Thanksgiving Travel and Covid | America’s Largest Private Companies | Biden Mandate Debate

Plus: CDC warns of E. Coli outbreak linked to baby spinach

We’re coming to your inbox a day early today as we head into the Thanksgiving long weekend. I’ve yet to do my grocery shopping but am mentally preparing for higher prices at the checkout. My colleague Chloe Sorvino reports the average cost of 2021’s Thanksgiving meal is $53.31, according to the American Farm Bureau, up 14% compared to 2020.   

Forbes released its annual rankings of America’s largest private companies today. Medical supply company Medline Industries was the top healthcare company on the list coming in at #16 with $17.5 billion in revenue, Forbes’ Andrea Murphy reports. Medline sold to a group of private equity firms this year for a reported $34 billion in one of the largest ever leveraged buyouts. With revenues of $3.3 billion, health IT company Epic Systems was #136. Other healthcare companies on the list included #171 skilled nursing and rehab provider Life Care Centers of America (Revenue: $2.7 billion), #177 medical device manufacturer Arthrex (Revenue: $2.6 billion), and #178 nursing home operator Golden Living (Revenue: $2.6 billion). 

Grant Verstandig’s newest company, ZephyrAI, aims to use AI for better drug discovery and personalized healthcare. The company’s first discovery was the potential for antibiotic azithromycin for potential use as a lung cancer treatment, which was published in the journal Oncogene in May. Verstandig says ZephyrAI, which emerged from stealth this week, has identified around 100 novel drug targets as well as several dozen potential ways to repurpose existing drugs. Zephyr AI primarily plans to work with pharmaceutical companies for developing them but doesn’t rule out the possibility that it may work on a drug itself. 

Noteworthy

More than 1.6 million people in 33 states have enrolled in Obamacare plans since open enrollment started on November 1. 

A study from UT Southwestern Medical Center suggests new imaging techniques could help to predict a person’s response to different types of antidepressant medication.

A federal jury ruled pharmacies run by CVS, Walgreens and Walmart helped fuel opioid abuse in two Ohio counties, the first verdict involving pharmacy chains among thousands of nationwide lawsuits over the opioid addiction crisis.

Coronavirus Updates

It’s Thanksgiving week, and new polling finds that more Americans plan to travel for the holiday than did last year, even in the midst of cases rising nationwide. Thirty-eight percent of those polled said they intended to travel, and two-thirds said they’d be attending gatherings with friends and family outside their households. Public health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci have given the green light to Americans celebrating the holidays with family and friends this year—particularly if they’re vaccinated—but still encourage ways to lower risk such as getting a booster shot or avoiding crowded areas. For those Americans who are traveling, they shouldn’t have to worry about any delays related to the Federal vaccine mandate—the TSA told Forbes that over 93% of its employees have been fully vaccinated. 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, a quick note to subscribers of the daily Covid update newsletter: we’ll be on hiatus the rest of the week for the holiday but will be back in your inbox on Monday.

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In other coronavirus news:

Two-thirds of Americans say that passengers should provide proof of Covid vaccination before flying a plane, but Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says a mandate is unlikely.

Today, India reported its smallest rise in daily Covid-19 cases in nearly 18 months, despite being in the middle of a busy festival season.

Vice-President Kamala Harris announced that an investment from the Covid relief package will go to several federal programs dealing with healthcare workforce shortages and disparities.

Actor Steve Burton said he was fired from General Hospital after refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19, just two weeks after his fellow cast member Ingo Rademacher was reportedly let go for the same thing.

Across Forbes

• Is Biotech The Solution To Cleaning Up The $765 Billion Dollar Chemical Industry?

• ‘Armageddon’ Come True? When And Where To Watch Tonight As SpaceX Launches A NASA Spacecraft To Smash Into An Asteroid

• Rare Einstein Papers Containing Early Relativity Calculations Fetch $13 Million At Auction

What Else We Are Reading

• Russian Anti-Vaccine Disinformation Campaign Backfires (Voice of America)

• Covid antivirals could be pandemic game-changers. But Americans might struggle to access them (STAT)

• H&F, Bain Capital tap into health tech boom with $17 billion Athenahealth deal (Reuters)

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