Vaccines
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that the main thing getting in the way of changing vaccine discussions in the U.S. is “the Secretary of Health,” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
In November, Pfizer was reportedly looking to divest its stake in BioNTech, though the German biotech at the time denied these rumors.
Buying vaccine biotech Dynavax was an easy choice for Sanofi despite antivaccine moves by the Trump administration.
AbbVie and Novartis strike billion-dollar pacts while attendees at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference await that one big M&A deal and Merck teases limitless buying capacity; Eli Lilly readies for potential orforglipron launch while Novo Nordisk laments compounders; the IPO window cracks open; and the FDA concludes that GLP-1s do not pose a suicide risk.
While Moderna’s full-year sales landed in the upper end of its target range, Jefferies analysts said further reductions are needed if the biotech hopes to hit its 2028 break-even target.
In his annual letter, Flagship Pioneering’s Noubar Afeyan lays out a choice between near-term “human-made miracles” and a reversion to the pain and suffering of past diseases due to “growing contempt” in the U.S. for the scientific method.
Novo Nordisk follows Christmas oral Wegovy approval with quick launch; Eli Lilly is headed for $94.3 billion in annual revenue by 2027, analysts predict; nine more pharmas strike Most Favored Nation deals but half remain unsigned; experts call for stability and rare disease action at FDA, and all eyes are on M&A ahead of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference next week.
The US dramatically altered its recommendations for a series of vaccines, which drive billion-dollar earnings for giants like Merck and Pfizer.
The money replaces a small portion of a contract Moderna lost when the Department of Health and Human Services canceled $760 million in backing to develop the vaccine, called mRNA-1018.
The CDC accepted the recommendation of its advisory committee that the shot be delayed for many patients until they are at least two months of age due to safety concerns. The CDC itself has said the vaccine is safe and effective.
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