Brian Buntz

The White House Coronavirus Task Force promised a swift rollout of COVID-19 vaccines — but one of a number of takeaways from its first briefing since July. The briefing yesterday gave the task force a chance to once again urge Americans to heed COVID-19 guidance while also providing an update on vaccines and therapeutics.   The…

Scientists at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom have developed a nasal spray that reportedly suppresses COVID-19 infection.  The nasal spray includes λ-carrageenan and gellan polysaccharide, both of which are already available as pharmaceutical-grade materials. The polysaccharides in the formulation are known for their mucoadhesive properties.  In essence, the formulation is designed to…

GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK) paid nearly $10 billion in inflation-adjusted financial penalties between January 2003 and December 2016, the highest tally for any drug company, according to research published in JAMA. That sum was more than any other in a sampling of 26 companies paying fines inside the U.S. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) was next in line with…

A federal judge in Virginia has sentenced opioid-addiction drug maker Indivior Solutions (LON:INDV) to pay $289 million in criminal penalties linked to the marketing of the drug Suboxone, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.  In all, Indivior will pay a total of $600 million to resolve civil and criminal liabilities for downplaying safety risks tied…

While President Trump continues to refuse to concede the election, a growing number of business associations and politicians have acknowledged Biden as the president-elect. What a Biden presidency would mean for the pharmaceutical industry continues to be an open question as the Senate outcome remains undecided, but two broadly similar outcomes are likely. Ultimately, neither…

Boehringer Ingelheim has reached an agreement in principle to settle some 2,935 lawsuits tied to its blood thinner Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate).  In a Connecticut Supreme Court filing, privately owned Boehringer (Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany) stated the settlement would resolve the lawsuits, which alleged the anticoagulant drug Pradaxa caused undisclosed bleeding risks. The company expects it will…

A National Institutes of Health clinical trial has concluded that hydroxychloroquine had no clinical benefit for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results from the blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized trial. The clinical trial, known as the “ORCHID” study, treated 479 symptomatic COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine in 34 hospitals in the…

Grifols (MCE:GRF and NSDQ:GRFS) posted third-quarter earnings yesterday that came in ahead of analysts’ projections, but its revenue fell short of the consensus forecast. The Barcelona-based manufacturer of blood-plasma products reported a net profit of €485.7 million on revenue of €4.0 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2020. Growth in constant currency was 7.6% compared with…

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) and Innoforce have agreed to set up a new pharma services facility in Hangzhou, China for biologics and drug development and manufacturing.  Innoforce is a Hangzhou, China-based contract development and manufacturing company. The two companies expect to complete the facility in 2022.   The site will become part of Thermo Fisher’s…

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) expects common stock for its Viatris spin-off to be available starting Nov. 12, following the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s approval of the proposed merger of Mylan (NSDQ:MYL) and Pfizer’s biopharmaceutical Upjohn brand.  The company expects the “when-issued” market for Viatris common stock (VTRSV) to be available from Nov. 12 to Nov. 16, when it…