Takeda sets up deal to distribute Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in Japan 31-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Takeda positions itself to distribute 40 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in Japan starting next year.
COVID-19 vaccine contributes to doubling of Sinovac R&D spending 31-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Sinovac increases second quarter R&D spending by 130% in race to bring COVID-19 vaccine to market.
COVID-19 cell therapy drives Mesoblast to seek manufacturing muscle 31-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Mesoblast plans “rapid scale-up in manufacturing” to meet anticipated demand for COVID-19 cell therapy.
UK backs push to take pan-coronavirus vaccine toward the clinic 27-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor UK government provides £1.9 million ($2.5 million) to move pan-coronavirus synthetic DNA vaccine toward human testing.
Bavarian Nordic warns COVID-19 may delay plans for RSV vaccine 27-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Bavarian Nordic weighs options for RSV vaccine amid concerns COVID-19 response will drive down prevalence of pathogen.
SubjectWell eyes diversity in COVID-19 vaccine trials 27-Aug-2020 By Jenni Spinner The clinical trials marketplace company reportedly is connecting sites with 10,000 patients a month, with 40% of them from non-white groups.
Trade group accuses FDA of rendering COVID-19 plasma units unusable 27-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor FDA faces criticism over labeling that has allegedly made “hundreds, if not thousands, of in-date, ready to transfuse” COVID-19 plasma units unusable.
Collaborative VLP tech bolsters COVID-19 vaccine development 26-Aug-2020 By Maggie Lynch VLP platform using structural elements of coronavirus and modified surface spike molecules could be an ‘ideal’ for COVID-19 vaccine development.
SAM vaccine technology rapidly effective against Zika 26-Aug-2020 By Maggie Lynch Preclinical proof of concept study concludes SAM vaccine candidate delivered through CNE can rapidly elicit protective immunity against ZIKV, with potential use for additional antigens.
‘Snapping genetic Legos together’: Ufovax creates plug-and-play nanoparticle vaccine technology 26-Aug-2020 By Maggie Lynch Ufovax creates 1c-SApNP plug-and-play nanoparticle vaccine platform to target HIV, RSV, Ebola, and SARS-CoV-2.
FDA grants emergency authorization to COVID-19 convalescent plasma 25-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor President Donald Trump claims plasma “will save countless lives” despite experts questioning efficacy evidence.
Moderna scaling up ex-US COVID-19 vaccine capacity as EU deal nears 25-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor The European Commission concludes exploratory discussions with Moderna about deal for up to 160 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
Bavarian Nordic’s freeze-dried smallpox vaccine clears clinical test 25-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Phase 3 trial of Bavarian Nordic’s freeze-dried smallpox vaccine hits primary endpoint, teeing biotech up to fulfill $299 million government contract.
AbCellera buys OrthoMab platform to move into bispecifics 24-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor AbCellera buys OrthoMab platform from Dualogics to enable development of bispecific antibodies.
CureVac advances talks to sell 405m COVID-19 vaccines to EU 24-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor European Commission lines up deal to buy 405 million COVID-19 vaccines from CureVac, swelling stockpile to 1.5 billion doses.
MaaT starts manufacturing campaign after France lifts COVID-19-related restrictions 24-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Lifting of French restrictions on stool collection clears microbiome player MaaT Pharma to start new manufacturing campaign.
Roche, Regeneron ally to triple supply of COVID-19 antibody cocktail 20-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Roche agrees to distribute Regeneron’s COVID-19 antibody combination outside the US, more than tripling manufacturing capacity.
FDA rejection of BioMarin gene therapy raises durability questions 20-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rejected approval of BioMarin’s hemophilia A gene therapy amid durability doubts.
Analyst tips first wave of COVID-19 vaccines to generate $20b 20-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Bernstein's Ronny Gal tips leading vaccine developers to rack up sales of $20 million from COVID-19 shots in the first immunization wave.
AdComm backs Mesoblast cell therapy despite manufacturing concerns 18-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Advisory committee votes in favor of Mesoblast’s allogeneic cell therapy despite questions about manufacturing consistency.
AstraZeneca, J&J and Sanofi-GSK set to sell up to 1.1bn COVID-19 vaccines to EU 18-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor European Union lines up deals to source up to 1.1 billion doses of three COVID-19 vaccines.
