Good evening, readers.
Some news for you. In July, The Capsule will be going out more regularly to all of our readers. You’ll be receiving the latest news about digital health, drug development, and the business and policy of public health daily.
We’d love to know if you have any ideas for what we should focus on in our coverage. The coronavirus pandemic has obviously (and for good reason) taken up a lot of space in medical reporting.
But COVID is far from the only issue that needs addressing in U.S. health care. Gene therapies for blood disorders have hit milestones; cancer therapies continue to evolve. None of the public health problems we faced before this bizarre moment have magically disappeared any more than the reality of heart disease or so many other scourges.
And to that spirit of crowd sourcing… Fortune is looking for submissions for our 40 Under 40 list. I urge you to send any suggestions of stars in healthcare my way.
See you again next week (on a more regular basis). Read on for the day’s news.
Sy Mukherjee
sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com
@the_sy_guy
DIGITAL HEALTH
FDA clears Medtronic's brain stimulation impant. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared another product from medical device specialist Medtronic: a deep brain stimulation implant meant to help create more personalized treatments for neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. It's linked to a mobile device created by Samsung. "For the first time, this technology gives clinicians feedback directly from the DBS patient’s brain," said Mike Daly of Medtronic. "With such data-driven, patient-specific insights, we believe it can change the standard of care." (FierceBiotech)
INDICATIONS
The NIH is intimately tied to Moderna's experimental COVID vaccine. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a deeper stake in upstart biotech Moderna's experimental coronavirus vaccine, according to Axios. In fact, having a stake at all could have wide-ranging implications for the treatment since the government could influence its eventual pricing. Moderna's vaccine would be, if cleared by the FDA, the company's first approved or authorized product and uses a unique but as-of-yet largely unproven biological technology. (Axios)
THE BIG PICTURE
Elective surgeries suspended in Texas as coronavirus cases skyrocket. As COVID cases and related hospitalizations skyrocket in Texas, governor Greg Abbott has issued an executive order barring elective surgeries in several of the state's largest metropolitan areas. “These four counties have experienced significant increases in people being hospitalized due to COVID-19, and today’s action is a precautionary step to help ensure that the hospitals in these counties continue to have ample supply of available beds to treat COVID-19 patients,” wrote Abbott in his statement. There were more than 4,400 hospitalized COVID patients in Texas as of Wednesday, and some adult patients have had to be funneled to the Texas Children's Hospital due to the diminished capacity. (Fortune)
REQUIRED READING
Coronavirus CEO pay cuts were short-lived, by Emma Hinchliffe
Coming out of a crisis the boldest companies win, by Geoff Colvin
Why America won't be going cashless anytime soon, by McKenna Moore
