Newsletter Tool

To view this email as a web page, click here

Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Pfizer and BioNTech, scaling up for 2B coronavirus vaccine doses, temporarily cut deliveries in EU, Canada

By Eric Sagonowsky

Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech said they were boosting vaccine production to 2 billion doses this year. There's a catch, though: Scaling up a factory in Belgium to help meet that goal means supplies will run short temporarily.

Thermo Fisher nets handheld COVID-19 test maker Mesa Biotech with $550M deal

By Conor Hale

Thermo Fisher Scientific continues to spend the massive windfall from COVID-19 testing that it’s gathered over the past year, with its second nine-digit acquisition in less than a week.

HHS finalizes rule that imposes term limits for career federal scientists

By Robert King

HHS published a final rule that would impose five-year term limits on career government scientists and reassign them.

UnitedHealthcare launches new virtual primary care offering in 11 states

By Paige Minemyer

UnitedHealthcare is launching a new, virtual primary care option as part of an effort to expand access to local clinicians in its employer-sponsored plans.

Healthcare roundup: Hackers using COVID-19 vaccine lures to attack businesses

By Healthcare Staff

Follow along with the latest COVID-19 news straight from the Fierce Healthcare team.

Biopharma roundup: AstraZeneca, Sinovac shots win Brazilian nod

By Fraiser Kansteiner,Eric Sagonowsky,Angus Liu,Conor Hale

Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine deliveries will run short in several regions as the companies wrap a factory upgrade in Belgium. . Brazil OK'd AstraZeneca and Sinovac's shots. Gritstone Oncology is working on a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine hopeful. And Thermo Fisher will pay $550 million to buy handheld test maker Mesa Biotech.

Gritstone adds COVID-19 to the pipeline with NIAID-supported vaccine

By Amirah Al Idrus

Gritstone Oncology, the biotech working on cancer vaccines based on traditional infectious disease immunology, is bringing that approach back to its roots. It’s working on a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, that could also work against other viruses in this family in the case of a future pandemic.

Horizon switched up strategy for Tepezza launch, moving quickly to DTC to reach eye disease patients

By Sharon Klahr Coey,Beth Snyder Bulik

When 77% of ophthalmologist offices closed during the pandemic, Horizon got creative to get the word out about its then-newly approved thyroid eye disease med Tepezza. It built a network of more than 1,000 infusion centers, moved to digital communications with doctors and quickly launched DTC advertising.

COVID-19 Tracker