Wellington Life Sciences general partner Regina Hodits, during a talk with CBT Advisors CEO Steve Dickman at the recent Biopharm America meeting, said the disaster scenario feared for European investments when COVID-19 struck “turned out very different. We never have a lot of time off in summer, not as much as we would want to, but this year we certainly had no time off,” as portfolio firms found money and Wellington tapped new opportunities.
DUBLIN – Merck & Co. Inc. is placing two separate bets on recombinant viral vector technology in a broad effort to tackle COVID-19, in which it is also in-licensing a small-molecule antiviral drug. Kenilworth, N.J.-based Merck is acquiring Austrian vaccine developer Themis Bioscience GmbH in a move that propels the latter firm’s COVID-19 vaccine program to the front ranks of the industry pipeline. It is entering a COVID-19 vaccine development collaboration with the not-for-profit vaccine research organization IAVI.