Sydney Lupkin
Sydney Lupkin is the pharmaceuticals correspondent for NPR.
She was most recently a correspondent at Kaiser Health News, where she covered drug prices and specialized in data reporting for its enterprise team. She's reported on how tainted drugs can reach consumers, how companies take advantage of rare disease drug rules and how FDA-approved generics often don't make it to market. She's also tracked pharmaceutical dollars to patient advocacy groups and members of Congress. Her work has won the National Press Club's Joan M. Friedenberg Online Journalism Award, the National Institute for Health Care Management's Digital Media Award and a health reporting award from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
Lupkin graduated from Boston University. She's also worked for ABC News, VICE News, MedPage Today and The Bay Citizen. Her internship and part-time work includes stints at ProPublica, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The New England Center for Investigative Reporting and WCVB.
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House subcommittee members questioned why Emergent BioSoultions awarded bonuses to executives despite quality problems than hindered production of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine. -
President Biden threw his support behind a World Trade Organization proposal that would waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines — allowing countries to make their own vaccines.
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Johnson & Johnson has struggled with serious supply problems. Next week, states will have 86% fewer of the doses to dole out than they did this week.
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A 1950 law allows the government to award contracts that take priority over all others for national defense. During the pandemic, the law has been used to defend the country against the coronavirus.
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President Biden has promised enough vaccines for every U.S. adult by the end of May. But first, Pfizer and Moderna have an earlier deadline: 100 million doses each by March 31.
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Pharmaceutical giant Merck has not had success with its own COVID-19 vaccine, but has entered a deal to produce vaccines for Johnson & Johnson, who could use the help after production shortfalls.
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Merck traditionally has been a leader in vaccines but has not had success with a COVID-19 vaccine. It's lending a hand to Johnson & Johnson, where production is running significantly behind schedule.
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Coronavirus variants are on the rise, which means changes to the COVID-19 vaccines will be needed. How will the companies do that efficiently, and what will the Food and Drug Administration require?
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Moderna is rapidly increasing production of COVID-19 vaccine for the U.S., and Pfizer is lagging behind. NPR looks at the production trends to see what it means for vaccination drives.
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The COVID-19 vaccine rollout faces another bottleneck: Pfizer and Moderna may be unable to fulfill contractual promises to deliver 100 million doses a piece to the federal government by March 31.
