Merck KGaA’s pharmaceutical sales were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the second quarter, but the Process Solutions part of its life sciences division, products from which support vaccine developers, had a good quarter, and a potential dual Toll-like receptor inhibitor, M5049, entered Phase II.

Ramp-up is possible thanks to increased internal capacity and network of voluntary licensing partners including Mylan, Cipla and Dr Reddy's.

Novavax has granted Serum Institute rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in selected regions, in another endorsement of the Indian group's capabilities. The agreement, which expands on an earlier association, gives Serum exclusive marketing rights in India until the deal ends and non-exclusive rights for developing countries to the end of the pandemic, with the US firm getting half of net revenue.

The study is designed to support the regulatory approval process in China and confirm that the safety and immunogenicity profile observed in German and US trials is comparable to that of Chinese participants, according to BioNTech.

High-profile experts including Anthony Fauci and Adrian Hill share views at the ICMR symposium on progressing safe COVID-19 vaccines backed by ethical trials executed with appropriate scientific rigor. Human challenge studies, "vaccine nationalism" and equitable access were among the key issues deliberated, while India committed to making its coronavirus vaccines and related capabilities available to the world.

The company has executed $400m worth of deals with smaller governments reflecting a $32-$37 price per dose for the two-shot mRNA-1273 vaccine, but said larger deals will be done at lower prices.

Regeneron's antibody cocktail for SARS-Cov-2 is largely in holding mode for now, but the company announced progress on other fronts including for Dupixent in COPD and the NGF inhibitor fasinumab.

A first look at the clinical data for Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine suggests it can produce strong antibody responses while being well tolerated.

Although oncology remained strong, Japanese major says it saw multiple impacts from the pandemic, including on hospital visits and clinical trial recruitment, and has already cut its full-year guidance.

Turnover at the German group's pharma unit has been hit harder than forecast by the coronavirus pandemic and hefty price cuts linked to China's drug procurement policy but Bayer remains upbeat.

Dozens of specially outfitted RVs will roll out to long-term care facilities in the US to test the prophylactic and symptom-reducing potential of the antibody Lilly is developing with AbCellera.

Concern and skepticism about Russia's rapid vaccine roll out. Meanwhile Japan is latest to reach deal with Pfizer/BioNTech.

Join us for a quick audio roundup of five useful things to know from Scrip's recent coverage of the global biopharmaceutical industry.

The expectation of a big second quarter sales decline proved true, but the situation is improving. Meanwhile, Merck & Co. is advancing two vaccines and an antiviral against the novel coronavirus. 

The $2.1bn investment under the US’ Operation Warp Speed will fund development, scale-up of US manufacturing and the first 100 million doses. 

J&J is a few months behind companies like Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca in the race to develop a vaccine, but a safe and effective single dose immunization would be a game changer.