Infectious disease

This week’s meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will be led by Kirk Milhoan, a physician and pastor who recently claimed that COVID-19 vaccines contained a contamination that causes cancer.

The alleged deaths were detected by the FDA’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, reports from which “generally cannot be used to determine” causation or even contribution, according to the agency.

The FDA’s docket in December includes decisions for two big biologic franchises: BMS’s Breyanzi and Amgen’s Uplizna.

At $9.2 billion, the Cidara acquisition lands among the top 5 largest deals of the year.

Following restricted vaccine approvals and changes to CDC immunization schedules, Merck, Pfizer, GSK and Sanofi are all suffering revenue hits to their vaccine programs.

Gilead is actively looking for late-stage and de-risked assets for potential deals across various therapeutic spaces, including liver disease, cancer and immunology.

Sales of Sanofi’s COVID-19 and flu vaccines fell 17% in the third quarter amid declining vaccination rates and pricing pressures in Europe.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was scheduled to convene Oct. 22 to 23, but this meeting has been postponed, with no new date specified. The delay comes as the VA published new research showing that COVID-19 shots prevented hospitalizations and death.

While last week’s recommended changes by CDC advisors to the MMRV vaccine schedule are unlikely to have a tangible effect on Merck’s business, the company said the removal of choice for healthcare providers is “concerning.”

BMO Capital Markets analysts said the first day of the CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting Thursday had anti-vaccine overtones as the panel, which was revamped by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in June, voted to recommend that children under four receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine separately from a chickenpox vaccine. Today the advisors will vote on changing the childhood schedule for the hepatitis B and COVID-19 vaccines.