| Welcome to FierceLifeSci Weekly Digest, your roundup of the biggest and most popular stories from each of our publications. Slipped into the company’s securities filing this week was the news that Merck & Co. has begun a massive restructuring of its manufacturing operations that could take up to five years and cost $1.2 billion. While specifics were not disclosed, it said about 55% of the cost is expected to go toward severance and separation, while 45% will go to “accelerated depreciation of facilities to be closed or divested.” Merck has steadily closed older facilities while it pours money into biologics manufacturing, including for its cancer wunderkind Keytruda, which brought in $2.27 billion in the first quarter. | |
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Featured Story | | | Tuesday, April 30, 2019 Merck & Co.’s cancer wunderkind Keytruda continues to turn in supercharged sales, $2.27 billion in the first quarter, which bodes well for the future of biologics manufacturing jobs at the company. But woe to those who work at other facilities, because the company has undertaken a manufacturing restructuring that could cost up to $1.2 billion when the dust settles. |
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Top Stories Of The Week Wednesday, May 1, 2019 GlaxoSmithKline has dumped a universal flu vaccine after getting a look at interim phase 1 data. The clinical data and other results persuaded GSK to stop development of the candidate once it finishes the ongoing study. Friday, April 26, 2019 AstraZeneca has dropped Amgen-partnered autoimmune drug prezalumab from its pipeline. The action follows the failure of the anti-B7RP1 antibody in a midphase Sjöogren’s syndrome trial. Friday, April 26, 2019 Gastric cancer is a tough nut to crack, and Merck superstar Keytruda has stumbled in the disease area—again. New phase 3 study data show Keytruda-plus-chemo couldn’t outdo chemo alone at extending the lives of some previously untreated patients. Tuesday, April 30, 2019 As copycats eat into Amgen’s older products, the big biotech is looking to its newer launches to stem the tide. But some of them are not getting it done. Monday, April 29, 2019 Sanofi and Regeneron haven't seen the uptake they'd hoped for with Praluent, but now they've won a label expansion detailing the drug's CV benefits. Wednesday, May 1, 2019 Charles River Labs has been hit by “a highly sophisticated, well-resourced intruder” who hacked into 1% of its clients' data. Monday, April 29, 2019 The FBI has raided the San Francisco headquarters of sequencing-based test provider uBiome, as part of a snowballing investigation into the company’s billing practices by law enforcement agencies, state regulators and insurance companies. The Friday morning search was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Wednesday, May 1, 2019 Pharma hasn’t exactly won accolades for its speed in adopting new artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. But while it’s drawn flak for that digital lag, it’s got good reason to proceed with caution where AI is concerned, one expert says. Monday, April 29, 2019 By analyzing proteins in tissue samples from colon cancer patients, a multi-institution research team made several surprising discoveries, including a link between cell metabolism and immune cells. They believe their findings could improve immuno-oncology treatments and pinpoint new drug targets. | This week's sponsor is FierceBiotech. | | | |
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