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Today's Rundown

Pfizer’s arthritis drug Xeljanz shows lifesaving benefits in hospitalized COVID-19 patients
U.S. injects $3B-plus into COVID-19 research to develop antiviral pill within a year
GSK, Bayer stand by CureVac following 'disappointing' COVID-19 vaccine trial flop
CureVac's first-gen COVID-19 vaccine misses the mark with 47% efficacy, as share price halves in after-hours trading
Mayo Clinic, nference AI analysis finds no real-world link among COVID-19 vaccines and brain blood clots
Warp Speed initiative sent COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials into hyperdrive, new research shows
New COVID-19 approach exploits protein response in human cells to combat virus
Danaher strikes $9.6B buyout for next-gen contract manufacturing player Aldevron
Researchers develop fast COVID-19 test using atom-thick sheets of graphene
Healthcare industry groups cheer Supreme Court decision to uphold ACA
COVID-19 tracker: U.S. to spend $3.2B on antiviral pill discovery; EU won't set 50% efficacy bar for vaccines

Featured Story

Pfizer’s arthritis drug Xeljanz shows lifesaving benefits in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

By Angus Liu

Pfizer's BioNTech-partnered COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty may be getting all the attention these days, but the pharma giant’s anti-inflammatory drug Xeljanz just chalked up a win in treating patients hospitalized with the disease.

U.S. injects $3B-plus into COVID-19 research to develop antiviral pill within a year

By Kyle LaHucik

The U.S. government has given nearly $20 billion to COVID-19 vaccines. Now, the focus shifts to oral antiviral pills to help prevent serious illness and hospitalizations of COVID-19 and other potential pandemic viruses.

GSK, Bayer stand by CureVac following 'disappointing' COVID-19 vaccine trial flop

By Noah Higgins-Dunn

Two drugmakers working with Germany's CureVac on pandemic shots said they're standing behind the company—for now—after disappointing late-stage results showed its vaccine was just 47% effective against COVID-19.

CureVac's first-gen COVID-19 vaccine misses the mark with 47% efficacy, as share price halves in after-hours trading

By Kyle LaHucik,Noah Higgins-Dunn

German biopharmaceutical CureVac said its first-generation COVID-19 vaccine, CVnCoV, showed less than 50% efficacy against any severity of the disease.

Mayo Clinic, nference AI analysis finds no real-world link among COVID-19 vaccines and brain blood clots

By Andrea Park

The study’s results were published not long after the FDA paused and unpaused the use of J&J's vaccine, amid reports of at least eight cases of rare brain blood clots, including one woman who died from the condition.

Warp Speed initiative sent COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials into hyperdrive, new research shows

By Kyle LaHucik

When the U.S. formed Operation Warp Speed toward the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring, drug developers, clinical research organizations and other players felt the weight behind the initiative’s urgent name. The pandemic forced CROs like IQVIA to rethink and boost resources, because the “clear traditional timelines would not be sufficient” to get COVID-19 vaccines to the public quickly, the company said in a new report.

New COVID-19 approach exploits protein response in human cells to combat virus

By Angus Liu

The development of COVID-19 drugs has mostly focused on directly targeting the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. But scientists at the University of Cambridge are taking a different approach to treating the disease by looking at an infection response pathway in human cells.

Danaher strikes $9.6B buyout for next-gen contract manufacturing player Aldevron

By Eric Sagonowsky

Looking to make a big splash in the next-gen pharma manufacturing market, Danaher has laid out $9.6 billion to buy leading contract manufacturer Aldevron, a key player the supply chain for vaccines and gene and cell therapries.

Researchers develop fast COVID-19 test using atom-thick sheets of graphene

By Conor Hale

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have potentially found a new method of passively detecting the coronavirus using sheets of graphene, one of the thinnest and strongest materials on the planet.

Healthcare industry groups cheer Supreme Court decision to uphold ACA

By Paige Minemyer

The long-awaited decision was cheered by healthcare groups, which had warned for months that striking down the law would cause ripple effects across the industry in an unprecedented way.

COVID-19 tracker: U.S. to spend $3.2B on antiviral pill discovery; EU won't set 50% efficacy bar for vaccines

By Noah Higgins-Dunn,Kevin Dunleavy,Fraiser Kansteiner

The U.S. said it will spend more than $3 billion to discover to discover an antiviral pill that could thwart COVID-19 early in an infection. The EU's drug regulator won't impose a 50% efficacy threshold for pandemic shots, potentially good news for CureVac's vaccine. And more headlines.

COVID-19 Tracker