As expected, US president Joe Biden, on his first international trip since taking office in January, announced plans to donate 500 million doses of the Pfize/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to around 100 countries over the next year. The plans were leaked by the newspaper Washington Post hours before the president’s departure with First Lady Jill Biden for the G7 summit in the UK.
The US Supreme Court has declined to hear Johnson & Johnson’ appeal against a $2 billion judgment in favor of 22 ovarian cancer sufferers who claimed they contracted the cancer from using the healthcare group’s talc products.
India’s Bharat Biotech, which specializes in infectious diseases, has announced it is adding new manufacturing capacity for its Covid-19 shot known as Covaxin, India’s first indigenous vaccine. The expansion will go on stream in this year’s fourth quarter at the Ankleshwar site operated by wholly owned subsidiary Chiron Behring Vaccines.
Pfizer and BioNTech have applied to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for full approval of their Covid-19 vaccine in adolescents aged 12 to 15. If successful, the American-German duo’s shot now called Comirnaty would be the first in the US to obtain this status. It also was the first to win an emergency use authorization (EUA), in December 2020
Swiss CDMO Lonza and US vaccine maker Moderna have extended and deepened their collaboration on the US biotech’s mRNA- based Covid-19 shot. The new agreement, which calls for the installation of three new production lines and a doubling of existing drug substance production at Lonza’s Visp, Switzerland, site, builds on a 10-year pact signed last year.
As India’s Covid-19 infections soar and the death toll nears 200,000, wealthier countries – including the US, UK, Germany, France and Australia – are rushing supplies of oxygen, ventilators and protective gear to the subcontinent.
The European Commission has confirmed rumors that it has initiated legal action against AstraZeneca for failing to meet contractual obligations for deliveries of Its Covid-19 vaccine. Health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the action is being taken jointly with all 27 member states.
German specialty chemicals producer Evonik delivered the first batches of lipids for BioNTech’s mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine on Apr. 22, months earlier than planned. Deliveries were expected to start in mid-2021 but the company said it was able to set up production in just eight weeks at its complex in Hanau, Germany, and meet the high-quality requirements for the component.
Recent studies show that contract manufacturers for the pharmaceutical industry, so-called CDMOs (contract development and manufacturing organizations), have so far been little involved in the production of vaccines. This is changing with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Denmark has taken what it said was a final decision to discontinue using the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in its national inoculation campaign after an unusual string of rare blood clots. A discussion has begun over what to do with the remaining supply.
As one glitch after another at Covid vaccine suppliers upends deliveries, the German federal government is drawing up plans to build up production within its borders, federal health minister Jens Spahn said at a weekly news conference, thereby confirming remarks made by future vaccine commissioner Christoph Krupp in a pre-published newspaper interview.
The Russian government has clinched a deal to produce its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in Italy and will proceed with the project even if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) decides not to approve the candidate, the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce said. “The innovative production process will help create new jobs and allow Italy to control the entire production of the compound,” it added.
For mRNA vaccine maker Moderna, March is gearing up to roar in like a lion, with the tailwind setting the pace for the year ahead. Reporting 2020 financial results on Feb. 25, the US biotech that before last year had not sold a single product said it expects to take in more than $18 billion in revenue from sales of Covid-19 vaccines during 2021.
As had been awaited, US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson has applied to the European Medicines Authority (EMA) for conditional marketing authorization of its Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine throughout the EU.
Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine just emerging from Phase 3 clinical trials showed 66% efficacy in moderate to severe disease, and as much as to 85% in severe disease, the US healthcare group said in its first report on trial results.
Vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 continue to dominate global pharma market headlines. As the pandemic drags on, new issues continuously arise, some of them discouraging, such as the emergence of more and more virus mutants or production glitches that threaten to curb supply.
Alexis Pey, Global SHE & Process Safety Manager at Dutch holding Stahl, talks about the company’s safety culture involving the whole organization.
Despite “encouraging” signs of a recovery of chemical production in May from the coronavirus-related “historic slump” in March and April, progress is now slowing, the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) said in its report on the first nine months of 2020.
In a move that was not on the world’s radar, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has become the first Western regulatory body to issue an Emergency Use Authorization EUA) for a Covid-19 vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech’s BNT162b2 candidate.
US chemistry remains in demand around the world despite ongoing trade tensions and Covid-19. In 2019, the US chemical industry was one of the world’s largest exporters, at $136 billion. The industry has a large and growing trade surplus, reaching more than $35 billion in 2019.
Chinese biotech Sinovac has published data from the Phase 1/2 trial with its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases. The results are said to show that the candidate is capable of inducing a quick antibody response within four weeks of immunization if given in two doses at a 14-day interval.
Sean Diver, president of DCAT speaks about the pharmaceutical industry’s role during the Covid-19 pandemic, trends in drug manufacturing, and key issues for the EU pharmaceutical industry.
Results from the Phase 3 trial of US biotech Moderna’s mRNA-1273 Covid-19 vaccine candidate unveiled on Nov. 15 showed it to be 94.5% effective against the novel coronavirus, with few side effects.
US drugmaker Pfizer and its German development partner BioNTech have reached a final agreement with the European Commission to supply 200 million doses of their mRNA-based Covid19 vaccine candidate to the EU’s member states at an undisclosed price.
The coronavirus crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface of the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
So far, the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — has responded well to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus crisis has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
So far, the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — has responded well to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus crisis has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
So far, the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — has responded well to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus crisis has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
So far, the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — has responded well to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus crisis has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
So far, the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — has responded well to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus crisis has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
So far, the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — has responded well to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus crisis has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
So far, the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — has responded well to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus crisis has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
So far, the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — has responded well to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus crisis has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
So far, the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — has responded well to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus crisis has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
So far, the pharmaceutical industry — including CMOs/CDMOs and CROs — has responded well to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus crisis has uncovered problems that have been smoldering beneath the surface and need to be addressed. That supply chains are vulnerable to disruption when major development, production and transportation hubs are blocked or shut down has become painfully obvious.
