In this issue of GOLD, we uncover the pharmaceutical industry’s top news stories from the past couple of months. Over this period, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to dominate affairs, with vaccine candidates racing closer to approval as multiple companies announce high efficacies. Alongside this progression, we are still seeing novel drug approvals, valuable acquisitions, and major appointments.
06 October
Merck & Co.’s R&D Chief, Roger Perlmutter, exits to join AI biotech, Insitro
13 October
UK biotechs raise over £1 billion in equity finance in record quarter
15 October
Regeneron’s Inmazeb becomes the first FDA-approved Ebola treatment
22 October
Gilead’s remdesivir is the first FDA-approved COVID-19 antiviral treatment
26 October
Bayer bolsters cell and gene therapy portfolio by acquiring AskBio in a $4 billion deal
29 October
GSK’s Zejula is approved by European Commission for advanced ovarian cancer
06 November
Merck & Co. strengthens oncology portfolio by acquiring VelosBio for $2.75 billion
09 November
Pfizer and BioNTech announce their vaccine to be more than 90% effective
11 November
Russia claim its Sputnik V vaccine to be 92% effective
13 November
Abbvie’s CCO, Carlos Alban, retires, replaced by US Commercial Operations Head, Jeffery Stewart
16 November
Moderna announce its vaccine to be 94.5% effective
23 November
AstraZeneca and Oxford University announce their vaccine to be 70.4% effective, 90% if lower first dose is used