Insulet (NSDQ:PODD) is suing Roche Diabetes Care in the U.K., claiming that Roche prematurely began selling tubeless insulin pumps covered by an Insulet patent three years before that patent expires. The trial for the lawsuit, filed in August 2020, began this week in the U.K. High Court. Insulet claims that Roche has been infringing the…

Manufacturers of vaccine supplies and personal protective equipment can expect more work as the new Biden administration rolls out its plans to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In one of his first official acts as president, Joe Biden announced a plan to “fully use” the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of testing supplies, masks,…

Temperature-controlled packaging company Pelican BioThermal announced that it has adapted some of its shipping packages to accommodate vaccines at temperatures as low as -80°C. The Plymouth, Minn.-based company has switched the materials it uses to keep the packages deep-frozen from saltwater or paraffin to dry ice, according to Adam Tetz, director of worldwide marketing for Pelican BioThermal.…

Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE:JNJ) chief scientific officer said today that the first doses of his company’s COVID-19 vaccine could be available for frontline healthcare workers in January or February, but added the company isn’t rushing it. If granted an emergency use authorization by the FDA, that’s the earliest Dr. Paul Stoffels said the single-dose vaccine developed…

The Trump administration today released a plan to distribute an eventual COVID-19 vaccine free of charge, initially to targeted groups and more broadly as supply increases. The government is planning a phased distribution using a contract awarded to McKesson in August. The first recipients could include: Healthcare personnel likely to be exposed to or treat people…

Specialty glass manufacturer Schott announced today that it is delivering vials to three out of every four COVID-19 vaccine projects undergoing phase I, II, and III testing , according to Global Data. The Mainz, Germany-based company has delivered millions of glass vials to SARS-CoV-2 programs, including partners of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine…

A top FDA official has threatened to resign if the Trump administration moves too quickly to approve a vaccine for COVID-19, according to a published report. Peter Marks, director of the agency’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), made the threat over concerns a vaccine would be approved without being proven safe and effective,…

The Trump administration has awarded Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) a contract for up to $1.2 billion to develop, manufacture and deliver a vaccine for COVID-19, the companies announced today. The vaccine candidate is based on the recombinant protein-based technology used by Sanofi to produce an influenza vaccine, and GSK’s established pandemic adjuvant (immunity-boosting) technology. Manufacturing will…

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies announced that its College Station, Texas, site will manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine candidate under a $265 million federal contract. The contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for biologics, viral vaccines and gene therapies said it received the federal task order through the Texas A&M System Center for Innovation in Advanced Development &…

Smiths Medical announced today that it has landed a federal contract to produce more than 78 million syringe-and-needle units and $20 million in federal funding to expand its Keene, N.H. plant to produce them. The Plymouth, Minn.-based company said it received an order for 78.6 million syringe-and-needle units and that BARDA and the Joint Program Executive…