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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Eli Lilly nabs $375M deal to supply COVID-19 antibody to U.S. government despite trial failure

By Arlene Weintraub

One day after the NIH stopped a trial of Eli Lilly's COVID-19 antibody in hospitalized patients for lack of efficacy—and three weeks after reporting mixed data in patients with milder disease—the company struck a $375 million deal to supply the antibody to the U.S. government. It's a big bet by both parties that the drug will, in fact, work.

Manufacturing delays push Novavax's COVID-19 vax trial to end of November

By Amirah Al Idrus

Novavax delayed the start of a large phase 3 trial for its COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. and Mexico, thanks to delays in scaling up vaccine manufacturing. It aims to kick off the study at the end of November. The news comes as the company ramps up a separate phase 3 study for the vaccine in the U.K., which has expanded to 15,000 patients from its original goal of 10,000.

Experts propose how to equally distribute COVID-19 vaccine

By Robert King

A new JAMA article lays out a potential approach for how to distribute doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, which is likely to be in short supply.

Novartis taps Molecular Partners for a new way to defeat COVID-19

By Ben Adams

Novartis is spending $69 million upfront on a pair of experimental drugs from Fierce 15 winner Molecular Partners.

CVS to add 1K rapid-result COVID-19 test sites at pharmacies

By Paige Minemyer

CVS Health is adding 1,000 more rapid-result testing sites at its pharmacies by the end of the year.

Sanofi, GSK to provide 200M coronavirus vaccines to COVAX for equitable distribution

By Eric Sagonowsky

Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline aren’t the front-runners in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine race, but execs for the companies have said they expect to play an important role in the global vaccination push. Now, the partners are backing that up with an agreement to provide 200 million doses of their vaccine to COVAX, a global effort to develop, produce and equitably distribute doses.

FDA clears Abiomed's Breethe lung life support system, enabling use in COVID-19

By Conor Hale

As the number of daily coronavirus cases in the U.S. once again begins to climb to new records, the FDA granted a 510(k) clearance to Abiomed’s compact, all-in-one life support system for bypassing a patient’s struggling heart and lungs.

Moody's: Supply chain changes due to COVID-19 to cause hospital costs to increase

By Robert King

A new Moody's analysis finds the global supply chain is going to become more fragmented and less globalized, which could lead to higher costs for hospitals to get personal protective equipment and fund new construction projects.

Biopharma roundup: Abiomed's compact life support system snags FDA clearance

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

GSK's shingles and meningitis B vaccines took a pandemic hit in the third quarter. The FDA cleared Abiomed's compact life support system, teeing up use in COVID. Covaxx teamed up with Maersk to hash out global shot distribution. And clinical trials are rebounding to pre-pandemic levels.

GSK's vaccines—especially Shingrix—typically drive growth. Amid COVID-19, they're a drag

By Eric Sagonowsky

GlaxoSmithKline isn't alone in facing a slowdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but its big vaccines presence makes 2020 particularly tough for the British drugmaker. Perhaps the company’s most notable laggard now is Shingrix, its fast-launching, growth-fueling shingles vaccine.

Willis Towers Watson: 44% of employees have deferred care due to COVID-19