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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Stalled confirmatory trials and lax enforcement plague the Food and Drug Administration's accelerated approval pathway for pharmaceuticals that target urgent medical needs. -
NPR has obtained the government's $5.3 billion contract for the first 10 million courses of Paxlovid, an antiviral pill for COVID-19. Here's what's in it. -
Paxlovid and molnupiravir have been authorized for emergency use to keep COVID-19 patients out of the hospital, but don't expect to be able to go to your usual pharmacy and get them. -
If all goes to plan, Americans who got Pfizer or Moderna shots can get a third dose eight months after their last jab. Here's why health officials think you'll need one. -
Moncef Slaoui, who helped lead Operation Warp Speed under the Trump administration, was removed from a medical device startup's board over allegations of sexual harassment. -
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. -
Pfizer and Moderna each agreed to supply 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. by the end of March. With just under three weeks left, both companies have their work cut out for them. -
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. -
The Food and Drug Administration is working on a playbook for how it could greenlight vaccine tweaks. Studies in hundreds of people, rather than tens of thousands, seem likely.
