Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and its COVID-19 vaccine partner BioNTech (Nasdaq: BNTX) today announced they’ve submitted a EUA application with the FDA for an omicron COVID-19 booster for children under 5. The companies are seeking authorization for their omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent COVID-19 vaccine as the third 3-µg dose in the three-dose primary series for children 6…
Moderna says Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine infringed its patents
Moderna (Nasdaq:MRNA) announced today that it is suing Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and its COVID-19 vaccine partner BioNTech (Nasdaq:BNTX) over patent infringement in U.S. and German courts. Cambridge, Massachusetts–based Moderna said it is in the process of filing the complaints in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts and the Regional Court of Düsseldorf in Germany. The suits could…
Cardinal Health’s CFO to move up to corner office
Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) announced today that its board has elected CFO Jason Hollar to become the pharma and medtech giant’s new chief executive officer, effective Sept. 1. Hollar will succeed Mike Kaufmann, who has been Dublin, Ohio–based Cardinal Health’s CEO for the past five years. The CEO transition comes as Cardinal Health continues efforts…
Clippard releases new series of isolation valves
Clippard (Cincinnati) has Its Clippard NIV Series media isolation valve — a solenoid-operated device using a flexible diaphragm to isolate the actuation mechanism from the fluid path. Media isolation valves find everyday use in a wide variety of applications. Think uses that require precise, repeatable dispensing of media for analytical instrumentation. Clippard says media isolation…
AstraZeneca paying up to $157M for broad-spectrum monoclonal antibodies against COVID
RQ Biotechnology (London) emerged from stealth mode today, saying that AstraZeneca will pay it up to $157 million plus royalties for its existing mAbs against SARS-CoV-2. “Our vision is to build on our successful debut with neutralizing antibody therapy for SARS-CoV-2 and develop innovative medicines to address current and evolving unmet needs in other viral…
Olympus splits scientific solutions from medtech to create Evident subsidiary
Olympus (TYO: 7733) announced today that it has completed the separation of its Scientific Solutions Division into a wholly-owned subsidiary called Evident. The creation of Evident — which encompasses life science research and industrial equipment — enables Olympus management to better focus on the continued growth of the company’s Medical Business, which made up 86%…
Evonik launches new Eudratec tech to boost solubility of oral small molecules
Evonik (Essen, Germany) announced today that it now offers Eudratec SoluFlow, a microparticle technology meant to enhance solubility of active pharmaceutical ingredients in oral drug products. The emulsion-based process technology overcomes solubility hurdles that cannot be resolved by existing manufacturing technologies, according to Evonik. With more than 70% of new small molecules being insoluble, Eudratec…
Automata raises $50 million for its life science research automation tech
Automata (London) announced today that it has raised $50 million in Series B funding to support its automation systems for life science research. Octopus Ventures led the round, with participation from returning investors Hummingbird, Latitude Ventures, ABB Technology Ventures and Isomer Capital, and strategic investors such as In-Q-Tel. Company officials plan to use the money…
Califf returning as FDA commissioner
The U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Robert Califf as FDA commissioner in a 50-46 vote today. The vote capped a months-long campaign to secure Califf’s confirmation after President Joe Biden nominated him to return to the post he held near the end of the Obama administration. The Senate voted 49-45 yesterday on a cloture vote to…
Warren secures ethics commitments from Califf
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, announced today that she has secured what she described as significant ethics commitments from FDA Commissioner nominee Dr. Robert Califf. In a letter dated Jan. 27 to Warren, Califf made several promises as he seeks to secure Democratic votes for his Senate confirmation. Read the full story on our sister site…
Freenome raises $290M from Roche
Freenome said today that it has raised $290 million from Roche to advance its cancer early detection platform, which uses a routine blood draw. The South San Francisco, California–based company has raised more than $1.1 billion since its founding in 2014. Get the full story on our sister site MassDevice.
