J&J’s one-shot COVID-19 vaccine snags FDA staff’s backing as panel review looms The CRO megamerger is back as Icon snaps up PRA Health for $12B Orna Therapeutics debuts with $100M, engineered circular RNA treatments to rival cell therapies In Partnership: Commercialization in Canada: Navigating Complex Requirements to Drive Product Success UCB taps Microsoft to accelerate drug discovery, clinical trials Sanofi, following Denali, pens gene therapy pact with Sirion Biotech Xilio raises $95M to take twists on Yervoy and IL-2 into clinic Breaking Big Pharma's AI barrier: Insilico Medicine uncovers novel target, new drug for pulmonary fibrosis in 18 months Featured Story | By Amirah Al Idrus FDA staffers endorsed Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine as safe and effective in briefing documents released (PDF) on Wednesday, ahead of an advisory committee meeting scheduled for Friday. The documents reiterated that the vaccine was 66.1% effective at preventing COVID-19 infection at least 28 days after vaccination, with “no specific safety concerns identified that would preclude issuance of an EUA.” read more |
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Top Stories By Ben Adams After a flurry of CRO takeovers a few years back, the megamerger market went quiet. But, today, as the industry hauls itself out of the pandemic funk of 2020, Icon is getting out its checkbook in a massive $12 billion buyout of PRA Health. read more By Amirah Al Idrus Multiple companies aim to surmount the limitations of CAR-T therapy by going beyond T cells and engineering cell therapies based on natural killer cells or macrophages instead. Orna Therapeutics’ solution is more holistic: bringing CARs directly to a patient’s immune cells to help them kill cancer. The company uncloaks with $100 million to develop this approach, among others, all of which are based on engineered circular RNA. read more In Partnership With: AmerisourceBergen The Canadian pharmaceutical market, which is among the 10 largest worldwide, has long been viewed as a top-tier launch destination. read more By Nick Paul Taylor UCB and Microsoft have entered into a multiyear strategic collaboration. The deal will see Microsoft use its capabilities in computational services, cloud computing and artificial intelligence to support drug discovery and development at UCB. read more By Ben Adams French Big Pharma Sanofi is teaming up with Germany’s Sirion Biotech for its viral-vector-based gene delivery tech. read more By Nick Paul Taylor Xilio Therapeutics has raised $95 million to take IL-2 and CTLA-4 immunotherapies into clinical trials. The series C positions Xilio to provide early clinical validation of anti-cancer agents that are designed to remain inactive until they reach tumors. read more By Conor Hale Insilico Medicine's computer networks uncovered a never-before-tried biological target linked to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and designed a novel molecule from scratch to potentially treat the disease—for less than $2 million and 18 months of time. read more Enrollment Showcase | Sponsored by: University of Florida College of Pharmacy Learn about the Top 5-Ranked UF College of Pharmacy’s online graduate programs in pharmaceutical outcomes & policy. Select from five specializations, including the new pharmaceutical value assessment & communication option. Over half of graduates progress to a new role within one year. Register now. |
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