NIH pours $515M into long COVID research

Today’s Big News

Feb 15, 2024
 

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Karuna shareholder sues biotech, CEO Bill Meury over $14B BMS merger

A Karuna Therapeutics stockholder is suing the biotech, claiming that the company and its directors didn’t include or misrepresented key information in a proxy statement urging shareholders to vote in favor of the proposed Bristol Myers Squibb merger.
 

Top Stories

NIH to invest another $515M over four years for long Covid research

The National Institutes of Health is investing $515 million more into long Covid research efforts, three years after launching the initiative with $1.15 billion.

Pfizer quells 12 years of Lipitor antitrust litigation with $93M settlement

Purchasers have long accused Pfizer—and Sun Pharma's Ranbaxy—of conspiring to keep Lipitor generics off the market with a "reverse payment" agreement. After the Pfizer settlement, the class action lawsuit against Ranbaxy will continue.

Roche leads Freenome's $254M funding round for cancer-detecting blood tests

Roche has participated in all of Freenome’s previous fundraising sessions and was also responsible for the $290 million contribution at the start of 2022 that brought Freenome’s total past the $1 billion mark.

Alnylam changes analysis plan for key Amvuttra heart trial, jolting investors

Changing a clinical trial’s statistical analysis plan on the cusp of a readout? That’s exactly what Alnylam just did for a closely watched study of its next-generation RNA interference therapy Amvuttra in a rare heart disease.

Firefly Bio assembles with $94M and an ADC dream team to work on protein degraders

The idea to build a company around degrader antibody conjugates—not antibody drug conjugates—had been bubbling for a while. But not just anyone could pick up the gauntlet and fly with it. Firefly Bio, assemble.

Impulse Dynamics nets $136M to bolster chronic heart failure implant

Instead of synchronizing the timing of a heartbeat, Impulse Dynamics' implant delivers electric signals that strengthen the heart's contractions.

Blueprint boosts Ayvakit peak sales estimate to $2B as key rare disease expansion accelerates

With another quarter exceeding analysts’ expectations, Blueprint Medicines has raised its peak sales estimate for rare disease drug Ayvakit to $2 billion.

After failed search for buyer, Aurinia lays off 25% and clears out R&D pipeline

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals searched long and hard for a potential buyer, but faced with a lack of serious offers the biotech has resorted to trimming its workforce by a quarter and cleaning out its R&D pipeline.

With good news on Lybalvi, Alkermes sees 10% share price increase

As Alkermes enters 2024 as a “pure-play neuroscience company”—as described by CEO Richard Pops on a conference call on Thursday—much will depend on the success of new schizophrenia and bipolar disorder drug Lybalvi. With the company revealing fourth-quarter sales of $56.2 million for Lybalvi, the olanzapine and samidorphan treatment is continuing its upward trajectory, helping trigger a 10% increase in the company's shares.

Arrhythmia ablation tech maker Adagio Medical picks up the tempo with $128M SPAC deal

After operating at a slow-and-steady pace for a little over a decade, Adagio Medical is preparing to move to a new rhythm.
 
Fierce podcasts

Don’t miss an episode

‘The Top Line’: The most anticipated drug launches of 2024

This week on “The Top Line,” we explore the most anticipated drug launches of 2024. Editor-in-Chief Ayla Ellison engages in a conversation with Fierce Pharma Marketing Senior Editor Ben Adams about the drugs likely to launch this year with the most significant sales potential by 2028.
 

Resources

Whitepaper

The Oncology Market – 2023 Year in Review

This paper offers a detailed review of key events and developments in the oncology market during 2023.  It’s a helpful “status report” that informs how the market is likely to evolve in 2024. It covers, vaccines, radiopharmaceuticals, ADCs, CAR-Ts, bi-specifics, & more.

Whitepaper

Developing and Manufacturing Drugs with HPAPIs

Discover how to effectively classify highly potent APIs and the steps required to develop containment protocols and manufacturing processes that are both safe and efficient.

 

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