Newsletter Tool

To view this email as a web page, click here

Today's Rundown

Moderna criticized for COVID-19 vaccine strategy putting once feel-good success story in jeopardy
UPDATE: CRISPR hails safety, efficacy of off-the-shelf CAR-Ts, but stock slides amid durability doubts
Olympus investigating ‘potential cybersecurity incident’ on American IT systems, its second in a month
Physician groups warn nearly 10% in Medicare cuts could stall shift to value-based care, force staff cuts
Dexcom plots course to bring real-time blood glucose data to Garmin fitness devices
As the telehealth market shakes out, Teladoc, Amwell feeling pressure from new entrants, more specialization
Charles River offloads Japanese research model site, Swedish gene therapy CDMO for $115M
Bristol Myers Squibb engaged in Acceleron buyout talks but couldn't justify the price: report
Intellia beefs up ocular pipeline with 10% stake in SparingVision
Cochlear secures 2 FDA nods for telehealth method to program hearing implants from afar
Biden admin allows Colorado to make gender-affirming care an essential health benefit
Regulus picks another horse in kidney disease in latest attempt to get pipeline back on track
Novel protein degrader against 'undruggable' cancer target inhibits tumors in mice

Featured Story

Moderna criticized for COVID-19 vaccine strategy putting once feel-good success story in jeopardy

By Kevin Dunleavy

Moderna has no intention of sharing its mRNA vaccine formula with the rest of the world, the company's chairman said on Tuesday. Once seemingly immune to criticism, Moderna is hearing lots of it recently. The company lags far behind other COVID vaccine producers in supplying shots to poorer nations.

UPDATE: CRISPR hails safety, efficacy of off-the-shelf CAR-Ts, but stock slides amid durability doubts

By Nick Paul Taylor

CRISPR Therapeutics’ off-the-shelf CAR-T therapy has fallen short of the high bar set by investors. The prospect triggered responses in 58% of patients without causing grade 3 or higher cytokine release syndrome, but six-month durability compared unfavorably to rival drugs, sending shares in the biotech down 8%.

Olympus investigating ‘potential cybersecurity incident’ on American IT systems, its second in a month

By Andrea Park

The suspected incident occurred almost exactly one month after Olympus reported an attempted malware attack on its IT systems in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Physician groups warn nearly 10% in Medicare cuts could stall shift to value-based care, force staff cuts

By Robert King

Physician groups charge a series of cuts to Medicare payments set to go into effect in 2022 could force them to hold off on a shift to value-based care.

Dexcom plots course to bring real-time blood glucose data to Garmin fitness devices

By Conor Hale

After receiving an FDA green light for the project earlier this year, Dexcom is now making its diabetes data available through consumer electronic devices.

As the telehealth market shakes out, Teladoc, Amwell feeling pressure from new entrants, more specialization

By Heather Landi

Telehealth use overall has leveled off at levels 38 times higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to McKinsey. For the major incumbent telehealth players, the current state of play represents both opportunities and challenges. New entrants have now rushed to the market with more specialized virtual care platforms, fueled by a boom in venture capital dollars.

Charles River offloads Japanese research model site, Swedish gene therapy CDMO for $115M

By Kyle LaHucik

After picking up the Swedish gene therapy CDMO site in March through the $875 million acquisition of Cognate Bioservices, Charles River is dumping the plant for $52 million and also offloading a research model site in Japan for another $63 million.

Bristol Myers Squibb engaged in Acceleron buyout talks but couldn't justify the price: report

By Eric Sagonowsky

Even though Acceleron sold itself to Merck for $180 per share last month, the company exhausted other options before pulling the trigger. One of those options was seeing whether Bristol Myers Squibb would be interested in a deal, Bloomberg reports.

Intellia beefs up ocular pipeline with 10% stake in SparingVision

By Kyle LaHucik

Intellia Therapeutics was the first to prove gene editing can work in a human and now the famed CRISPR/Cas9 biotech is beefing up its ocular disease pipeline with a 10% equity stake in SparingVision.

Cochlear secures 2 FDA nods for telehealth method to program hearing implants from afar

By Andrea Park

Hear ye, hear ye: Patients using Cochlear’s hearing implants can now undergo routine adjustments and receive virtual counseling from their hearing health providers completely virtually via Cochlear’s newly expanded remote care platform.

Biden admin allows Colorado to make gender-affirming care an essential health benefit

By Paige Minemyer

The Biden administration has given Colorado the green light to include coverage for gender-affirming care in its essential health benefits packages in Affordable Care Act exchange plans.

Regulus picks another horse in kidney disease in latest attempt to get pipeline back on track

By Emmy Lucas

Regulus Therapeutics is once again shuffling its pipeline and sliding a new kidney disease candidate into the high-priority queue, hoping for better fortunes after a string of failures and shifting priorities.

Novel protein degrader against 'undruggable' cancer target inhibits tumors in mice

By Angus Liu

Riding a growing interest in protein degradation, researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine identified a small-molecule degrader for a cancer-promoting target called SUMO1, which was previously considered "undruggable." The compound inhibited tumor growth in mouse models of human breast, colon and lung cancers being developed by startup HB Therapeutics.

PM Tracker