The drug delivery space has seen plenty of innovation over the years and there are no signs of that slowing down any time soon. Improvements upon established technologies like insulin delivery devices and inhalers have been presented by some, while others have unlocked new ways of delivering drugs through a variety of means. Among the…
Biden announces $4B to support global vaccinations worldwide
President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. is set to provide $4 billion to the COVAX Facility to support access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Money appropriated by a December 2020 Congressional vote will comprise an initial $2 billion contribution to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for the COVAX advance market commitment (AMC) covering 92…
Feds order 200M more vaccine doses from Pfizer, Moderna
U.S. government agencies announced that they purchased a total of 200 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA). The orders of 100 million doses from each of the only two FDA-authorized vaccines in the U.S. were made by the U.S. Health & Human Services Dept. (HHS) and the Defense Dept. (DoD). The U.S. has…
J&J CEO says getting a COVID-19 vaccine could be an annual ritual for years
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) CEO Alex Gorsky said people may need COVID-19 vaccines annually, like flu shots, over the next several years. Speaking to CNBC, Gorsky cited the mutations and variants of the disease, several of which have already landed in the U.S., as the driving force behind differentiating capabilities of the vaccine to fight off…
Report: Pfizer speeding up vaccine production
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) is reportedly expecting to trim the time needed to produce COVID-19 vaccine batches to speed up production. The company, which along with BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX) developed one of two COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized in the U.S., is slated to cut the amount of time it takes to produce a batch of the vaccine from 110 days to…
Pfizer partners with IDA Foundation to provide cancer treatments to developing countries
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) announced today that it partnered with IDA Foundation to provide access to quality cancer treatments in developing countries. The supply agreement is slated to offer millions of patients access to innovative chemotherapy medicines for treating multiple types of cancer across 62 developing countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific region, according…
Merck KGaA to supply lipids to boost Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine production
Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) announced that it’s expanding its partnership with BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX) to supply lipids for the Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The agreement will accelerate the supply of lipids and increase the amount of lipid delivery toward the end of 2021 so they can be used as part of the drug delivery system of mRNA therapies…
Sanofi rises on mixed bag Q4, expected 2021 EPS growth
Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) shares ticked up this morning on fourth-quarter results that were mixed compared to the consensus forecast. The Paris-based company posted profits of $1.3 billion, or $1.03 per share, on sales of $11.3 billion, marking a -2.4% year-over-year revenue decline for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2020. Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per…
Merck dips on missed Q4 projections, announces CEO change
Merck (NYSE:MRK) shares took a slight hit today on fourth-quarter results that came up shy of the consensus forecast. Additionally, the company announced that chairman & CEO Kenneth C. Frazier will retire, effective June 30, 2021, and he will continue to serve on Merck’s board of directors as executive chairman for a transition period to be…
Eli Lilly rises on Street-beating Q4
Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) shares ticked up this morning on fourth-quarter results that beat the consensus forecast. The Indianapolis-based company posted profits of $2.1 billion or $2.32 per share, on sales of $7.4 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2020, for a 41.5% bottom-line gain on sales growth of 21.7%. Adjusted to exclude one-time items,…