As COVID-19 testing remains elusive in the U.S., much of the nation’s focus has started to shift to how to treat the presumed millions of patients who are already or soon to be infected with the novel coronavirus.

Google sister company Verily Life Sciences LLC has been under an unprecedented amount of scrutiny since it was promoted over the weekend by President Donald Trump as responsible for a nationwide information and testing program for the emerging novel coronavirus.

Chronic disease patients are facing serious risks both from keeping away from necessary care settings, as well as from potential COVID-19 infection. One in five chronic disease patients was already starting to avoid seeking care in physician’s offices and hospitals, according to a survey that started early last week of a panel of 1,300 chronic disease patients across several indications.

Mallinckrodt plc is engaging with the U.S. FDA, NIH and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to address the potential use of its INOmax (nitric oxide) inhaled gas to treat COVID-19-associated lung complications. INOmax is marketed in the U.S. by the Staines-upon-Thames, U.K.-based company to treat full- and near-term neonates with hypoxic respiratory failure associated with pulmonary hypertension.

Liquid biopsy has long been seen as key to the future of cancer diagnostics, treatment and even potentially prevention. But now, startup Karius Inc. has staked out its claim as the first to bring cell-free DNA analysis, which is often used in oncology and prenatal liquid biopsy applications, into the clinic for infectious disease detection, identification and treatment guidance.

Pharma has not gotten terribly serious yet about integrating digital health tools into clinical trials, let alone into their product offerings, despite the potential benefits they could offer when it comes to patient adherence, compliance and experience. Still, oncology giant Bristol Myers Squibb Co. has made a small step in that direction by partnering with Paris-based digital therapeutics company Voluntis SA.

Novi, Mich.-based startup Delphinus Medical Technologies Inc. has been working for roughly a decade to introduce whole breast ultrasound tomography to improve breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Swiss researchers set out to identify and analyze vital sign data that could offer a window into predicting circulatory failure, which could enable more effective prevention of catastrophic events in the ICU.

Pharma has not gotten terribly serious yet about integrating digital health tools into clinical trials, let alone into their product offerings, despite the potential benefits they could offer when it comes to patient adherence, compliance and experience. Still, oncology giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has made a small step in that direction by partnering with Paris-based digital therapeutics company Voluntis SA.

AI-based, digital pathology startup Proscia Inc. has partnered with the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) to advance the practice of pathology via artificial intelligence (AI). The pair will start with prostate cancer and then plan to move on to validate approaches in several additional pathology subspecialties.