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Pharma 50: Here’s how the world’s largest pharma companies are doing

The global pharmaceutical industry held up well during the pandemic, with 10 of the largest businesses only seeing a roughly –3% drop in revenue in 2020. Eight of the 10 even came out ahead.

That’s one of the big takeaways from our sister publication Drug Discovery & Development’s inaugural Pharma 50, a compilation of data on the largest pharma companies in the world. (Browse data on all 50 companies here.)

Overall, the 50 largest pharma companies brought in $851 billion in sales in 2020. Pharma companies last year overcame clinical trial disruption and staffing hurdles to drive unprecedented R&D advances to introduce novel vaccines and therapies to battle the pandemic. The resulting shift in public perception could benefit the industry for years to come.

Get the full story on our sister site Drug Discovery & Development.

GSK and Vir Biotechnology seek EUA for COVID-19 monoclonal antibody

GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology have filed for emergency use authorization (EUA) for VIR-7831 (GSK4182136), a dual-action SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody.

VIR-7831 is designed to stop SARS-CoV-2 viral entry into cells and accelerate the clearing of infected cells.

VIR-7831 would have a similar indication to other monoclonal antibodies that have won an EUA. It is intended for patients 12 or older who weigh at least 40 kg who have a high risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19.

One notable example of a monoclonal antibody that has won such an EUA from the FDA is Lilly’s bamlanivimab, which is intended to be used soon after a positive COVID-19 test result is obtained but is contraindicated for patients who are hospitalized COVID-19 infections.

Compared with bamlanivimab, VIR-7831 may offer more resistance to SARS-CoV-2 variants based on preclinical data and a preprint study published in BioRxiv.

The U.S. government recently stopped…

Former head of Operation Warp Speed leaves two more drug companies

Following allegations of sexual harassment, former head of Operation Warp Speed Moncef Slaoui has left roles at two more companies.

Yesterday, Slaoui was terminated as the chair of the Galvani board of directors, GlaxoSmithKline’s board of directors announced. The same day, Vaxcyte confirmed in an SEC filing that it had axed Slaoui as its chairman of the board. Today, Centessa Pharmaceuticals announced that he stepped down as the company’s chief scientific officer.

Slaoui, who served as the head of Operation Warp Speed — the Trump administration’s program to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development — had his termination made effective immediately by all three companies.

Termination of Slaoui follows the receipt of a letter by GlaxoSmithKline alleging against him sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct towards a GSK employee. The allegations refer to incidents that occurred several years ago when he was a GSK employee.

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Former head of Operation Warp Speed loses board seat over sexual harassment claims

GlaxoSmithKline’s board of directors announced today that it terminated Moncef Slaoui as the chair of the Galvani board of directors.

Slaoui, who served as the head of Operation Warp Speed — the Trump administration’s program to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development — was terminated effective immediately, according to a news release from GSK, the majority shareholder of Galvani Bioelectronics.

Termination of Slaoui follows the receipt of a letter alleging against him sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct towards a GSK employee. The allegations refer to incidents that occurred several years ago when he was a GSK employee.

Once GSK received the letter with the allegations, its board immediately initiated an investigation, bringing in a law firm to conduct it. That investigation substantiated the allegations made against Slaoui and remains ongoing.

“Dr. Slaoui’s behaviours are wholly unacceptable,” GSK wr…

How COVID-19 sidelined top vaccine manufacturers

Pfizer, with its partner BioNTech, and Moderna were the first to win emergency use authorization from FDA for COVID-19 vaccines. Johnson & Johnson recently got permission to distribute its vaccine.

But other Big Pharma companies have struggled to get vaccines to the finish line, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Sanofi — among the largest vaccine manufacturers in the world.

While the pandemic offers pharmaceutical companies a unique opportunity to curry favor with the public and politicians, the current dearth of vaccines is partly a result of Big Pharma companies being “missing in action,” according to Zain Rizvi, a pharma-focused researcher at Public Citizen researcher, quoted in Financial Times.

COVID-19 vaccines could be a cash cow for Pfizer and Moderna. The former expects to rake in $15 billion worth of vaccines this year, while Moderna has forecasted $18.4 billion in sales.

Smaller va…

GSK, Sanofi launch new COVID-19 vaccine study for protein-based vaccine

Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) and Glaxo Smith Kline (NYSE:GSK) are moving forward with their development plans of a COVID-19 vaccine.

In December, the two companies announced that their vaccine development efforts had been delayed after the product failed to mount a robust immune response in older adults.

The two companies believe the setback resulted from an insufficient amount of the antigen in the vaccine. They have since revised the formulation and have launched a Phase 2 study to test the adjuvanted recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

If the study meets its primary endpoints, the companies will launch a Phase 3 trial in the second quarter of the year with authorization potentially following in the fourth quarter of the year.

