Brian Buntz

Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb has predicted that the COVID-19 Delta surge could mark a high-water mark of the pandemic. “This may be the last major wave of infection,” said Gottlieb, who served as the FDA commissioner from 2017 to 2019. In an interview with CNN, Gottlieb predicted that the pandemic in the U.S.…

Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) has agreed in principle to settle securities class action litigation in the Federal District Court of New Jersey. The Bagsværd, Denmark–based company would pay $100 million in the settlement. That amount includes plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees, expenses and settlement costs. The lawsuit alleged that the company made misleading statements regarding the price of its…

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky issued guidelines for COVID-19 boosters, clearing the way for tens of millions of U.S. citizens to obtain a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. While FDA and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) reached broadly similar conclusions regarding booster doses for seniors and high-risk individuals, Walensky went…

The international logistics company ATA Freight is opening a new facility in Hyderabad due to growing demand from India’s quickly-growing pharmaceutical industry. The Hyderabad facility will primarily cater to the pharmaceutical industry. “ATA Freight already has a strong footprint in India’s pharmaceutical industry, serving many of the area’s leading pharma manufacturers,” said ATA freight chief…

Contract development and manufacturing organization Lonza has announced a series of expansion projects during the pandemic. Most recently, the Basel-based company revealed plans to expand its drug product manufacturing services on its home turf in Switzerland. Included in the expansion will be an installation of a new aseptic fill and finish line in the city…

The FDA amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to allow a third dose in individuals who face a high risk of infection or developing severe COVID-19. Those groups include people at least 65 and those aged 18 to 64 with a high risk of developing severe COVID-19. The EUA also…

Drawing from de-identified insurance claims data, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has announced that a single dose of its Ad26.COV2.S vaccine was 79% effective in preventing COVID-19 infections and is 81% effective in preventing hospitalizations associated with the novel coronavirus. The company also released results from its Phase 3 ENSEMBLE 2 trial, which tested the impact…

Panasonic (TYO: 6752) has announced that it has wrapped up its acquisition of Blue Yonder, a supply chain management company established in Scottsdale, Arizona. Both companies had similar plans for developing autonomous supply chain technology. The partnership will pair Panasonic’s sensing technology with the edge computing and machine learning capabilities of Blue Yonder. Having acquired…

President Biden’s announcement that the Labor Department will implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate has sent shockwaves rippling through the country. In particular, the plan calls for employers with 100 or more employees to require full vaccination or undergo weekly testing. Conservative politicians balked at the notion of a vaccine mandate. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has threatened…

Bausch Health (NYSE/TSX:BHC), formerly known as Valeant Pharmaceuticals, has agreed to pay $300 million to settle allegations that the company paid rivals to keep a generic version of Glumetza off the market. In 2015, the Laval, Canada–based company increased the drug’s price by almost eight-fold. The plaintiffs, drug distributor companies, in the class-action suit filed…