COVID-19

In this week's podcast version of Five Must-Know Things: ripples from SVB’s failure; Karuna’s schizophrenia win; big pharma remains open to partnering; ChatGPT comes to medical congresses; and China’s COVID vaccine lessons.

CEO of Chinese vaccine developer BravoVax shares views with Scrip on pandemic lessons learned and new approaches needed to move forward.

Speakers from BMS, Takeda, UNICEF and more discussed how a shift in R&D focus, free flow of data on animal and human health, public sector investment and higher regulatory flexibility are key to make ‘One Health’ work and prevent future pandemics

BioAsia 2023: CEPI's CEO, Dr Richard Hatchett, talks about viruses with pandemic potential, enhanced ‘spillover risk’ and delivering on operational excellence to get to the mission of having vaccines ready for initial authorization within 100 days of identification of a pandemic pathogen.

The company reported a fourth quarter decline in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine sales and guided for sales of $5bn in 2023. It is looking ahead to filing for approval of its RSV vaccine.

Just how dynamic is the China market for multinationals? AstraZeneca is seeing growth returning while Pfizer is finding it challenging to estimate Paxlovid demand, Sanofi is encouraged by volume gains and GSK is predicting a "sizeable" rebound. Top executives from Novartis and Roche also shed light on other challenges facing global pharma firms in the world's second-largest pharma market as they reported annual results.

Its Xevudy partner GSK is pulling out but Vir is going to carry on looking for new COVID-19 solutions independently, or with other partners.

While the close-down schedule for the Canadian vaccine technology specialist is still unclear, all ongoing R&D projects at the firm will be terminated, Japanese parent group tells Scrip.

China's Hybio, Youcare and Shanxi Jinbo appear to be the only three companies in the world trying to develop a fusion inhibitor for COVID-19, the most advanced of which has now moved into a domestic Phase II trial.

With Pfizer expecting significant pandemic-related sales out to at least 2026, the difficulty forecasting those sales and inventory work-down resulted in stock price volatility.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s Head of Human Pharma Regions, Timmo Rousku Andersen shares with Scrip glimpses of his life and professional journey including distinct parallels between sports and leadership against the backdrop of the wider commercialization efforts for blockbuster therapy Jardiance.

Pfizer expects Comirnaty and Paxlovid revenues to be drastically lower this year after pushing 2022 revenues over $100bn. Management said 2023 would be a transition year for the company.

Comirnaty was the industry’s top-selling product through the first three quarters of 2022, as in 2021, but Paxlovid proved a fast riser while Comirnaty and Moderna’s Spikevax saw declining sales. Pfizer's two COVID-19 products netted £46bn in total.

Loss of exclusivity and other competitive pressures will continue to offset J&J’s pharmaceutical growth as its former blockbusters accumulate in ex-growth "other" categories. Can the pipeline take up the slack?

The CEO of one the global top-five CROs points out a larger opportunity in decentralized trials that might be a “game changer” in the global pharma industry over the next five years. He also refers to the need to accept new technologies by both clinical trial sites and regulators.

The revenue boost Evusheld has given AstraZeneca over the past year will grind to a halt now that the FDA, as expected, has pulled approval for the antibody combo on the grounds it is ineffective against most SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in the US.