Coronavirus Updates: Cedars Joins Drug Trial, U.S. Consumers Streaming Skyrockets Amid COVID-19, Says Nielsen

Coronavirus Updates: Cedars Joins Drug Trial, U.S. Consumers Streaming Skyrockets Amid COVID-19, Says Nielsen

Here are the latest headlines regarding how the novel coronavirus is impacting the Los Angeles startup and tech communities. Sign up for our newsletter and follow dot.LA on Twitter for the latest updates.


Cedars-Sinai joins international clinical trial to test COVID-19 drug

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Los Angeles-based hospital system Cedars-Sinai announced Tuesday it is joining an international effort to test the drug remdesivir for treating COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The drug is not FDA-approved but has shown promise in animal testing and in small numbers of humans. Starting this week, Cedars plans to administer the drug intravenously to up to 30 patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19. They will be monitored throughout their hospital stay and their outcomes will be measured against a control group, which will be given a placebo. The U.S. National Institute of Health is sponsoring the trial, which includes dozens of sites around the world, according to the statement.

Gilead Sciences, based in the Bay Area, owns the remdesivir patent. Early this month the company applied for "orphan drug" status in an effort to expedite the clinical trial timeline required by the FDA. That status was granted last week, but the company subsequently requested a withdrawal of the designation. Some health groups expressed concern that orphan status would limit the ability of other organizations to produce treatments in the future. In a statement Gilead said it remains "confident that it can maintain an expedited timeline in seeking regulatory review of remdesivir."

U.S. consumers spend 400 billion minutes streaming content to TVs, says Nielsen

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Coronavirus is forcing Americans to stay at home, and American consumers have watched about 156 billion minutes of streaming content on their televisions during the week of March 16 — a 22% surge from a week earlier, according to a Nielsen analysis. The first three weeks of March saw an estimated 400 billion minutes of streaming an 85% surge from the year-ago period.


Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and Hulu make up the biggest bulk of streaming on TV sets (the study did not include viewers on mobile phones). By the numbers, Netflix and Hulu claimed a smaller share of that viewing than they did last year, according to the data. Netflix claimed 29% of total streaming minutes for the week ending March 22, down from 36% in the same period a year ago. Hulu accounted for 10%, down from 15%. YouTube represented 20%, up from 19%. And Amazon inched up to 9%, from 7%. New services like Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus fueled the "other" category to to 31% from 23%.

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From AI to Layoffs, Here's Why College Grads No Longer Want Tech Jobs

Lon Harris
Lon Harris is a contributor to dot.LA. His work has also appeared on ScreenJunkies, RottenTomatoes and Inside Streaming.
From AI to Layoffs, Here's Why College Grads No Longer Want Tech Jobs
Evan Xie

A new report in Bloomberg suggests that younger workers and college graduates are moving away from tech as the preferred industry in which to embark on their careers. While big tech companies and startups once promised skilled young workers not just the opportunity to develop cutting-edge, exciting products, but also perks and – for the most talented and ambitious newcomers – a relatively reliable path to wealth. (Who could forget the tales of overnight Facebook millionaires that fueled the previous dot com explosion? There were even movies about it!)

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New Study Reveals Which Forces Are Driving Electric Vehicle Adoption

David Shultz

David Shultz reports on clean technology and electric vehicles, among other industries, for dot.LA. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, Nautilus and many other publications.

New Study Reveals Which Forces Are Driving Electric Vehicle Adoption
Photo by Jannes Glas on Unsplash

The state of California wants 100% of new passenger vehicles sales to be fully electric by 2035. Last year, the state hit a nation-leading 16%. That’s pretty good, but 84% is still a long way to go.

A new study, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, investigates which factors have been responsible for the rise in new EV sales nationally. The findings indicate that consumers are increasingly likely to choose an electric vehicle, and nearly all of the gains can be explained simply by improving technologies.

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Colleen Wachob On Navigating Her Wellness Journey As An Entrepreneur

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Colleen Wachob On Navigating Her Wellness Journey As An Entrepreneur
Courtesy of Behind Her Empire

On this episode of Behind Her Empire, mindbodygreen co-founder and co-CEO Colleen Wachob shares her perspective on managing stress and navigating self-worth as an entrepreneur and the importance of celebrating the wins in your business.

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