As the World Trade Organization (WTO) debate intensified this week over a demand to waive patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, the group’s new director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, urged members to “walk and chew gum” at the same time by working with “companies to open up and license more viable manufacturing sites now in emerging markets and developing countries. We must get them to work with us on know-how and technology transfer now.”
According to an analysis conducted by BioWorld of the 2020 financial reports filed by public biopharmaceutical companies with market caps greater than $1 billion, and excluding big pharma companies, the amount that was invested in research and development (R&D) during the year increased by 23% compared to the same period last year.
LONDON – A further U.K. real-world study of COVID-19 vaccines has found a single dose dramatically reduces the chances of the most elderly and frail being admitted to the hospital as a result of serious infection.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Blueprint, Dialectic, Exicure, Exithera, Idorsia, Junshi, Kempharm, Oblato, On Target, RDIF, Saniona, Sorrento, Wellmarker, Xentria.
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Alvotech, Applied Biomath, Astrazeneca, Betterlife, Black Diamond, Cipla, DNA Script, Emmaus, ERS, Eurofins, Exmceuticals, F4, Global Cannabinoids, GSK, Halberd, Hoth, Immunitas, Isa, Kainos, Kamada, Kindeva, Medicinova, Morphosys, Mylan, Nanobiotix, Oasmia, Otsuka, Partner, Repertoire Immune, Resverlogix, Sirs, United, Vaxalto.
NEW DELHI – Significant disruptions to supplies of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from China caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have led India to fundamentally rethink its supply chains and the structure of its pharmaceutical industry, according to industry executives and consultants.
Months of talks between Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Merck & Co. Inc. about a COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing partnership came to fruition March 2 with the Biden administration hailing the deal as an “unprecedented historic” agreement between two long-time rivals.
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