News Briefs

✦ Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s coronavirus vaccine candidate has demonstrated 90% efficacy against COVID-19 in patients that have not had the disease, according to company researchers. The announcement was met with great fanfare, and Pfizer’s stock price rose quickly with the news. In July, HHS struck a nearly $2 billion deal with the company that guarantees the U.S. 100 million doses of a potential vaccine, with an option for 500 million additional doses. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla rose eyebrows when he sold over 60% of his holdings of the company’s stock near the time the results were announced, according to news reports. Read more at https://bit.ly/2GQmLWz and https://bit.ly/35mbSW8.

✦ The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for Eli Lilly & Co.’s bamlanivimab, allowing the antibody therapy to be used to treat patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 cases. In addition, HHS announced plans to distribute 300,000 doses of the treatment to states and territories. A Nov. 9 FDA press release emphasized that the drug “is not authorized for patients who are hospitalized due to COVID-19,” as it hasn’t been shown to offer any benefit and since similar treatments “may be associated with worse clinical outcomes when administered to hospitalized patients with COVID-19 requiring high flow oxygen or mechanical ventilation.” Read the FDA release at https://bit.ly/36vs0nD and an HHS release at https://bit.ly/32AyeS1.

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• Radar on Drug Benefits