As if we don’t have enough to worry about with the pandemic, now there testing costs to worry about. On some occasions, providers have charged outrageous prices for what should have been a routine COVID-19 test, often based on the claim that the consumer is “out of network.” A big part of the problem is
Drug maker AstraZeneca, which has been developing of one of the leading vaccine candidates against COVID-19 (along with Oxford University), has released a statement saying it has paused a late-stage trial of the vaccine to review safety data. Large-scale, phase III trials of the vaccine had begun in the U.S., Britain, Brazil and South Africa.
In yet another example of “other people’s private data are useful,” a study from JAMA Internal Medicine found that when people stay home, rates of COVID-19 go down. This seems pretty obvious. How did the researchers get this information? By tracking Americans’ phone use for 5 months. They used “publicly available de-identified cell phone activity
The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted Israeli generic drug manufacturer Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. in Pennsylvania federal court for fixing drug prices. Teva is alleged to have overcharged consumers, raking in an additional $350 million. The company had nearly $17 billion in sales last year. It has been crippled recently by debt and the
Can marijuana really help medical conditions? Anecdotal evidence suggests it can. But marijuana is still classified as a Schedule 1 substance by the U.S. federal government, which means scientists here have not been able to fully study its effects on the human body. Enter the Canadians. Because marijuana is legal in Canada, it’s easier to
