The Maryland Board of Public Works voted 3-0 to cut funds the state had allocated for a new pharmacy school building at Princess Anne-based University of Maryland Eastern Shore, according to Delmarva Daily Times.

The pandemic has not significantly shaped Americans' feelings about in-person pharmacy visits, according to survey responses released May 21 by the Alliance of Community Health Plans.

British drugmaker AstraZeneca secured more than $1 billion from the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority May 21 to support increased access to its COVID-19 vaccine. 

President Donald Trump told Republican senators he expects them to push legislation to lower drug prices despite efforts being stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hill reported. 

Akorn, a generic drugmaker based in Lake Forest, Ill., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company said May 20. 

Ten of the 17 largest commercial health plans in the U.S. chose not to offer preferred coverage for less-expensive biosimilar drugs last year, according to an analysis cited by STAT. 

New HHS guidance overrides state and local rules that prevented pharmacists from administering COVID-19 diagnostic tests, Drug Topics reported. 

President Donald Trump this week signed a four-year, $345 million contract with Phlow, a little-known generic drugmaker that was founded less than six months ago, to manufacture drugs for the national medication stockpile. 

Most drugmakers kept their 2020 financial guidance the same despite a rocky first quarter, according to a report from S&P Global. 

Two FDA officials who were named as overseers of President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed will recuse themselves from the agency's considerations about approving COVID-19 vaccines, according to STAT.

More than 18,000 New Jersey pharmacists can now administer COVID-19 tests, bringing the state closer to the amount of testing needed to safely reopen.

Walgreens is training its pharmacists in mental health first aid in response to an expected increase in mental illness as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Johnson & Johnson is ending sales of its talc-based baby powder — which has been the subject of thousands of lawsuits claiming it causes cancer — in the U.S. and Canada, the company said May 19. 

Vaccine experts told STAT that the data Moderna released May 18 from its phase I vaccine trial isn't enough to show whether or not the vaccine will be effective. 

8 drugs approved by the FDA in the last three months:

Retail pharmacy chains, frequented by sick and older patrons, are experiencing tension with customers who refuse to wear masks, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The FDA paused a Seattle-based COVID-19 testing initiative promoted by billionaire Bill Gates pending additional reviews of the tests' accuracy, according to The New York Times.

Gilead will increase the number of doses of remdesivir it's donating to the federal government in the next six weeks, STAT reported. 

President Donald Trump signed a four-year $345 million contract with Richmond, Va.-based drugmaker Phlow Corp. May 19 to create a national COVID-19 medication stockpile, according to The New York Times.

Moncef Slaoui, PhD, the former pharmaceutical executive who was named chief advisor of the government's Operation Warp Speed program, resigned from Moderna's board and will divest his $10 million in stock options, Business Insider reported.