What appears to be a routine item on a routine list of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) proposed rulemakings for the next fiscal year is being seen as anything but routine, given HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy’s stance on vaccines and several commonly used drugs.
Abera Bioscience AB has completed a ferret study with its intranasal influenza vaccine candidate. The results were consistently strong and encourage the continued development of the program. Abera intends to publish detailed study data in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
For the second time this year, the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) canceled a scheduled meeting due to a federal judge’s stay that keeps the panel from meeting with its current membership. Typically, ACIP meets three times a year – in February, June and October. The 2026 June meeting was slated for June 23-25. Whether the adcom meets in October will be up to the courts and how far Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy digs in his heels to maintain a hand-picked committee tilted toward his view of vaccines.
When it comes to vaccines and preparedness, platform delivery technologies can be both a boon and a barrier. On the one hand, an existing platform can speed development of a vaccine targeting an unexpected viral scare such as the recent Bundibugyo Ebola and Andes hantavirus outbreaks. On the other hand, the intellectual property (IP) protecting that platform adds to the economic hurdles facing smaller vaccine developers, Douglas Bucklin, a life sciences patent attorney with Volpe Koenig, told BioWorld.
Eli Lilly and Co. posted $19.8 billion in first-quarter 2026 revenue, driven by tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes and Zepbound for obesity. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker is channeling cash flow from these blockbuster GLP-1 drugs into an aggressive dealmaking campaign — about $25.1 billion across 10 announced acquisitions so far this year and more than $26 billion in other closed deals.
Replicate Bioscience Inc. has been awarded a new grant worth approximately $3 million from the Gates Foundation to accelerate the development of globally accessible tuberculosis (TB) vaccines using Replicate’s clinically validated self-replicating RNA (srRNA) platform.
The Andes virus, a member of the Hantaviridae, is the only member of this family known to have the ability to spread efficiently from person to person through close contact with respiratory secretions. In a letter published in The Lancet, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch report they demonstrated the potential of single-dose mRNA vaccines against Andes hantavirus.
The U.S. FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted unanimously in favor of Moderna Inc.’s trivalent mRNA flu vaccine, mRNA-1010, which the company wants to brand as Mflusiva. On the question of whether the benefits of the product outweigh the risks in people ages 50 to 64, balloting was 9-0, and on whether the same is true in those 65 and older, the tally was again 9-0.
Abera Bioscience AB has announced the decision by CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) to extend the ongoing project supporting the development of Abera’s BERA vaccine platform and the company’s influenza vaccine candidate. The project period has been extended until Dec. 31, 2026, with the budget unchanged.
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