The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will fund up to $1.2 billion to help AstraZeneca develop, produce and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine created by the University of Oxford. AstraZeneca has licensed the vaccine, called AZD1222, from Oxford and distribution could begin as early as this fall.

Johnson & Johnson is terminating distribution of talc-based baby powder in the US and Canada but is continuing to distribute the product elsewhere. J&J has been repeatedly sued by consumers claiming concealment of cancer risk in the product.

The FDA issued a warning letter to Allergan, saying the company did not recruit enough participants or collect enough safety data in studies of its breast implants. A warning letter also was sent to Ideal Implant over the company's manufacturing practices.

Patients who take hydroxychloroquine for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis are afraid they will not be able to get the treatment after President Donald Trump announced he was taking it to help ward off COVID-19. A shortage occurred when Trump mentioned the drug as a potential COVID-19 treatment earlier this year.

The NIH is allowing adaptive clinical trials instead of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies to accelerate the development of treatments and vaccines for COVID-19. Adaptive trials are usually faster and less expensive than conventional clinical trials by allowing changes to objectives, participant pools and methods based on early results, and an adaptive trial led researchers to discard hydroxychloroquine in favor of remdesivir, which will now be the comparator drug for baricitinib in COVID-19 patients.

Gilead Sciences plans to donate 940,000 doses of the experimental COVID-19 drug remdesivir to the federal government for distribution to US hospitals, up from 607,000 announced previously, according to an HHS spokesperson. The additional doses could treat 30,000 to 55,000 more patients, depending on how many doses each patient is given.

Stuck In The Middle: Stress and ‘The Sandwich Generation’ With worries that go beyond typical anxieties over the wellbeing of children and parents, members of the Sandwich Generation are likely to feel burdened by the financial stress of caring for both. Learn More.

The global outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has created unprecedented challenges. Aon has developed a resource site to help business leaders implement effective responses to the impact of the pandemic on businesses, employees and communities. These insights can help readers make better decisions in these complex and volatile times. Learn more and view the COVID-19 Response Site.