Infectious disease
Merck’s Enflonsia will go up against Sanofi and AstraZeneca’s Beyfortus, which the partners plan to ship out early in the third quarter.
The loss of special government employee status for four members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices follows the resignation of ACIP co-lead Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, who left in protest of a controversial change in COVID-19 recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women.
Jefferies analysts said the approval was largely expected and an “incremental positive” for Moderna amid questions about the FDA’s attitude toward mRNA and COVID-19 vaccines that have investors worried.
Arguably the most notable of the FDA’s upcoming decisions is that regarding Gilead’s twice-yearly HIV prophylaxis lenacapavir.
The canceled contract comes as Moderna nears a critical FDA decision for its next-generation COVID-19 vaccine.
In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. claimed that there is a lack of clinical data to support the repeat COVID-19 booster strategy in children.
As the World Health Organization initiates a new agreement for coordinating global responses to future pandemics, the future of vaccine development in the U.S. faces growing challenges, including waning funding and regulatory changes, that threaten next-gen COVID-19 vaccine candidates and pandemic preparedness more broadly.
Vocal skeptics of COVID-19 vaccinations gave mRNA a bad name and government funding for mRNA research is now being cut. On the flip side, at least one CEO said the pandemic also provided “elevated acceleration” for the field, which also holds promise in therapeutics for cancer and rare diseases.
The advisory committee meeting comes days after the FDA unveiled a new risk-based approval framework for COVID-19 vaccines.
The FDA had given Pfizer and Moderna until May 17 to propose changes to the labels of their COVID-19 vaccines or challenge the agency’s directive. The products’ labels already include myocarditis warnings, albeit for different age groups.
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