Listen: A U.K. take on Covid vaccines, the demise of Watson Health, and a ‘synbio’ explainer

Who is better at making and distributing Covid vaccines, the U.S. or the U.K.? What went wrong with IBM’s AI health care business? And what the heck is synthetic biology?

We discuss all that and more this week on “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. First, we’re joined by Natasha Loder, the health policy editor at The Economist — and a London resident — to get her home-country perspective on the U.K.’s Covid vaccine development efforts. Next, we’ll talk with STAT national technology correspondent Casey Ross about his yearslong investigation into the demise of Watson Health, IBM’s AI health care initiative. Finally, STAT’s Meghana Keshavan joins us for a primer into synthetic biology, including its role in making the mRNA-based Covid vaccines.

For more on these subjects, here’s the STAT investigation into Watson Health; here’s where you can purchase STAT’s special report on synthetic biology; here’s where you can subscribe to the First Opinion Podcast; and here’s our complete coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

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And if you have any feedback for us — topics to cover, guests to invite, vocal tics to cease — you can email [email protected].

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