CEO Umang Vohra outlines where Cipla is heading in its priority areas of lung route therapies and antimicrobial resistance. He also weighs in on the simmering issue of intellectual property waivers for COVID-19 vaccines.

Japan grants ground-breaking approval for Daiichi oncolytic virus in brain cancer on condition of additional data. The nod marks another step forward in the firm's strategic global pivot to oncology. 

In this week's podcast edition of Five Must-Know Things: a ground-breaking approval for Alzheimer’s in the US; LAG-3 inhibitors and new Keytruda data generate excitement at ASCO; and clinical progress for another COVID-19 vaccine.

Public Company Edition: The pace of US initial public offerings slowed a bit in April and May but could ramp back up in June as biopharma investor sentiment rebounds. Also, drug developers continue to go public via SPAC mergers, most recently Valo Health with a $2.8bn post-deal valuation.

The co-founder of the Swiss company which discovered aducanumab looks back over its 20 year wait for approval, and ahead to future growth plans.

Akebia brings in Cyclerion’s diabetes candidate praliciguat, plus deals involving Genmab/Bolt, Auris/Trasir, Zymergen/Lodo, Bavarian Nordic/Dynavax and more.

The Biden Administration’s pledge to provide 500 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccines is a direct blow to China’s global vaccine diplomacy push.

Brazil is permitting imports of additional coronavirus vaccines, while in India, Serum Institute will manufacture Sputnik V, the government is unifying vaccine sourcing, and emergency use approval has been granted to Lilly's anti-COVID-19 antibodies. 

Slower approvals for foreign drugs, a volume-based procurement scheme and localization requirements caused nearly 80% of respondent European pharma firms to miss out on opportunities in China, where they also continue to decouple from headquarters in a “in China-for-China” strategy, a survey from a prominent EU business group shows.

A recent study says a cohort of unvaccinated individuals aged under 16 years in Israel showed a nearly two-fold decrease in COVID-19 positivity for each 20 percentage points of individuals vaccinated overall. As Pfizer, Moderna and Bharat Biotech develop pediatric vaccines, should they consider if herd immunity might make such vaccines redundant?

Adding non-transfusion-dependent anemia patients to the Reblozyl label is a key strategy for the product, which BMS expects to reach $4bn in annual sales.

Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events and approvals announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.