J&J to start P3 COVID-19 vaccine trials in September 20-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Moving on an accelerated timeline, the company seeks late September start date and to exceed 1bn doses by end of 2021.
Moderna releases positive early vaccine data, signs fill-finish deal 16-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The biotech provides more detail on Phase I study of its COVID-19 vaccine and agrees commercial fill-finish manufacturing.
Merck CEO: COVID-19 vaccine manufacture and distribution ‘huge issue’ 15-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Kenneth Frazier states manufacture of potential vaccine is ‘bigger challenge’ than developing an effective vaccine.
Takeda deal looks to bolster biologics pipeline 14-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Takeda partners with Twist Bioscience for access to platform to discover, validate and optimize antibodies in its pipeline.
Blackstone closes $4.6bn life sciences fund 14-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Blackstone Life Sciences completes first private fund to invest in treatments in late-stage development.
Dewpoint and Merck in $305m deal for HIV ‘cure’ 14-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The two partners will use Dewpoint’s platform, focusing on biomolecular condensates, to treat the disease.
BeiGene launches $2bn share offering, backed by Amgen 13-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Chinese biotech plans to raise the sum as working capital, as it looks to progress its pipeline.
Sanofi signs €875m deal with Kiadis 13-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Sanofi looks to supplement its Sarclisa therapy with investigational treatment to treat multiple myeloma.
French biotech gets funding for universal flu and coronavirus vaccines 09-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Osivax receives public funding to apply its vaccine technology to protect against COVID-19 and future coronavirus strains.
Operation Warp Speed delivers $2bn to scale COVID-19 solutions 08-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Novavax is the principle recipient of the funding, as US government provides capital in return for guaranteed access to doses.
Regeneron COVID-19 antibody cocktail enters late-stage trials 07-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Regeneron’s potential coronavirus treatment enters Phase III and US government provides capital injection for manufacture.
Tesla’s ‘side project’ building RNA microfactories for CureVac 03-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Elon Musk revealed the news on Twitter that Tesla was working with CureVac and ‘possibly others’ to produce RNA vaccines.
Takeda expands in gene therapy with $900m R&D deal 02-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Takeda signs R&D agreement with Carmine for the development of two non-viral gene therapies.
Pfizer posts positive vaccine results and capacity for 1.2bn doses 02-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Pfizer and BioNTech release positive results from Phase I/II trials investigating their mRNA vaccine against COVID-19.
FDA says COVID-19 vaccine must be effective in half of recipients 01-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves US FDA demands that vaccine must prevent or decrease severity in at least 50% of people receiving doses.
BioNTech receives $250m investment amid vaccine development 30-Jun-2020 By Staff Reporter June sees BioNTech secure hundreds of millions in investment to progress pipeline, including mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
CSL Behring in $450m spend on hemophilia gene therapy 30-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The company buys the global rights to a gene therapy currently going through Phase III trials.
Inovio posts positive COVID-19 vaccine results but few details 30-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The biotech reveals positive results of Phase I trials but does not provide a fuller picture of data.
Moderna secures fill-finish capabilities for COVID-19 vaccine 29-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Moderna signs deal with Catalent for fill-finish services, shortly after AZ announced the same move.
WHO seeks $31bn in next 18 months to combat COVID-19 29-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The organization wants to raise the sum to support its ‘three pillar’ approach to the pandemic: vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.
AstraZeneca makes another vaccine supply agreement 25-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves AZ enters a supply agreement with Symbiosis as it continues to work on bolstering supply for its COVID-19 vaccine.
Hired & Retired: From big pharma to mid-sized leadership 24-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves This month featured executives making the switch from big pharma to take on leadership positions at mid-sized companies.
Gilead continues small deal spree 23-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Gilead buys a stake in Pionyr and holds the option to acquire the biotech outright.
Sanofi ties up $2.3bn Translate Bio agreement 23-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The partners extend an existing collaboration to develop mRNA vaccines against infectious diseases.
Biotech launches with $300m and ‘high precision’ cell therapies 23-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Orca Bio emerges with a manufacturing platform that it claims produces cell therapies with an ‘unprecedented turnaround time’.
