WELCOME TO FIERCE LIFE SCIENCES WEEKLY DIGEST Some of the world’s largest drugmakers will work together on COVID-19 antibody therapies, giving up confidential manufacturing secrets. With permission from the Justice Department’s antitrust watchdogs, AstraZeneca, Genentech, Amgen and GlaxoSmithKline, plus Eli Lilly and its partner AbCellera, will share info on capacity and raw materials, but won’t be able to talk pricing or production costs. It’s not the only place where Big Pharma is forming a united front: executives declined en masse to attend a White House meeting this week on drug prices, after Trump pushed an order to link Medicare prices to lower drug costs seen overseas. Those stories plus our top reads of the week follow below. | |
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Featured Story | By Nick Paul Taylor A patent court has sided with Arbutus Biopharma in its dispute with Moderna, raising concerns that the intellectual property dispute could stymie COVID-19 vaccine development. The news sent shares in Moderna down 9% despite it being unclear whether the patent is relevant to its COVID-19 vaccine. read more |
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Top Stories Of The Week By Fraiser Kansteiner Six drugmakers working on COVID-19 antibody treatments want to swap information and scale up production before those therapies win approval—and now they have Justice Department approval to share their need-to-know secrets. read more By Conor Hale The FDA has authorized LabCorp's test for broad-based screening—including for people who have not shown any symptoms and those that do not suspect they have come into contact with someone with the disease. read more By Beth Snyder Bulik With its trials and pricing set, Pfizer has pulled back the curtain on the long-range commercial strategy for its COVID-19 vaccine. During its earnings call Tuesday, execs laid out two phases, pandemic and seasonal, with some combination of the two likely to play out over the next several years. read more By Angus Liu Researchers at Columbia University have isolated a cocktail of antibodies from COVID-19 patients they say could offer a new and potentially potent option for treating and preventing the disease. Some of the antibodies target areas of SARS-CoV-2 that are not addressed by drugs currently in development, they said. read more By Eric Sagonowsky President Donald Trump seems to have hit a nerve with his Friday executive orders on drug pricing. As pharma companies work to battle the pandemic, executives declined to attend a White House meeting Tuesday on drug prices, according to media reports. read more By Ben Adams Pfizer and German biotech partner BioNTech have on the same day as rival Moderna kick-started a late-stage effort for their “best” attempt at an mRNA pandemic vaccine. read more By Angus Liu With data from a second phase 3 trial, AstraZeneca has finally convinced FDA regulators that its new three-in-one COPD offering, Breztri, deserves a place on the U.S. market just as GlaxoSmithKline's rival med Trelegy does. It has won an FDA nod for Breztri as a COPD maintenance therapy. read more By Ben Adams GlaxoSmithKline is making headlines for its COVID-19 vaccine work, but it has quietly swept away a series of pipeline assets amid its quarterly results posted Wednesday morning. read more By Kyle Blankenship AstraZeneca has shaken up the lucrative heart failure market with diabetes med Farxiga after a major approval earlier this year. But in kidney disease, another blockbuster market, Farxiga also sports impressive data, and it could spell a big FDA nod to come. read more Resources Sponsored by: Lonza Pharma & Biotech A novel spray-dried dispersion platform has been developed to faciliate high drug load applications Sponsored by: Cambrex The industry trend of outsourcing to CDMOs continues. With more services, capabilities, facilities, and employees than ever before, our experts have contributed more articles to our biggest eBook yet. Sponsored by: EVERSANA How predictive analytics and machine learning have the potential to transform healthcare by predicting “Patient Switching Behaviors.” Sponsored by: Recro Gainesville Wurster processing is a versatile technique for developing and manufacturing multiparticulates for modified release dosage forms. Read this whitepaper to determine whether Wurster processing is the right option for your project. Sponsored by: PRA Health Sciences Collaboration across the industry will be key to meeting the demands of the RACE Act and ensuring pediatric patients receive the care and treatments they need. Sponsored by: Catalent Regardless of the assigned FDA expedited approval designation and approach, the key action items should be: the assurance of a detail-oriented plan and the adaption of a “forward-thinking” approach that will assist in any future challenges and opportunities for growth of each project. Sponsored by: Catalent Get expert insights on strategies to implement flexible manufacturing and different technologies that are easily scalable and reproducible. Sponsored by: Catalent This whitepaper discusses the benefits of end-to-end solutions and share case studies on how flexible manufacturing strategies can accommodate the changing landscape of pharmaceutical products and help bring a drug to market. Sponsored by: Catalent Learn about a real-world example of how clinical supply management expertise was applied to overcome inventory challenges for a complex, global study. Sponsored by: Catalent Whether a study is simple or highly complex, forecasting and simulation reports serve as data driven communication tools to help minimize risks and keep the study on track. Learn more about forecasting solutions for informed decision making and supporting contingency planning for clinical study. Sponsored by: Catalent Learn how to drive excellence within the forecasting process and utilize forecasting throughout the clinical study to better plan clinical supply budgets and project timelines. Explore how to identify potential supply-related issues before they can negatively impact your study. | 
