Vaccitech plc and Werewolf Therapeutics Inc. opened the last day of April with contrasting IPOs. Both priced mid-range, with Vaccitech raising $110.5 million, similar to Werewolf's $120 million haul. However, American depository shares of Vaccitech (NASDAQ:VACC), co-developer of Astrazeneca plc’s COVID-19 vaccine, fell 17.1% to $14.10 from a $17 open, while shares of cancer therapy developer Werewolf (NASDAQ:HOWL) boomed – until they didn't – climbing to $24 before closing about where they started, at $16.10.

Emergent Biosolutions Inc. CEO Robert Kramer assured investors that he takes “full responsibility” for woes that beset the firm after the FDA’s Form 483 found serious manufacturing problems at the Baltimore, Md.-based Bayview plant. “You have my commitment that we're going to do everything we can to resolve these issues quickly, and as safely as possible,” he said during an April 29 conference call on first-quarter financial results.

LONDON – The latest tranche of data from an array of large-scale COVID-19 studies running in the U.K. provides real-world evidence that vaccines have a dramatic effect in preventing hospitalization and death, but that there are a very small number of vaccine failures. The data cover 3,842 people who received a vaccine and subsequently were admitted to the hospital between Dec. 8, 2020, when the national vaccination rollout began, and the data cutoff of April 10, 2021.