Europe working to secure supply of J&J vaccine 22-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves European Commission is working to guarantee access to J&J’s vaccine, as it bulks up vaccine supply, reports suggest.
Sanofi to invest €610m in vaccine production site 18-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The company will create both a vaccine site and an R&D center in France.
Catalent to fill and package AZ’s COVID-19 vaccine 18-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The CDMO seals a deal to provide vial filling and packaging services for the commercialization of AZ’s potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine set for Phase III trial 15-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The company will begin a late-stage trial for its potential vaccine in July, with 30,000 individuals to receive mRNA-1273.
AbbVie enters $3.8bn deal with Genmab 11-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The two companies will collaborate on Genmab’s lead bispecific antibody treatment and develop further candidates.
COVID-19 pandemic is ‘worst nightmare’ scenario, says Fauci 10-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves However, the seriousness of the outbreak will result in multiple vaccines and therapeutics being approved, he suggests.
CMAB completes antibody development for QureBio 10-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The Chinese CDMO takes bispecific antibody through to IND-stage in nine months.
Oxford Biomedica adds two suites to manufacture AZ vaccine 09-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Oxford Biomedica teams up with VMIC to expand capacity for AZ’s vaccine candidate for COVID-19.
AZ secures two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine 05-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves AstraZeneca partners with three organization to boost manufacturing capacity to two billion doses.
US pushes forward five vaccine candidates 04-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Reports suggest US government has selected five companies with the most promising vaccine leads to be given additional financial and infrastructure support.
CEPI funds trials against emerging infectious disease 03-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves With many organizations pivoting to work on the pandemic, CEPI partners with consortium to develop a vaccine against the Chikungunya virus.
Investigation opened over biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine claim 03-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves A law firm investigates Inovio over claims it developed a vaccine to COVID-19 within three hours.
BARDA provides CDMO $628m to serve US government 02-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Emergent receives funds to provide manufacturing capabilities to the US government for COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
Novavax expands COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing through acquisition 02-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Novavax buys Praha Vaccines and gains the capacity to produce over one billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
First antibody treatment designed against COVID-19 hits trials 02-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Eli Lilly’s potential treatment is the first coronavirus-specific mAb to enter trials and large-scale manufacturing efforts will commence immediately.
Novartis to manufacture partner’s COVID-19 vaccine ‘at no cost’ 01-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Massachusetts General Hospital readies its vaccine for clinical trials by signing manufacturing agreement with Novartis.
AZ agrees commercial manufacturing deal for COVID-19 vaccine 01-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Oxford Biomedica signs on to produce clinical and commercial supply of AZD1222, which recently entered late-stage trials.
GSK to ramp up vaccine adjuvant production to 1bn doses 29-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The company will supply the adjuvant to partners’ COVID-19 vaccine candidates, without expecting to profit from sales.
Gilead seals $2bn deal for Arcus’ pipeline 28-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Gilead signs 10-year deal with Arcus to gain access to its clinical and preclinical pipeline of immuno-oncology candidates.
Hired and Retired: Biotechs buildout at board level 27-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves Numerous biotechs have brought onboard further experience at leadership level, with several seeking guidance on lead candidates.
AbCellera in COVID-19 antibody discovery pact with Eli Lilly 26-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The two companies will partner to work on the discovery of nine antibodies, with the initial target being COVID-19-related.
Merck leaps into COVID-19 battle with three developments 26-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The company announces three deals on the same day, including an acquisition and two partnership deals against COVID-19.
WuXi AppTec launches closed process CAR-T platform 25-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves The cell therapy platform will provide development, manufacturing and release services to companies working on CAR-T therapies.
UPDATED AZ receives $1.2bn from BARDA for coronavirus vaccine 22-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves AZ and Oxford University receive injection of capital for the manufacture of 300 million doses of vaccine.
UPDATED Tracking the latest therapies for COVID-19 20-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves BioPharma-Reporter runs down the latest numbers from the pipeline of therapies and vaccines for the novel coronavirus.
