Data show panic, disorganization dominate the study of Covid-19 drugs

(MOLLY FERGUSON FOR STAT)

An exclusive, new analysis by STAT and AppliedXL finds that although scientists have been quick to design 1,200 clinical trials with the aim of treating or preventing Covid-19, the process has been marked by disorder and disorganization. Many of the studies are also raising concerns about wasted resources: Nearly 40% of the studies haven't begun enrolling yet, for instance, and an additional 39% are enrolling so few patients that experts say they're unlikely to yield meaningful results. “It’s a huge amount of wasted effort and wasted energy when actually a bit of coordination and collaboration could go a long way and answer a few questions,” University of Oxford physician Martin Landray tells STAT's Matthew Herper and Applied XL's Erin Riglin. When I asked Matt about the analysis, he told me, "Any data taken from trial registries will have flaws. But it's fascinating to have a bird's-eye view of the entire process." Read more here.

Here's what else is new with the pandemic: 

• During a CNN appearance yesterday, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn declined to defend remarks made by President Trump during his speech at Mount Rushmore falsely claiming that 99% of Covid-19 tests are "totally harmless." Hahn claimed he wasn't going to get into "who is right and who is wrong," but added, "What I'll say is that we have data in the White House task force. Those data show us that this is a serious problem. People need to take it seriously."
• The latest analysis of insurance trends by FAIR Health finds that telehealth insurance claim lines increased more than 8,300% between April 2019 and April 2020, a trend the report attributes to Covid-19. Mental health conditions are still the most common diagnoses behind the claim lines, but conditions such as high blood pressure and skin infections appeared on the top five diagnoses list this year, suggesting that people are consulting physicians for chronic diseases through telemedicine in a way that they perhaps weren't last year. 
• Nearly 240 scientists from 32 countries have penned an open letter to the WHO — to be published this week — asking the global health agency to reconsider its stance on whether SARS-CoV-2 is airborne, according to a story in the New York Times. The WHO has maintained that the virus is primarily spread through large respiratory droplets, but in the new letter, scientists are outlining evidence suggesting that even smaller particles could spread the virus.