscribe to this daily email here. See you tomorrow for a longer, weekly recap version of Dispensed!
- Lydia