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Weekly Digest

This Week

Nov 10, 2023

Pfizer cuts 200 jobs at COVID drug, vaccine plant in Michigan amid $3.5B savings campaign

Bayer CEO Bill Anderson says 'radical realignment' is underway

Siemens Healthineers reports 300 layoffs amid rumors of a possible diagnostics unit sell-off

AstraZeneca's failed cancer drug gets new lease on life thanks to positive kidney disease data

BMS snags another ADC with modest $100M Orum deal

With FDA approval, Eli Lilly's weight loss drug Zepbound arrives to challenge Novo Nordisk

Featured

Pfizer cuts 200 jobs at COVID drug, vaccine plant in Michigan amid $3.5B savings campaign

By Fraiser Kansteiner

Pfizer is cutting roughly 200 positions at its Kalamazoo site following a review of demand for its COVID-19 vaccine and antiviral Comirnaty and Paxlovid.

Bayer CEO Bill Anderson says 'radical realignment' is underway

By Kevin Dunleavy

In three years as the pharma chief at Roche, Bill Anderson executed a massive overhaul of the division, lopping off layers of management and recharting its course. Now in his fifth month as CEO at struggling conglomerate Bayer, Anderson is focused on an even larger renovation, saying the company is on its way to a “radical realignment” with massive reductions in its workforce. As part of the realignment, Bayer also is evaluating separating its consumer health and crop science divisions.

Siemens Healthineers reports 300 layoffs amid rumors of a possible diagnostics unit sell-off

By Andrea Park

Changes are afoot within Siemens Healthineers’ diagnostics business—though it’s still unclear just how far those changes will go.

AstraZeneca's failed cancer drug gets new lease on life thanks to positive kidney disease data

By James Waldron

More than a decade after AstraZeneca appeared to give up hope of using zibotentan to treat prostate cancer, the endothelin receptor antagonist has received a new lease on life as a combo treatment for chronic kidney disease.

BMS snags another ADC with modest $100M Orum deal

By Annalee Armstrong

Another day, another antibody-drug conjugate deal. This time it’s Bristol Myers Squibb snapping up Orum Therapeutics’ phase 1 blood cancer med for $100 million upfront.

With FDA approval, Eli Lilly's weight loss drug Zepbound arrives to challenge Novo Nordisk

By Kevin Dunleavy

In the Big Pharma battle to treat obesity, Novo Nordisk sprinted to an early lead, but Eli Lilly is catching up quickly. Wednesday's FDA approval of Lilly's Zepbound to treat obesity closes the gap further. In addition, Lilly said it will charge 20% less than Novo for its obesity med in an attempt to provide increased access.

SNAP, CAR-M and BiTE: New immunotherapy approaches previewed at SITC

By Helen Floersh

Academics and industry folks from around the cancer world convened in sunny San Diego Nov. 1-5 at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s annual conference. Here are a few preclinical highlights.

Preclinical Voyager med lands on planet Alexion after larger $1B Pfizer handoff

By Max Bayer

Pfizer has handed off an AAV capsid aimed at a rare neurological disease target to AstraZeneca’s rare disease arm Alexion as part of a larger, previously announced bundle deal.

FDA slams Natco Pharma with Form 483 over sanitary, quality control problems

By Joseph Keenan

India’s Natco Pharma was hit with a Form 483 by the FDA following an inspection that resulted in eight observations. The citation centered on a lack of cleanliness and sterility of equipment plus problems with the site’s quality control systems.

Pfizer gathers celebrities together for a crossover COVID booster ad

By Ben Adams

It’s all the rage for superhero films: Bring together several fan favorite celebrities into one cinematic event. Pfizer is following Marvel and DC’s lead, bringing together its five most recent COVID commercial celebrities for a new ad promoting its booster.

Fierce podcasts

Don’t miss an episode

'Podnosis': Leading with empathy amid crisis

Hello Heart is a U.S.-based company with offices in California and New York, and it also has a significant presence in Israel, with the majority of its roughly 80 employees there working from the Tel Aviv office. In this week’s episode of “Podnosis,” Hello Heart CEO Maayan Cohen, who resides in Tel Aviv, shares her personal experience during a challenging moment when she was on her way to the annual HLTH conference in Las Vegas and heard about the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel.

'The Top Line': Exploring the promise of earlier Alzheimer's treatment

'Podnosis': A look at Blue Shield of California's new pharmacy benefits model

'The Top Line': A look at the FDA's Aduhelm approval and the potential for regulatory bias

Resources

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Plasmid DNA Design Considerations for Cell and Gene Therapy

Download our whitepaper to learn about plasmid DNA design considerations for cell and gene therapy applications.

Sponsored by: Aldevron, a GMP manufacturing CDMO of DNA, RNA, and Proteins

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Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare & Medical Affairs

This paper explores AI’s potential impact on healthcare and on Medical Affairs (MA) more specifically. It also outlines what MA teams can do now to proactively leverage AI to improve service to their stakeholders.

Presented by Blue Matter, strategic consultants in the life sciences

Whitepaper