Russia’s vaccine won’t be in the US any time soon

Hello,

We just found out more about how vaccines might impact transmission of the coronavirus. The vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford slowed transmission of the virus, according to new data that has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Plus, some pharma M&A news for you – Jazz Pharmaceuticals is acquiring GW Pharma, the company that got the first cannabis-based drug approved by the FDA in 2018.

Also in healthcare news: Russia’s vaccine won’t be available in the US or UK any time soon, a VC firm that’s backed major biotech companies is taking a new approach to mental health, and our first indications that people who’ve already had COVID-19 might only need one dose of vaccine. 

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The leader of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine program says the shot won't be available in the US or UK any time soon

• The Russian coronavirus vaccine probably won't be available in the US or UK any time soon.
• The shot was 91.6% effective at preventing COVID-19, according to data published Tuesday.
• Going through the US regulatory process is "not frankly a priority for us," Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund told Insider.

Read the full story from Andrew Dunn here>>

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The biotech venture firm behind Juno and Grail is taking a new approach to tackle mental health

• Arch Venture Partners' new $1.85 billion fund is its largest to date.
• The money will be invested in mental health, manufacturing, infectious disease and other types of startups.
• Arch has raised $3.3 billion over the last year.

Read the full story from Allison DeAngelis here>>

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People who had COVID-19 may develop 10 times more antibodies after a single vaccine dose - a sign they might only need one shot

• People who had COVID-19 developed at least 10 times more antibodies after their first vaccine dose than the average uninfected person who received two doses, new research shows.
• Another preliminary study similarly found that healthcare workers who had COVID-19 responded to their first shot the way most people respond to their second.
• The researchers both suggested that post-COVID patients may only need one shot to sufficiently protect them from the disease again.

Read the full story from Aria Bendix here>>

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More stories we're reading:

• France is restricting AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to people under 65 (BBC)
• Tom Moore, a 100-year-old veteran who raised millions for healthcare workers in the UK, dies after testing positive for COVID-19 (Insider)
• Ancestry has hired Facebook's Deb Liu as CEO (Businesswire)
• Andy Jassy will be the next CEO of Amazon. Insiders dish on what it's like to work for Jeff Bezos' successor who built AWS into a $40 billion business. (Insider)

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A little programming note! We're going through a little bit of a rebranding here. We'll still have the same great healthcare dispatches you know and love, our website will just have a slightly different name (Insider, rather than Business Insider).

You can read all about the evolution and the name-change here>> 

- Lydia