Health News Roundup: US recruits scientists abroad for COVID vaccine trials; HHS invests $6.5 million in diagnostic labs and more

The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on Aug. 12 versus its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/2BROCTB) Novavax ties up with SK bioscience to boost supply of potential COVID-19 vaccine Novavax Inc said on Thursday South Korea's SK bioscience would manufacture a component of the U.S. drug developer's experimental coronavirus vaccine in a bid to boost its supply.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Exclusive: U.S. recruits scientists abroad for COVID-19 vaccine trials, pledges access to supply

The Trump administration’s coronavirus vaccine project is recruiting scientists in South Africa and Latin America to help test possible vaccines in U.S.- backed clinical trials, pledging to ease their countries’ access to any successful products, Reuters has learned. Moncef Slaoui, a former pharmaceutical executive who heads Operation Warp Speed, a multi-billion dollar U.S. collaboration between the federal government and drugmakers, made the commitment to international scientists late last month, two people familiar with the matter said.

HHS invests $6.5 million in diagnostic labs to expand COVID-19 testing

The U.S. government is investing $6.5 million in two diagnostic laboratories to increase the country's COVID-19 testing capacity and perform an additional 1 million tests each week by early October. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Thursday the funding would enable the selected companies - Aegis Sciences Corp and Sonic Healthcare USA, a unit of Sonic Healthcare Ltd - expand capacity by increasing staffing and infrastructure.

Pharmacy to pay $3.5 million to resolve U.S. claims it helped Teva pay kickbacks

A Florida-based specialty pharmacy will pay $3.5 million to resolve allegations it served as a conduit for a Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd subsidiary to pay kickbacks to Medicare patients, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. The settlement with Advanced Care Scripts Inc was the latest to result from an industry-wide U.S. probe of drugmakers' financial support of patient assistance charities that has resulted in nearly $921 million in settlements.

France's COVID-19 cases at four-month high, health system holding up

France reported more than 2,500 new COVID-19 infections for the second day in a row on Thursday, levels last seen in mid-April when the country was in the middle of one of Europe's strictest lockdowns. Despite the rise in cases, which could prompt Britain to remove France from its list of safe travel destinations, the number of people hospitalized due to the disease continued to fall, having dipped below 5,000 for the first time since mid-March on Wednesday.

EU to enter contract talks with J&J over 200 million doses of potential COVID-19 vaccine

The European Commission has concluded exploratory talks with Johnson & Johnson to buy 200 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine, the EU executive, and the U.S. pharmaceutical company said on Thursday. The EU executive arm said this paved the way for contractual talks and the possible purchase of the vaccine on behalf of all 27 EU states once it has proven safe and effective. The commission also said it could purchase an additional 200 million vaccine doses.

Three more U.S. states launching coronavirus exposure warning apps

North Dakota, Wyoming and Alabama are the latest U.S. states launching apps to warn users about potential exposure to the novel coronavirus by tracking their encounters, representatives for the states told Reuters on Thursday. Virginia last week became the first U.S. state to urge residents to download such an app using technology developed by smartphone software giants Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google.

U.S. CDC reports 5,176,018 coronavirus cases

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday reported 5,176,018 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 56,307 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,497 to 165,148. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on Aug. 12 versus its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/2BROCTB)

Novavax ties up with SK bioscience to boost supply of potential COVID-19 vaccine

Novavax Inc said on Thursday South Korea's SK bioscience would manufacture a component of the U.S. drug developer's experimental coronavirus vaccine in a bid to boost its supply. Shares of Maryland-based Novavax rose nearly 7% in morning trade.

Top U.S. health official says COVID vaccines unlikely to be approved before November

The potential COVID-19 vaccines backed by the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed program are unlikely to receive a green light from regulators any earlier than November or December of this year, given the time needed for a large-scale clinical trial, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins said in a call with reporters on Thursday. Collins said he thinks that testing a vaccine in at least 10,000 people could potentially give enough evidence of safety and efficacy to clear it for wider use. The late-stage vaccine trials launched so far in the U.S. aim to recruit up to 30,000 people.

People should not fear spread of COVID-19 in food, packaging: WHO

The World Health Organization said on Thursday it saw no evidence of coronavirus being spread by food or packaging and urged people not to be afraid of the virus entering the food chain. Two cities in China said they had found traces of the coronavirus in imported frozen chicken wings from Brazil and on outer packaging of frozen Ecuadorian shrimp, raising fears that contaminated food shipments might cause a new outbreak.

(With inputs from agencies.)