Moderna’s long Covid plan

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

May 23, 2024 View in browser   By Daniel Payne, Ruth Reader, Carmen Paun and Erin Schumaker INNOVATORS Moderna is considering how it can help long Covid patients. Moderna is eyeing a new target: long Covid. The pharmaceutical company that became a household name when it developed a Covid-19 vaccine now wants to treat the disease’s lingering effects, which have afflicted tens of millions of people by some estimates. “We see this as an opportunity for Moderna to repeat our leadership and our expertise,” Bishoy Rizkalla, the company’s vice president of long Covid, told Daniel. Even so: Rizkalla said Moderna has no cure in the offing. He said the company is waiting for the science to develop around how the condition works before it begins “active research into solutions.” For now, Moderna is engaging with patients with long Covid and studying efforts to treat the syndrome — as well as talking with public officials. Why it matters: The large and growing population of long Covid patients has for years pushed governments and health systems for more efforts to understand and treat their ailments. What’s next? Rizkalla said he sees some promise in antiviral treatments, which may clear residual virus after an infection, or vaccines, perhaps to further train an immune response to the virus. Rizkalla declined to offer any timeline for Moderna’s development efforts.   THE GOLD STANDARD OF HEALTHCARE POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries, like healthcare, equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists. Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced and better sourced than any other. Our healthcare reporting team—including Alice Miranda Ollstein, Megan Messerly and Robert King—is embedded with the market-moving legislative committees and agencies in Washington and across states, delivering unparalleled coverage of health policy and the healthcare industry. We bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY.     WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Washington, D.C. | Shawn Zeller/POLITICO This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. India’s using artificial intelligence to prevent elephants from being hit by trains, the BBC reports. The state of Tamil Nadu has installed AI cameras along train tracks to detect the pachyderms so officials can slow trains. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.   CHECKUP Young people are increasing their use of the new class of weight-loss drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy. Though still small overall, the number of people ages 12-25 using the drugs has risen nearly 600 percent since 2020, according to a new analysis published in JAMA. The study drew on data from more than 90 percent of retail pharmacies in the U.S. How so? Women led the way. In January 2020, about 4,900 in the 12-25 age range were getting the drugs, which reduce appetite by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone released in the gastrointestinal tract when we eat. They have been used to treat type 2 diabetes for years. The number of young women using the drugs surged to 37,100 by the end of 2023. For young men, the numbers grew from 2,200 to nearly 12,700. Just under half of the adolescents and young adults taking the medication lived in the South. Even so: The researchers noted that more research is needed on the drugs' effects plus their cost-effectiveness, since they’re expensive and often not covered by insurance.   DON’T MISS POLITICO’S ENERGY SUMMIT: The future of energy faces a crossroads in 2024 as policymakers and industry leaders shape new rules, investments and technologies. Join POLITICO’s Energy Summit on June 5 as we convene top voices to examine the shifting global policy environment in a year of major elections in the U.S. and around the world. POLITICO will examine how governments are writing and rewriting new rules for the energy future and America’s own role as a major exporter. REGISTER HERE.     FORWARD THINKING Psychedelic treatments for mental illness typically involve therapy. | AP Fluence, a company that trains mental health therapists to oversee treatment with psychedelics, has teamed up with the Texas firm Metamorph AI to develop a chatbot to assist them. “They can practice and then get feedback,” Ingmar Gorman, Fluence’s CEO, told Ruth. The backstory: Last fall, when ChatGPT, Open AI’s groundbreaking chatbot that can answer questions like a human, was released, Gorman tested how it would respond to a therapy session. This experiment became the basis for the tool Fluence has built with Metamorph AI. Fluence trains students on the protocol, and they then role-play as therapists and patients. Transcripts from the practice sessions are uploaded into a specialized ChatGPT, which gives feedback on how the therapists performed. For now, Fluence is offering this feedback as part of training for therapists preparing to participate in clinical trials. Gorman says that companies will soon be able to use the tool during trials to ensure therapists adhere to protocol. The company is building out the safety and privacy framework needed to do that. Why it matters: Biotech companies developing new psychedelic treatments need a workforce capable of administering them. Psychedelic drugs used to treat mental illness are typically paired with therapy. What’s next? An FDA advisory committee is scheduled to meet in June to discuss Lykos Therapeutics’ plan to use MDMA, often known as ecstasy, alongside therapy, to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. FDA approval would provide a significant boost to psychedelic therapy and likely prompt more firms to move ahead.   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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