BioSpace News Archive

The advancing rollout of currently approved coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines provides hope to many that existing lockdowns and social restrictions will soon be lifted, but experts suggest a “return to normal” likely won’t occur until herd immunity is achieved.

Please check out the biopharma industry coronavirus (COVID-19) stories that are trending for January 12, 2021.

On Monday, at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference held virtually, Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ chief executive officer Reshma Kewalramani said the company is looking to buy “mid- and late-stage assets.”

BioSpace takes a look at some of the announcements that occurred Monday and will continue to update throughout the week.

Novartis plunked down $650 million in upfront payment for BeiGene’s Tislelizumab, which is already approved for patients with classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma and metastatic urothelial carcinoma in China.

Publicly-traded companies that have been heavily involved in developing therapies and vaccines for COVID-19 have seen significant spikes in their stock prices over the past 10 months, including Germany’s BioNTech, which has surged 187% in one year.

As an immigrant, female, mid-30’s CEO in the biotech world, Leen Kawas is used to being told no. She’s familiar with doubts being cast on her ideas, eyebrows raised at her push for innovation and some flat out telling her it won’t work. And she’s comfortable with all of that. It’s that grit that’s gotten her to where she is now.

The novel immune checkpoint inhibitor Sanofi deemed worthy of such an investment is BND-22, a humanized IgG4 antagonist antibody targeting the Ig-like transcript 2 (ILT2) receptor, an inhibitory receptor expressed on both innate and adaptive immune cells.

Gilead is projecting remdesivir sales of about $2.825 billion alone for 2020.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is experiencing abrupt and noticeable personnel changes as it continues to clash with the Health and Human Services, the department that oversees the agency and its operations.