Moderna Inc. and Covaxx Inc. are readying for delivery more than 220 million doses of their respective COVID-19 vaccines to Europe and emerging countries in newly cut deals. Moderna, of Cambridge, Mass., said it granted an option to the European Commission to buy up to 80 million additional doses of mRNA-1273 and is set to manufacture 500 million to 1 billion doses globally in 2021. The company said the vaccine, if approved, will ship to the EU beginning in December. The company’s shares (NASDAQ:MRNA) had a solid day Nov. 25, with shares closing 10.78% upward at $109.18.
Concerns about biopharma executives profiting from stock sales aligned with releases of promising COVID-19 vaccine results could result in Congress requiring a cooling-off period for executives’ 10b5-1 plans that provide a safe harbor to insider trading. Testifying in a Nov. 17 hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, SEC Chair Jay Clayton suggested a mandatory period of four to six months between implementing or materially changing a 10b5-1 plan and the first allowed stock sale. He added that the cooling-off period should at least cover a full quarter.
LONDON – Phase II data on Astrazeneca plc’s AZD-1222 COVID-19 vaccine show it prompts an equivalent immune response in healthy people aged 70, to that seen in people ages 18 to 55, despite the fact the elderly had fewer side effects from vaccination.
Concerns about biopharma executives profiting from stock sales aligned with releases of promising COVID-19 vaccine results could result in Congress requiring a cooling-off period for executives’ 10b5-1 plans that provide a safe harbor to insider trading.
Moderna Inc.’s phase III win with its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, lifted spirits while validating the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm’s platform, as Wall Street buzzed with comparisons between the prospects that have yielded late-stage data thus far.
Moderna Inc.’s phase III win with its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, lifted spirits while validating the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm’s platform, as Wall Street buzzed with comparisons between the prospects that have yielded late-stage data thus far.
According to an analysis conducted by BioWorld of the third-quarter 2020 financial reports filed by public biopharmaceutical companies with market caps greater than $1 billion, and excluding big pharma companies, the amount that was invested in research and development (R&D) during the nine-month period increased by almost 21% compared to the same period last year. The spending was bolstered by companies turning their attention to focus their research on therapies and vaccines to tackle COVID-19.
With COVID-19 cases once again surging across the globe and several countries considering targeted lockdowns, vaccines remain the best hope of restoring a sense of normalcy amidst the pandemic. For vaccines to work though, people must have enough confidence in the efficacy and safety that they’re willing to get vaccinated when the vaccines become available. That’s why the emergency use authorization (EUA) guidance the FDA released Oct. 6 for COVID-19 vaccines is so important.
As his firm unveiled early data with its spike protein-targeting COVID-19 therapy, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s chief scientific officer, George Yancopoulos, said that, even if researchers come up with a drug that works, coming up with efficient point-of-care diagnostics remains “a major societal imperative.”
Spurred by reports of biopharma executives exercising stock options in conjunction with announcements about COVID-19 vaccine developments and government contracts, U.S. lawmakers want to close the loopholes that make such actions legal.
