BIDEN TEAM RENEWS FOCUS ON COVID THERAPIES — While national attention has been trained on coronavirus vaccine development this past year, the Biden administration is signaling new effort to develop targeted therapies to treat the virus. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, on Monday pointed to work underway on developing direct-acting antivirals using similar strategies to those that led to breakthrough treatments for HIV. He said the idea is to design drugs that directly inhibit vulnerable targets, Brianna Ehley reports. “This is really the beginning of the phase of looking in a strategic way for direct acting antivirals which are going to be used to prevent people from progressing in their disease, namely keeping them out of the need for hospitalization,” Fauci said. The details: The NIH has been working to encourage public-private partnerships to develop more targeted Covid-19 drugs. While researchers have studied convalescent plasma, steroids and hydroxychloroquine (since debunked) to treat the virus, this effort is aimed at developing totally new treatments resting on some tried-and-true approaches. “With the same strategy that was used on with HIV, we will be screening and then proactively designing entry inhibitors, protease inhibitors, polymerase inhibitors and others,” he said. Gilead’s remdesivir, a polymerase inhibitor, is already approved for Covid-19 treatment and shows effectiveness in shortening hospital stays. Fauci noted another candidate from Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck that is in mid-stage trials, and possible options in early studies from Atea Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer. J&J AND MERCK SET FOR BIDEN MEETING — The president will meet with leaders of Johnson and Johnson and Merck this week after canceling an appearance at Emergent Biosciences — a J&J partner to produce vaccines — on Monday. J&J has pledged to produce 20 million coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of the month and 100 million by this summer but has enlisted aid from Merck and Emergent. It’s unclear how much those two could help with the current pledges, considering it could take months for both to get rolling on production and fill-finish for shots. Biden has already moved up the timeline for broad availability of Covid-19 shots, saying most adults can get them in May. Officials say that mostly relies on increased production from Pfizer and Moderna, which have each promised an influx of supply in coming weeks. “Merck has a long history of vaccine expertise, and we expect this manufacturing arrangement will enhance our production capacity so that we can supply beyond our current commitments,” a J&J spokesperson said, adding that Merck is the ninth manufacturer to join the company’s “global network” to supply shots worldwide. HHS, DOD ESTIMATE U.S. IS RUNNING 6 MILLION TESTS PER DAY — The country is processing far more Covid-19 tests each day than state and local public health departments are reporting, according to an estimate buried in the federal government’s solicitation for groups to apply to run four testing coordinating centers. HHS and DOD estimate the country is currently running 2 million daily lab-based tests and 4 million daily point-of-care tests, which would translate to about 180 million tests per month. “There is potential capacity to conduct over an additional 150 million tests per month if the existing supply was supplemented through increased manufacturing, distribution, and utilization,” the government document states. The Biden administration plans to further boost testing numbers by opening the first coordinating hub by April to oversee weekly tests in K-8 schools and other settings like homeless shelters. But industry sources appear skeptical it will be smooth sailing to the 25 million monthly tests the administration wants to eventually add through the $650 million effort, in part because schools aren’t required to participate. Still, HHS Testing & Diagnostic Working Group lead industry officer Steven Santos believes testing and vaccinations will be key to beating down transmission of Covid-19. "With the vaccine available, there is a real opportunity to get to zero transmission and stay there,” Santos said on a call with industry last week. “But to do so we need to increase testing capacity and to continue to identify and stop spread. Maintaining high levels of testing as vaccination rolls out and transmission decreases is critical to controlling this pandemic and to preventing another wave." ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION WANTS GLOBAL SEQUENCING NETWORK — The Rockefeller Foundation is the latest group urging the U.S. to dramatically increase its genomic surveillance of Covid-19 variants. But the group wants the U.S. to do even more: help coordinate a global genomic surveillance network to detect threats before they spread across the globe. “You have several countries around the world who are doing a great job as sequencing and genomic surveillance,” Rick Bright, the group’s new senior vice president of pandemic prevention and response, told POLITICO. “And the goal that I have in mind with the Rockefeller Foundation is bringing that all together, stitching it all together into one global early warning system.” PhRMA WANTS BIDEN ADMIN TO OPPOSE GLOBAL IP WAIVER — The branded drug lobby is asking President Joe Biden to maintain the U.S.’s opposition to a request by South Africa and India to the World Trade Organization to waive certain intellectual property protections for Covid-19 treatments until widespread global vaccination is achieved. | 
