BioSpace News Archive

Sanofi Succeeding with Blue-Chip Asset, Dupixent, While Other Programs Fall Away

Over the course of 2020, Sanofi saw significant growth in its specialty care sales primarily driven by its blue-chip asset, Dupixent, as well as an increase in vaccine sales that were driven by demand for differentiated influenza vaccines, the company announced in its year-end financial report.

February 5, 2021

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3 min read

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Alex Keown

Biotech Bay

From Ancestry to Genetics-Based Drug Development, Richard Branson Takes 23andMe Public

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson believes in healthcare. This week he put more of his money where his mouth is by using his SPAC to take consumer DNA testing company 23andMe public in a massive deal.

February 5, 2021

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2 min read

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Kate Goodwin

Drug Development

Gilead’s Inhaled COVID-19 Treatment, Remdesivir, Requires More Adequate Testing Before Regulatory Approval

Foster City-based Gilead Sciences says its inhaled version of remdesivir, which has been increasingly used in research and practice to combat COVID-19 in hospitalized patients, won’t be available any time soon as it needs more testing in clinical research.

February 5, 2021

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2 min read

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Brandon May

Deals

Bolt, Vor IPO Pricings Top $400 Million Cap Huge Week for Life Science Financing

Innate immune-oncology company Bolt expects to raise $230 million, and cancer cell therapy player Vor Biopharma expects to raise $176.9 million, in upsized initial public offerings (IPOs) starting today, following yesterday’s $587.5 million IPO for Sana Biotechnology and other financing news this week.

February 5, 2021

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2 min read

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Mark Zipkin

Business

Novavax Initiates Rolling Review for Vaccine & Other COVID News

Less than one week after posting a positive first-look at Phase III vaccine data, Maryland-based Novavax began the rolling review process for authorization of NVX-CoV2373 in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

February 5, 2021

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3 min read

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Alex Keown

Drug Development

J&J Sends One-Shot Vaccine to FDA, Emergency Use Authorization Expected End of February

Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Biotech submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization (EUA) for its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine.

February 5, 2021

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3 min read

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Mark Terry

Drug Development

AstraZeneca’s Checkpoint Inhibitor Misses Mark in Head & Neck Cancer

AstraZeneca reported that its Phase III KESTREL trial of Imfinzi (durvalumab) failed to meet the primary endpoint of improving overall survival (OS) compared to the EXTREME treatment regimen, which was chemotherapy plus cetuximab, a standard of care.

February 5, 2021

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3 min read

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Mark Terry

Bio NC

Clinical Catch-Up: February 1 – February 5

It was a busy week for clinical trial updates. Here’s a look.

February 5, 2021

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11 min read

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Mark Terry

Courtesy of Alexanderstock23/Shutterstock

Drug Development

Switzerland Delays AstraZeneca Vaccine Approval, Wanting More Data

The Swiss health authority Swissmedic rejected AstraZeneca’s rolling authorization application for its COVID-19 vaccine a few days ago, saying more data is needed “to obtain more information about safety, efficacy, and quality.”

February 5, 2021

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3 min read

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Gail Dutton

Pharm Country

New Study Shows How SARS-CoV-2 Evolves Into New, Antibody-Evading Variants

A new study report in Science suggests SARS-CoV-2 and its mutated new variants can evade immune responses via the selective deletion of small sections of the virus’s genetic sequence.

February 5, 2021

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2 min read

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Brandon May