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Today's Rundown

The $38B pie: Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines set for lion's share of 2021 sales
CDC panel recommends healthcare workers, long-term care residents and staff be first to get COVID-19 vaccine
Roche nets FDA authorization for quantitative COVID-19 antibody test
Sponsored: Predicting Landfall: A Dynamic Control Room for Taking on the COVID-19 Landscape
Operation Warp Speed pushing to vaccinate 100M against COVID-19 by end of February
CMS looks to permanently expand telehealth services
Healthcare roundup: Ballad Health pauses elective surgeries as COVID-19 cases mount
Biopharma roundup: Merck divests stake in Moderna; Pfizer poised for $14B-plus in 2021 vaccine sales: analysts
Merck cashes in on Moderna COVID-19 vaccine enthusiasm with sale of equity stake

Featured Story

The $38B pie: Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines set for lion's share of 2021 sales

By Eric Sagonowsky

With the first COVID-19 vaccinations expected to start in the coming weeks, 2021 is shaping up to be quite a year for the companies leading the vaccine race. Specifically, there's tens of billions on the line, Bernstein analysts wrote—and the first-to-market shots will reap more than half of it.

CDC panel recommends healthcare workers, long-term care residents and staff be first to get COVID-19 vaccine

By Robert King

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel has recommended that healthcare workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities be the first to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it is approved.

Roche nets FDA authorization for quantitative COVID-19 antibody test

By Conor Hale

Roche has received authorization from the FDA for a more accurate COVID-19 blood test capable of measuring the levels of specific antibodies that target the coronavirus’s cell-unlocking spike protein.

Operation Warp Speed rolled out an ambitious goal to vaccinate 100 million people against COVID-19 by the end of February as the first vaccine is expected to get approval soon.

CMS looks to permanently expand telehealth services

By Robert King

CMS added more telehealth services that can be reimbursed by Medicare as the agency lays the groundwork to keep telehealth flexibility once the pandemic ends.

Healthcare roundup: Ballad Health pauses elective surgeries as COVID-19 cases mount

By Healthcare Staff

Follow along with the latest COVID-19 news straight from the Fierce Healthcare team.

Biopharma roundup: Merck divests stake in Moderna; Pfizer poised for $14B-plus in 2021 vaccine sales: analysts

By Eric Sagonowsky,Angus Liu,Kyle Blankenship,Conor Hale,Fraiser Kansteiner

Pfizer is set to pull in $14.3 billion in COVID vaccine sales next year, Bernstein analysts predict. Merck divested its stake in Moderna, resulting in "a small fourth quarter gain." The U.S. aims to vaccinate 100 million people by February. And Roche won FDA authorization for a quantitative antibody test.

Merck cashes in on Moderna COVID-19 vaccine enthusiasm with sale of equity stake

By Arlene Weintraub

Merck made a $50 million equity investment in Moderna back in 2015 and invested $125 million in the mRNA startup three years later. Their research pact is focused on mRNA vaccines for cancer, but now that Moderna is nearing the finish line on its COVID-19 vaccine, Merck is cashing in on what turned out to be a prescient bet.

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