WELCOME TO FIERCE LIFE SCIENCES WEEKLY DIGEST As fast as the SPAC market sprang up, it appears to be cooling now—but there’s still a lot of money left waiting to change hands. Analysts have pegged nearly two dozen blank-check companies that have chosen biotech as their target but have not yet announced their quarry, with over $5 billion in combined war chests. Meanwhile, we examine the 10 largest deals made so far, spanning 2020 and 2021. Those stories, plus our top reads of the week, follow below. | |
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Featured Story | By Annalee Armstrong Eli Lilly's neuroscience team has moved quickly since Aduhelm's June approval to get their own therapy, donanemab, to an accelerated approval filing with the FDA by the end of the year. And the Big Pharma is hoping to beat their competitor to the punch with proof their drug actually slows progression of the disease. read more |
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Top Stories Of The Week By Kevin Dunleavy With Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine facing questions in Japan because of contamination incidents, its distribution partner in the country, Takeda, is firming up plans to manufacture and distribute the yet-to-be-approved Novavax vaccine. Japan has just agreed to purchase 150 million Novavax vaccine doses. read more By Annalee Armstrong During the pandemic, special purpose acquisition companies were popping up like weeds ready to spread out in the biotech garden. Things have slowed down, but dozens of shell companies are still waiting for the right biotech to strike. read more By Arlene Weintraub A BioNTech-led team designed a cocktail of mRNAs that instruct cells to produce four cancer-fighting molecules. The treatment suppressed tumors in mouse models of colon cancer and melanoma, and it worked even better when combined with checkpoint inhibiting drugs, they reported in a new study. read more By Eric Sagonowsky Only a few days after Eli Lilly's COVID-19 antibody combo of bamlanivimab and etesevimab made its return in more than 20 states, federal officials are resuming distribution nationwide. In a Thursday alert, officials said Lilly's drug "can be used in all U.S. states, territories, and jurisdictions" based on data about variants circulating nationwide. read more By Eric Sagonowsky While COVID-19 vaccines set all sorts of industry launch records, another potential megablockbuster vaccine market looms on the horizon. Some of pharma's top players, including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline are expected to be involved, one prominent industry analyst writes. read more By Ben Adams Oncology biotech Exelixis is mourning the deaths of two key members of its company after losing its sales leader and CMO in the same week. read more By Annalee Armstrong,Kyle LaHucik Gene therapy biotechs are ready with an arsenal of clinical trials to test the potentially groundbreaking treatments in humans. But an array of complicated safety concerns remain to be addressed—including the correct animal models to use in preclinical research to ensure human testing is safe and how to deliver the medicines safely. That’s the focus of a two-day marathon advisory committee meeting hosted by the FDA this week. read more By Angus Liu Roche Pharmaceuticals CEO Bill Anderson recently pegged lymphoma drug Polivy’s potential expansion into newly diagnosed patients as a multibillion-dollar opportunity. Now, at least one analyst is backing up that estimate with positive doctor feedback. read more By Kevin Dunleavy Crippled by opioid-crisis litigation, Mallinckrodt is one step closer to chapter 11 reorganization as it revealed it has reached settlements with creditors that would reduce the company’s debt by roughly $1.3 billion. read more By Andrea Park The new algorithm could help guide placement of brain-stimulating devices to treat neurological conditions ranging from epilepsy to Parkinson’s disease to obsessive compulsive disorder. read more By Kevin Dunleavy Responding to recent criticism that the United States is not doing enough to relieve the world's COVID-19 vaccine shortfall, the White House revealed that the government will spend $2.7 billion to beef up vaccine manufacturing. The funds will increase the stock of bioreactor bags, tubing, lipids, vials, needles and syringes, officials said. read more Resources Sponsored by: Patheon by Thermo Fisher Scientific Choose the right AAV platform for your viral vector-based therapy Sponsored by: XIFIN inc. Download the Value of Precision Medicine Informatics (PMI) Initiatives report to learn about the technology, data types, and the value derived from more than 100 PMI initiatives. Sponsored by: EVERSANA Today’s economics do not allow manufactures to keep making decisions in an antiquated way. They need to challenge tradition & deliver faster, cheaper, successful launches. Learn how. Sponsored by: Thermo Fisher Scientific Thermo Fisher Scientific introduces a new NK cell culture medium designed to support feeder-free, high-yield growth for cell therapy applications. Sponsored by: Blue Matter This white paper provides a concise overview of the trends currently shaping the market access environment in Europe, as well as the implications for biopharma companies. Sponsored by: Box Read Get to Know Cloud Content Management for Life Sciences and learn how to eliminate silos across all workflows, from R&D to commercialization. Sponsored by: Cytiva A one-stop hub for Cytiva resources to support process intesification Sponsored by: Cytiva A one-stop hub for Cytiva resources to support process development and manufacturing of your novel molecule Sponsored By: Remarque Systems Remarque Systems consolidates data, then layers on visualization and automated metrics to generate consistent, actionable data insights in real-time. Click here for more info. Sponsored By: Within3 We enable virtual work — offering over-time sessions where participants are more focused, insights are more diverse and business goals are met. Sponsored by: Catalent Hear industry experts discuss the recent advances, challenges and considerations in pediatric drug development. Real-life examples presented by the experts illustrate the impact of age-appropriate dose forms for pediatrics and highlight insights into the caregiver perspectives. Sponsored by: Catalent Autologous cell therapies have seen propelled growth since 2017, with the spotlight on the first FDA approval of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy, Kymriah® (tisagenlecleucel), for the treatment of relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. | 
