Merck & Co.

As the number of diagnosed cases of COVID-19 continue to increase across the globe and more and more governments are urging citizens to self-quarantine, the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry continues to work toward the development of a vaccine and therapies for the respiratory infection that was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization last week. Here’s a biopharma industry overview as of late March 16.

Although March looks to be a busy month for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, several of the PDUFA dates for this week were for drugs under Priority Review.

*Achoo* Muddling through a stuffy, runny nose and itchy, watery eyes? You aren’t alone - over 17.6 million American adults (about 7.5%) experience allergic rhinitis (also called hay fever or seasonal allergies). Many different substances (called allergens) can trigger allergic rhinitis, such as tree or grass pollen, and each person has their own set of problematic allergens.

It doesn’t happen that often, but Merck’s checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda received a rejection from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a busy week planned for drug review. Here’s a look at this week’s schedule.

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