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Today's Rundown

CDC director tells Senate she is 'cautiously optimistic' about state of fight against COVID-19
Roll call: How Big Pharma is charting a path back to the office in 2021
BerGenBio fails COVID-19 trial, makes post hoc case for program
COVID-19 tracker: Emergent reveals cause of J&J manufacturing error; Lilly links another baricitinib licensing deal
COVID-19 vaccine makers, after rejecting controversial IP proposal, lay out their own plan to improve global supplies
Biopharma R&D 'surged' in 2020, but trial productivity levels a mixed bag: report
American skeptics fuel ongoing pharma 'trust deficit' despite pandemic gains, research finds
CNN Report: CHS sued nearly 19,000 patients for unpaid medical bills since start of pandemic
UPDATED Coronavirus tracker: 10M shots delivered by HHS-backed community health centers
CytoDyn begs investors to stop trashing FDA in bizarre call after agency's public smackdown
Emergent execs set to testify before some of the same lawmakers its political spending helped elect: report

Featured Story

CDC director tells Senate she is 'cautiously optimistic' about state of fight against COVID-19

By Robert King

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told senators she was "cautiously optimistic" on where things stand in the fight against the pandemic but worries about variants remain.

Roll call: How Big Pharma is charting a path back to the office in 2021

By Fraiser Kansteiner

With vaccines putting COVID-19 on the defense in the U.S., drugmakers are grappling with the question of when, how and whether employees might return to the office. The short answer? Consensus says fully in-person work is going the way of the dinosaur.

BerGenBio fails COVID-19 trial, makes post hoc case for program

By Nick Paul Taylor

A phase 2 clinical trial of BerGenBio’s bemcentinib in hospitalized COVID-19 patients has missed its primary endpoint. The AXL inhibitor failed to accelerate time to sustained clinical improvement over standard of care, but BerGenBio identified a subgroup analysis of a secondary endpoint as a reason to continue development.

COVID-19 tracker: Emergent reveals cause of J&J manufacturing error; Lilly links another baricitinib licensing deal

By Noah Higgins-Dunn,Kevin Dunleavy,Fraiser Kansteiner

Emergent BioSolutions has been in the spotlight ever since it ruined up to 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine. Now, the company says its intense efforts to scale up that shot and another from AstraZeneca caused the mishap. Plus more.

COVID-19 vaccine makers, after rejecting controversial IP proposal, lay out their own plan to improve global supplies

By Kevin Dunleavy

Two weeks after the Biden administration voiced support for lifting patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines, a worldwide trade association representing the pharmaceutical industry has formulated a plan to address the problem of inequities in vaccine availability.

Biopharma R&D 'surged' in 2020, but trial productivity levels a mixed bag: report

By Ben Adams

A major global pandemic was not enough to stop surging rates of biopharma research and development, but trial productivity still remains below the long-term average.

American skeptics fuel ongoing pharma 'trust deficit' despite pandemic gains, research finds

By Beth Snyder Bulik

Despite the pandemic and its promise of a relationship reset, half of Americans still don’t trust pharma companies, according to Deloitte studies in four different countries. But a much larger 80% of people in the other three countries—India, South Africa and the U.K.—said they trusted or were neutral toward drugmakers.

CNN Report: CHS sued nearly 19,000 patients for unpaid medical bills since start of pandemic

By Robert King

Community Health Systems filed at least 19,000 lawsuits against patients for unpaid medical bills since the start of the pandemic last March, a new CNN investigation found.

UPDATED Coronavirus tracker: 10M shots delivered by HHS-backed community health centers

By Healthcare Staff

Follow along with the latest COVID-19 news straight from the Fierce Healthcare team.

CytoDyn begs investors to stop trashing FDA in bizarre call after agency's public smackdown

By Annalee Armstrong

CytoDyn President and CEO Nader Pourhassan begged his investors to stop trashing the FDA after the agency issued a rare public rebuke over the company’s public statements on a pair of failed COVID-19 clinical trials. “You can throw all kinds of eggs and tomatoes, whatever you like, at me. I deserve it,” Pourhassen said. “But please don’t do that to the regulatory agency.”

Emergent execs set to testify before some of the same lawmakers its political spending helped elect: report