FDA’s Woodcock reassures about COVID-19 tests, vaccines under Omicron
Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock thinks many COVID-19 tests will continue to work with the new Omicron variant — with information coming soon on vaccine efficacy. In a statement posted yesterday, Woodcock said she thought the agency is well-positioned to work with companies to address the potential impact of viral mutations on COVID-19 tests,…
Biden says he’ll nominate Robert Califf as FDA commissioner
Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf could return to his old job if President Joe Biden has his way. Biden today announced his intention to nominate Califf to serve as FDA commissioner — a job he previously held during the Obama administration from 2016-17. A cardiology professor at Duke University and a member of the…
Sanofi completes $1.9B purchase of Kadmon Holdings
Sanofi announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Kadmon Holdings, maker of the FDA-approved Rezurock to treat chronic graft-versus-host disease in transplant patients. Kadmon shareholders approved the deal on November 5 and will receive $9.50 per share in cash. The company becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sanofi. When announcing the deal in September,…
Moderna to build a new 462,000-square-foot facility in Massachusetts
Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) announced today that it will create a 462,000-square-foot Moderna Science Center just a half-mile drive from its present headquarters location in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The creator of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines saw its fortunes skyrocket during the COVID-19 pandemic. It successfully created a vaccine against the novel coronavirus that millions have…
Sanofi completes Translate Bio acquisition
Sanofi (NSDQ:SNY) announced today that it has completed the purchase of its mRNA partner Translate Bio. The previously announced deal, according to Sanofi, accelerates the French pharma giant’s efforts to develop transformative vaccines and therapies using mRNA technology. The deal comes during a year in which mRNA-based Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) and Pfizer-BioNTech (NYSE:PFE/NSDQ:BNTX) COVID-19 vaccines are…
Johnson & Johnson launches research partnerships network
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced today that it has launched the J&J Centers for Global Health Discovery, a global network of research partnerships to address the world’s health challenges. The first J&J Satellite Center for Global Health Discovery is at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The pharma and medtech giant plans to…
Abbott to sell its STARLIMS informatics product suite
Global investment firm Francisco Partners announced today that it has agreed to acquire Abbott’s STARLIMS informatics product suite for an undisclosed amount. Companies in the life sciences, pharma and biotech, chemical and refining, food and beverage, manufacturing, environmental, public health and forensics sectors have used the STARLIMS suite of products for more than 35 years.…
Biden administration invests $3B to accelerate development of next-gen COVID-19 treatments
President Joe Biden’s administration will spend $3 billion in American Rescue Plan money to accelerate the discovery, development and manufacturing of antiviral medicines against COVID-19, HHS announced today. Not only will the Antiviral Program for Pandemics seek to boost the availability of medicines to prevent serious COVID-19 illness and save lives, but it will pursue sustainable…
The top pharma stories of early 2021
COVID-19 vaccines dominated pharma industry news during the first half of this year. It’s little wonder, too, since vaccines are the best hope to return the world to some kind of post-pandemic “normal.” As with any new medical treatments — especially ones authorized amid an emergency — there have been questions about side effects. Drug…
Mayo Clinic expands plans for new research lab in Minnesota
The Mayo Clinic is roughly tripling the size of the new research lab it plans to build in its home city of Rochester, Minn. Before the COVID-19 hit, plans called for a four-story building. But officials at the top-tier health provider say the pandemic taught them that scientific advancements need to accelerate in healthcare. The…
Americans apparently trust healthcare professionals more than FDA, CDC
As the U.S. tries to reach a post-COVID-19 pandemic “normal,” Americans are placing more trust in nurses and doctors than agencies such as the CDC and FDA, according to a new survey from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The survey took place Feb. 11 – March 15,…
Pharma 50: Here’s how the world’s largest pharma companies are doing
The global pharmaceutical industry held up well during the pandemic, with 10 of the largest businesses only seeing a roughly –3% drop in revenue in 2020. Eight of the 10 even came out ahead. That’s one of the big takeaways from Drug Discovery & Development’s inaugural Pharma 50, a compilation of data on the largest…
NIH launches study of allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines
The NIH today announced that a clinical trial is underway to study whether people who are highly allergic or have a mast cell disorder are more likely to develop an allergic reaction to the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines. Reports of severe allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines have made headlines since the rollout to the…
Insightful Science acquires Dotmatics
Life sciences software company Insightful Science (Bishop’s Stortford, U.K.) recently announced that it has acquired Dotmatics (San Diego) and its cloud-based scientific R&D data management platform. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Integrating Insightful Science’s software applications into Dotmatics cloud-first enterprise data management service will enable an end-to-end scientific research platform, the…