WELCOME TO FIERCE LIFE SCIENCES WEEKLY DIGEST Our annual list of the highest-paid in biopharma R&D has some familiar faces and some wild cards, as the mad dash against COVID-19 brought along several pay raises. That includes CSO Gregory Glenn, whose Novavax recently posted 90.4% efficacy in a U.S. study. Meanwhile, a U.K. real-world study of Pfizer, BioNTech and AstraZeneca’s vaccines showed they could work against the coronavirus’ Delta variant, aka B.1.617.2, one of the predominant strains in the country. Elsewhere, CureVac’s first-generation shot missed the mark with 47% accuracy, but it’s second-gen vaccine is in the works with help from GSK. | |
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Featured Story | By Kevin Dunleavy In a real-world study in the U.K., two shots of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine were effective in preventing hospitalizations caused by the Delta variant, which scientists first detected in India. read more |
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Top Stories Of The Week By Nick Paul Taylor Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate has achieved 90.4% efficacy in the pivotal trial designed to support U.S. approval. The phase 3 data set Novavax up to file for approval in the third quarter. read more By Amirah Al Idrus If you (like us) thought George Yancopoulous, M.D., Ph.D., would top this list, well, that would have been a pretty safe bet. What none of us predicted was just how big his lead would be. The Regeneron R&D chief raked in $134.3 million, a whopping 550% bump over his compensation the previous year. Yancopoulos' compensation eclipsed the pay of his peers on this list by at least $109 million. read more By Noah Higgins-Dunn The Alzheimer's Association, which has been a leading advocate for Biogen's drug Aduhelm, said the drugmaker's roughly $56,000 per year list price is "simply unacceptable" and called on the company to change it. read more By Nick Paul Taylor GlaxoSmithKline is paying iTeos Therapeutics $625 million upfront for rights to phase 1 anti-TIGIT monoclonal antibody EOS-448. The deal sets GSK up to challenge Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead, Merck and Roche for the red-hot corner of the immuno-oncology market. read more By Conor Hale The FDA issued a stark warning to the public urging them to stop using rapid COVID-19 antigen tests developed by Innova Medical Group, the company previously tapped by the U.K. for hundreds of millions of kits. read more By Fraiser Kansteiner At long last, several million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine made at CDMO Emergent BioSolutions' troubled Baltimore production facility have been cleared for use. But many more are now bound for the graveyard, and the feds are going public with the reasons behind the ruined doses. read more By Kyle LaHucik Ex-FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, M.D., is joining Moderna incubator Flagship Pioneering six months after granting the company an emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine. read more By Noah Higgins-Dunn Facing heavy competition, Aimovig's U.S. operations will undergo a shakeup. Novartis on Tuesday said that it will hand shared U.S. business operations for the med to Amgen, including sales, marketing and medical support functions. The Swiss pharma will retain the financial aspects of its current U.S. collaboration with Amgen, including sharing costs and receiving royalties. read more By Beth Snyder Bulik Just weeks after its debut, the PharmStars digital health accelerator nabbed its first pharma members—Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly and Takeda. The new matchmaking company is the first of its kind to focus specifically on connecting drugmakers to digital health startups. read more By Arlene Weintraub The 27-year-old diabetes drug metformin has been studied for its potential use in a wide range of other disorders, including heart disease and cancer. Now researchers led by the University of California, San Diego say the diabetes mainstay might help prevent lung inflammation in patients with COVID-19. read more Resources Sponsored by: Clinical Ink For faster deployment, improved patient engagement, and better-quality data — go where your patients are. GO BYOD with Lunexis™ from Clinical Ink. Sponsored by: BBK Worldwide Create a more diverse and inclusive clinical trial enrollment and engagement environment by learning the barriers to participation and the strategies to overcome them. 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