“We are confident that our vaccine candidate has strong potential and we are very encouraged by the latest preclinical data,’ said Thomas Triomphe, executive vice president and head of Sanofi Pasteur, in a statement…

Biden announces $4B to support global vaccinations worldwide

President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. is set to provide $4 billion to the COVAX Facility to support access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.

Money appropriated by a December 2020 Congressional vote will comprise an initial $2 billion contribution to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for the COVAX advance market commitment (AMC) covering 92 low- and middle-income economies, according to a White House Statement.

Additionally, the U.S. will release a further $2 billion through 2021 and 2022, with the first $500 million set to be made available when existing donor pledges are fulfilled and initial doses are delivered to AMC countries.

Biden also called on the G7 and other partners to work alongside Gavi to continue to build support for global COVID-19 vaccination, targeting urgent vaccine manufacturing, supply and delivery needs.

“The United States’ contribution is designated to help Gavi prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus th…

Which companies will likely produce the most COVID-19 vaccine in 2021?

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Since the beginning of the pandemic, much of society has pinned its hopes on the availability of a vaccine. Now that several are available across the world, there is hope, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, in a recent JAMA interview. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

One thing that will make the light at the end of the tunnel brighter as we head into the spring is the greater availability of vaccine doses. “The discordance between supply and demand will be diminished,” Fauci said.

The roster of companies producing vaccines is steadily increasing, making it possible to vaccinate a substantial portion of the world’s population this year. (Note: Most of the companies in this list have two-dose vaccines.)

Here’s a roundup of notable companies’ production targets for 2021:

AstraZeneca and Oxford University: Up to 3…

GSK and CureVac team up on COVID-19 vaccine to battle viral variants

Late last year, GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) and Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) announced that their joint COVID-19 vaccine was delayed.

Now, GlaxoSmithKline is hooking up with Germany-headquartered CureVac (NSDQ:CVAC) to develop a COVID-19 vaccine that can target multiple variants of the virus simultaneously. GSK plans on spending €150 million on the project, paying the first half to CureVac initially and the latter half as a milestone payment.

For GSK, the project also entails a shift in viral platform. Its previous vaccine candidate was an adjuvanted recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine.

The new project, however, will use the mRNA platform that Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) have deployed in their vaccines, which were the first to win FDA authorization in the U.S.

The two companies plan to commercially launch an mRNA vaccine in 2022, pending regulatory approval.

GSK will also work with CureVac to produce up to 100 million doses of its …

Sanofi to provide COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing for rival Pfizer

Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) announced today that it entered into an agreement to support the manufacturing and supply of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine is one of two to receive FDA emergency use authorization in the U.S. and it also has clearance in Europe, having received both nods in December 2020.

The deal between Sanofi provides BioNTech access to its infrastructure and expertise to produce over 125 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Europe. Initial supplies will originate from Sanofi’s production facilities in Frankfurt starting in the summer of 2021, according to a news release.

“We are very conscious that the earlier vaccine doses are available, the more lives can potentially be saved. Today’s announcement is a pivotal step towards our industry’s collective goal of putting all the effort in to curb this pandemic,” Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said in the release. “Although vaccination campaigns have started a…

What are the top COVID-19 vaccine candidates?

This colorized scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round blue objects), the virus that causes COVID-19, emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. [Image courtesy of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases]

As of yesterday, five COVID-19 vaccine candidates had begun Phase III clinical trials as they seek to determine the safety and efficacy of their formulas.

Researchers worldwide are testing 132 COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including 42 that are in clinical trials on humans and at least 92 in preclinical or animal trials, according to the New York Times.

With the U.S. alone topping 200,000 COVID-19 deaths this week and continued pressure to deliver a safe and effective vaccine, these companies and several others are working very quickly to make a vaccine that meets regulatory standards. Seven pharma companies have received funding for vaccine development and…

Canada lining up millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines

Sanofi (NYSE:SNY), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) and Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) have all agreed to supply Canada with a total of more than 90 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Beginning in 2021, Government of Canada is set to receive up to 72 million doses of an adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine from Sanofi and GSK, while the country also increased its confirmed order commitment with Moderna to 20 million doses of its mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Sanofi and GSK initiated a Phase 1/2 study on Sept. 3, enrolling 440 subjects with the first results anticipated for early December 2020 with eyes on a pivotal Phase 3 study before the end of the year, lining it up for a regulatory approval request in the first half of 2021.

Both companies have vaccine manufacturing sites in Canada which will contribute to the vaccine production there and elsewhere, as they landed a $2.1 billion contract from the Trump administration for the vaccine candidate in July.

“Today’…