Fierce Healthcare’s #FierceMadness kicks off
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Today's Rundown

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As rivals eye 'unjustified royalties,' Pfizer partner sues to defend COVID-19 shot Comirnaty

Pfizer has already reeled in tens of billions of dollars in sales for its COVID-19 shot Comirnaty. Now, one of the company's partners says rival companies are eyeing "hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in unjustified royalties" through a potential patent lawsuit.

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Top Stories

Moderna trains its mRNA tech on the common cold and a triple whammy against 3 respiratory diseases

Moderna is adding two more vaccine programs to its roster: a combination respiratory candidate and a shot targeting all four endemic human coronaviruses that cause the common cold.

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Novavax adamant its COVID shot will reach vaccine hesitant in Europe but wary of war's impact

Initial uptake of Novavax’s newly launched COVID vaccine Nuvaxovid in Europe has been weak, but the company is still adamant the shot can reach the so-called vaccine hesitant across the continent—and hit its $4 billion sales projection.

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#FierceMadness: Grab a bracket and help us determine healthcare's biggest power broker!

This year, Fierce Healthcare's #FierceMadness is back, and we want you to help us identify the industry's most influential person.

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Oxford Nanopore clocks 17% revenue boost in 2021 despite major COVID testing drop-off

In its first year-end financial report since going public on the London Stock Exchange in September, Oxford Nanopore Technologies had quite a big year to sum up.

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Takeda's Natpara relaunch bid falls flat as manufacturing concerns drag on

Takeda’s long slog to manufacture and relaunch its hypoparathyroidism drug Natpara got a lot tougher after the pharma giant announced it received a new complete response letter from the FDA.

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Aligos hacks off 2nd hep B med since January after 'unexpected' reaction in 4 patients

Aligos Therapeutics has ended development of its second med since January after four patients fell ill in a phase 1 trial testing its treatment for chronic hepatitis B, including one person who was hospitalized. As a result, the company is pivoting its pipeline to focus on small-molecule therapies.

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Eko revamps digital stethoscope app to bring AI-driven heart murmur, afib detection to all

Eko’s AI has been proven in clinical studies to automatically detect both heart murmurs and afib with similar accuracy to trained professionals.

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Here's what 4 national insurer CEOs earned in 2021

Multiple national payers have released their annual proxy reports, offering a glimpse at what top industry execs earned in 2021.

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Pfizer pulls blood pressure medicines in US over cancer-causing impurities

Pfizer has recalled six lots of its blood pressure drug Accuretic along with five lots of two of its generic hypertension treatments because of cancer-causing agents. The recalls come three weeks after Pfizer went through two rounds of recalls in Canada for two of its blood pressure medicines.

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ORIC walks away from lead cancer resistance program after lackluster phase 1b data

ORIC Pharmaceuticals is walking away from the lead program used to underpin its 2020 IPO after the cancer med did not demonstrate adequate clinical activity in several early-stage trials.

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CMMI: Expect more value-based care payment models to require health equity plans

CMMI Director Liz Fowler said more value-based care payment models are likely to have a requirement to create health equity plans that target underserved areas.

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FDA clears Quantum Surgical's liver cancer-focused ablation robot

The company’s Epione system helps plan and perform minimally invasive ablation surgery as an outpatient procedure, by deploying computer-guided needles through the skin to single out and destroy tumors.

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