CDC tasks McKesson with distributing COVID-19 vaccines in US 18-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor McKesson leverages existing link to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to land $178 million COVID-19 vaccine.
UK strikes deals with J&J, Novavax to source 90m COVID-19 vaccines 17-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor UK government reaches agreements to buy millions of COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, bringing total stockpile up to 340 million.
AstraZeneca targets 25% jump in US flu vaccine shipments 17-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor AstraZeneca increases US flu vaccine shipments by 25% to cope with anticipated surge in demand.
Gates Foundation gives Dynavax COVID-19 grant to scale up adjuvant production 17-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Dynavax gets Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funding to scale up production of adjuvant for use in COVID-19 vaccines.
CureVac files for Nasdaq IPO to fund COVID-19 vaccine development 13-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor CureVac files to raise upward of $200 million in Nasdaq IPO to fund clinical development of COVID-19 vaccine.
Moderna lands US COVID-19 vaccine contract worth up to $8bn 13-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor US government inks deal to buy 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from Moderna for $1.5 billion, with more to follow.
Ligand inks $438m Pfenex buyout to add protein expression tech to portfolio 13-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Ligand Pharmaceuticals strikes deal to buy Pfenex for $438 million upfront in cash to gain control of protein expression technology.
Gates Foundation commits $150m to make COVID-19 vaccines for $3 a dose 11-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides $150 million for production of $3 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
COVID-19 drives 20% growth at Merck KGaA’s process solutions unit 11-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Rising demand for single-use and downstream products from developers of COVID-19 therapies and vaccines drives growth at Merck KGaA.
Regeneron targets September data drop from COVID-19 antibody trial 11-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Regeneron Pharmaceuticals aims to post initial virology and biomarker data from clinical trials of its COVID-19 antibody cocktail next month.
Moderna makes commercial case for COVID-19 vaccine amid price pressure 10-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Moderna Therapeutics reveals it is selling its COVID-19 vaccine for up to $37 a dose, well above the amount charged by some of its rivals.
Allogene CAR-T plant on track despite ‘minor delays’ due to COVID-19 10-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Allogene Therapeutics maintains 2021 completion date for US CAR-T manufacturing facility despite COVID-19 causing “minor delays.”
Fate touts potential to make 15,000 cell therapy doses per cGMP run 10-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Fate Therapeutics touts potential to make cell therapies from renewable cell lines at scale after early production success.
Incyte bullish about virtual launch of rival to CAR-T therapies 06-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Incyte talks up ability to successfully launch newly approved blood cancer drug despite disruption caused by COVID-19.
Sanofi wins race to ship vaccines ahead of ‘record’ flu season 06-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Sanofi ships first influenza vaccines to US for 2020-2021 flu season that is tipped to generate record sales.
AstraZeneca taps 20-plus partners to hit goal of 2bn COVID-19 vaccines 06-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor AstraZeneca creates “parallel supply chains” through partnerships to support rapid scaling up of COVID-19 vaccine capacity.
Emergent in $174m deal with AZ to expand manufacturing commitment 04-Aug-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Emergent will produce commercial scale drug substance for AZ’s potential vaccine for COVID-19.
Lilly: Maximizing manufacturing capacity is key to COVID-19 antibody strategy 04-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Eli Lilly cites need to maximize production capacity to explain decision to develop a single-antibody candidate against COVID-19.
Takeda sees ‘clear path’ to resolution of FDA warning letter 04-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Takeda aims to have the plant that manufactures drugs including Entyvio and leuprorelin ready for re-inspection within 12 months.
Sangamo and Novartis partner on gene therapies for autism 03-Aug-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The two companies will develop three neurodevelopmental targets, using the former’s zinc-finger technology.
US government secures 100m doses of GSK and Sanofi vaccine for $2.1bn 03-Aug-2020 By Ben Hargreaves In return for capital for development and manufacturing scale-up help, Sanofi and GSK agree number of doses of potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Fujifilm to produce COVID-19 vaccines, BARDA speeds up capacity boost 03-Aug-2020 By Ben Hargreaves US BARDA drafts Fujifilm Diosynth into its vaccine production effort, offering to also accelerate capacity expansion.