Pharmaceutical Processing

Cambridge, Mass.–headquartered Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) will hire at least 155 new manufacturing employees for manufacturing jobs at its plant in Norwood, Mass. A $2.33 million tax incentive from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center helped bankroll the expansion. The investment will enable the company to double the size of its manufacturing site in Norwood, Mass., which became operational in 2018. With…

Now that we have passed the year’s midway mark, pharma continues to be in a unique position. While COVID-19 gave the industry an opportunity for a reputational reset in 2020, the pandemic is now a net positive for the industry, according to the recent Moody’s report, “Solid demand, lift from COVID-19 products continue to drive…

Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) announced today that the U.S. government purchased an additional 200 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine. The government’s purchase agreement with Moderna also includes the option to purchase other COVID-19 vaccine candidates to come out of the company’s pipeline. Cambridge, Mass.-based Moderna said in a news release that the purchase brings the U.S.…

Bayer (ETR:BAYN) is pumping cash into its operations in Turku, a city on the southwest coast of Finland.  The company is at once modernizing its current operations there while also constructing a new pharmaceutical plant.   Bayer notes that the new facility will make extensive use of automation and robotics.  Bayer first built the existing Turku plant…

Another large amount of doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine produced at an embattled manufacturing plant reportedly have to be thrown out. The New York Times reported that the FDA told J&J that about 60 million doses of the single-dose vaccine produced at Emergent BioSolutions’ Baltimore plant can’t be used because of possible contamination.…

President Joe Biden has struck a deal with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX) to provide 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to roughly 100 countries over two years. Biden will announce the plan in the near future at an appearance with Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla, according to a report out yesterday in The New York Times. The…

More than two-thirds of Congress received campaign funding from pharmaceutical companies in the 2020 election, according to STAT. Industry-friendly senators such as Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) received some of the largest sums. Influential representatives such as Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) also received significant amounts. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Amgen…

Regeneron’s (NSDQ:REGN) top two execs, CEO Dr. Leonard Schleifer and CSO Dr. George Yancopoulos, are two of the best-paid in biotech.  Two proxy advisory service firms, Glass Lewis (San Francisco, Calif.) and Institutional Shareholder Services (Rockville, Md.), are balking at Regeneron’s executive pay program and practices.  The two firms are urging shareholders to oust George…

Merck (NYSE:MRK) announced today that it agreed to supply the U.S. government with its molnupiravir (MK-4482) for treating COVID-19. Molnupiravir, developed through a collaboration between Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is currently under evaluation in a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of non-hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection and at least one risk factor…

The Biden administration today released findings from 100-day supply chain assessments, determining the need to boost pharmaceutical manufacturing. According to a fact sheet, the administration plans to take immediate action to “address vulnerabilities and strengthen resilience” with its effort to take on near-term supply chain disruptions for four products: semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging; large…