Top of the morning to you. Gray skies are hovering over the Pharmalot campus right now, but our spirits remain sunny, nonetheless. Why? We will trot out a bit of insight from the Morning Mayor, who would say, “Every new day should be unwrapped like a precious gift.” To celebrate the notion, we are brewing still more cups of stimulation and invite you to join us. Our choice today, for those tracking this sort of thing, is … mountain blueberry. Meanwhile, here are a few items of interest. We hope your journey progresses nicely today and that you remain safe — remember, wear a mask….
Novartis (NVS) will help manufacture a Covid-19 vaccine that CureVac (CVAC) is developing, the latest drug maker tie-up aimed at accelerating production of shots, The Wall Street Journal notes. The two-dose vaccine is in late-stage testing and results could come as soon as next month. Novartis will upgrade a plant in Kundl, Austria, so it can help make up to 50 million doses of the vaccine this year and up to 200 million doses next year. Production is expected to begin in the second quarter, and delivery of key components in the summer.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Vir Biotechnology (VIR) are pausing enrollment for a study testing their experimental Covid-19 antibody therapy, which is a part of a large U.S. trial, Reuters writes. The companies will now wait for more data from this sub-study after an independent panel found that while their drug, VIR-7831, met the criteria to move into the next stage of testing and was safe to use, there was lack of evidence to support how well it would work in hospitalized patients.
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