WELCOME TO FIERCE LIFE SCIENCES WEEKLY DIGEST 2021 was a good year to be a pharmaceutical company, especially one with a product to combat COVID-19. Fueled by its vaccine, Pfizer nearly doubled its top line—and it may have a shot at the top spot next year, with Comirnaty and Paxlovid sales projected to pass $54 billion combined. Out of the world’s top 20 pharmas ranked by 2021 revenue, 12 posted at least 10% growth, with five seeing sales boom by at least 40%. The full list, plus our other top reads of the week, follow below. | |
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Featured Story | By Fraiser Kansteiner The specter of particulates has forced another recall—this time on Moderna’s massively successful COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax—and the latest pull isn’t contract manufacturer Rovi’s first brush with contamination, either. read more |
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Top Stories Of The Week By Conor Hale By analyzing the patterns of scar tissue that can develop in the cardiac muscle over time due to heart disease, the researchers found that the AI algorithms could offer accurate predictions of a person’s risks. read more By Kevin Dunleavy 2021 was all about recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Several companies that quickly developed products to combat the coronavirus reaped huge profits, while others benefited simply from a return to more normalized business operations. Here's how the year shook out for the top 20 drugmakers by global revenues. read more By Angus Liu Pfizer has signed on a new chief financial officer whose dealmaking experience could prove invaluable for the New York pharma as it looks to deploy its COVID-19 vaccine and drug windfall. read more By Annalee Armstrong C4 Therapeutics has learned a lot from just five multiple myeloma patients reporting out from the first cohort in a phase 1 trial for its lead candidate, a IKZF1/3 degrader called CFT7455. In data to be presented at the AACR meeting in New Orleans on April 12, C4 will showcase the early efficacy signals. read more By Annalee Armstrong BioNTech’s post-Comirnaty future is emerging, with early phase 1/2 data from a solid tumor CAR-T cell therapy showing evidence of efficacy and a safety profile deemed manageable by the famed German biotech. read more By Angus Liu Senti Bio is perhaps best known for logic-gated gene circuits to control the therapeutic activity of cell and gene therapies. But CEO Tim Lu, M.D., Ph.D., has early data showing the biotech's CAR-NK platform has more tricks up its sleeve. read more By Angus Liu The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has maintained its restrictive stance on Aduhelm. Now, it’s time for the drug’s developer, Biogen, to do some serious rethinking—including, as one analyst suggests, ceasing commercialization. read more By Max Bayer Kaleido Therapeutics failed to find a buyer, so it's closing up shop. That means its remaining staff are out of a job and the company is delisting, a disappointing end to hopes that it could tap the microbiome for new therapies. read more By Ben Adams Bristol Myers Squibb is the surprise winner in an emerging rheumatoid arthritis market dynamic as doctors eschew new JAK inhibitors amid safety concerns. A recent survey found a “potential paradigm shift” away from JAK inhibitors despite these drugs being on the market for only a few years. read more By Kevin Dunleavy The FDA has put a clinical hold on a bridging study by Ocugen designed to show that its Bharat Biotech-partnered COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin can protect people in the U.S. as effectively as it has done in trials in India. It is the second clinical hold in five months for Ocugen's application for approval. read more Resources Sponsored By: H1 More than 570 clinical trials in Ukraine have been disrupted. Unanticipated disruptions to medical testing and clinical trials impede progress toward new breakthroughs and new therapies that millions of patients around the world hang their hope on. What role do rescue sites play? Sponsored by: Nethealth Net Health, experts in wound care and dermatology clinical trials, have a new eBook: 5 Rules to Enhance Clinical Trials in 2022, find out how to recruit the right participants, connect patients and researchers with technology, manage costs and more. Sponsored by: United Cargo The United Cargo team has made a commitment to pharmaceutical and medical partners that we are equipped to support their vaccine transportation needs safely and effectively across our expansive global and domestic network. The safety and security of these commodities is our priority, and we are proud to be a trusted partner in these efforts. Download infographic now. Sponsored by: Blue Matter, strategic consultants in the life sciences What’s in store for the oncology market in 2022 and beyond? This paper looks at 5 trends driving the market. Sponsored by: Thermo Fisher Scientific Learn how to position quality as a central component within your raw material sourcing strategies for the chemicals used throughout your workflows. Download the free whitepaper from Thermo Fisher Scientific. Sponsored by: Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company The landscape of clinical trials has been permanently changed. Today's trials require sponsors to modernize their use of technology and data to adapt. This eBook provides an overview of how sponsors can empower trials with real-time performance data to improve study integrity, reduce risks, optimize patient safety, and increase trial success rates. Sponsored by: Thermo Fisher Scientific Learn how to navigate the top manufacturing challenges and achieve a seamless transition from discovery to clinical manufacturing across the CAR T-cell therapy workflow. Sponsored by: Oracle Health Sciences Learn about ways to break down regulatory roadblocks and get closer to 100% clarity on regulatory positions to advance decentralized clinical trials in research. Sponsored by: Catalent Learn more about how the versatility of Softgel Technology helped a customer with a volatile compound. Sponsored by: Catalent What is the most suitable dosage form technology for the Oral Delivery of Lipid-Based Formulations? Sponsored by: Catalent How can Lipid-Based Drug Delivery System help bring poorly soluble drugs to market? Sponsored by: Catalent Biologics Ypsomed and Catalent Biologics experts discuss strategies for integrated PFS manufacturing and auto-injector assembly to accelerate timelines and more in this webinar. Sponsored by: Catalent Biologics Learn how formulation development for a PFS affects manufacturing to drive the industry toward optimizing delivery of injectable products and, ultimately, improving patient care. Fierce Promotional Review Committee Compliance and Best Practices Summit April 12-14, 2022 | New Brunswick, NJ Fierce Medical Affairs Strategic Summit (MASS) East April 12-14, 2022 | New Brunswick, NJ Accelerating Immuno-Oncology and Oncology Drug Development Using Humanized Mice Thursday, April 21, 2022 | 12pm ET / 9am PT Fierce Trial Master File Summit May 2-4, 2022 | New Orleans, LA & Streaming Live Fierce Leaders in Life Sciences Forum May 24, 2022 | Free Virtual Event Fierce Digital Pharma Engage June 14-15, 2022 | Huntington Beach, CA Fierce Digital Pharma Innovation Week June 21-23, 2022 | Free Virtual Event Fierce Pharma PR & Communications Summit July 19-20, 2022 | Jersey City, NJ Promotional Review Committee Compliance and Best Practices Summit West (PRC West) September 2022 | San Diego, CA Fierce Health Payer Summit October 12, 2022 | Free Virtual Event Fierce Digital Pharma East October 18-20, 2022 | Philadelphia, PA & October 25-28, 2022 | Virtual Event Fierce Biotech Cell & Gene Therapy Forum October 19, 2022 | Virtual Event Fierce Pharma Marketing Awards October 19, 2022 | Philadelphia, PA Fierce Launch Readiness for Medical Affairs & Communications Teams Summit November 30-December 1, 2022 | Virtual Event Fierce New Product Planning Summit November 30 - December 1, 2022 | Boston, MA Fierce JPM Week 2023 January 2023 | San Francisco, CA & Virtual | 
