CVS - HHS sets Aug. meeting as COVID products head for commercialization - WSJ

The Department of Health and Human Services has planned a meeting of industry stakeholders later this month as the U.S. seeks an end to the purchases of COVID-19 shots and treatments leading to their commercialization in the months ahead, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The representatives of drug manufacturers, pharmacies, and health departments with a stake in the COVID therapeutics industry will participate in the meeting, which is expected to take place on Aug. 30.

“We’ve known at some point we’d need to move over into the commercial market, and we’re approaching that time now,” the Journal reported, quoting Dawn O’Connell, the assistant secretary at HHS for preparedness and response. “We don’t want to do it by fiat.”

During the pandemic, the federal government has led the purchases of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics making them available for Americans at zero cost.

However, the payments for COVID-19 drugs and vaccines will shift to the commercial market in the months ahead.

At the meeting, the issues related to reimbursement and coverage, regulations, and access to vaccines and treatment for the uninsured will likely be discussed.Leading COVID-19 vaccine makers: Pfizer ( NYSE: PFE ), BioNTech ( BNTX ), Moderna ( MRNA ), Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ), and Novavax ( NVAX )

Makers of COVID-19 therapeutics: Gilead ( GILD ), Eli Lilly ( LLY ), Pfizer ( PFE ), Merck ( MRK )

Major pharmacy retailers: CVS Health Corporation ( CVS ), Walgreens Boots Alliance ( WBA ), Rite Aid Corporation ( RAD )

Health insurers: CVS Health ( CVS ), Cigna ( CI ), UnitedHealth Group ( UNH ), Humana ( HUM ), Molina Healthcare ( MOH ), Elevance Health ( ELV ), Centene Corporation ( CNC )

Early this week, the White House COVID response coordinator Ashish Jha this shift to commercialization of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests will begin as early as this fall.

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