J&J must reportedly throw out 60M COVID-19 vaccine doses from Emergent plant

Another large amount of doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine produced at an embattled manufacturing plant reportedly have to be thrown out.

The New York Times reported that the FDA told J&J that about 60 million doses of the single-dose vaccine produced at Emergent BioSolutions’ Baltimore plant can’t be used because of possible contamination.

Get the full story at our sister site, Pharmaceutical Processing World.

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J&J must reportedly throw out 60M COVID-19 vaccine doses from Emergent plant

Another large amount of doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine produced at an embattled manufacturing plant reportedly have to be thrown out.

The New York Times reported that the FDA told J&J that about 60 million doses of the single-dose vaccine produced at Emergent BioSolutions’ Baltimore plant can’t be used because of possible contamination.

In a news release announcing the extension of the shelf life of J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine, the FDA confirmed the allowance of two batches from the Emergent facility (The New York Times reported that those batches total about 10 million doses). However, the FDA mentioned that it “determined several other batches are not suitable for use, but additional batches are still under review,” likely referring to the 60 million or so doses as reported by The New York Times.

This comes as the latest blow to Emergent and J&J after news broke in April that a factory error…

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DePuy Synthes launches next-gen variable angle clavicle plate system

[Image from DePuy Synthes]Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) unit DePuy Synthes announced that it launched the 2.7 mm variable angle locking compression plate (VA LCP) clavicle plate system.

West Chester, Pa.-based DePuy Synthes designed the VA LCP clavicle plate system for the treatment of lateral, shaft and medial fractures for small, medium and large clavicles.

Get the full story at our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing.

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DePuy Synthes launches next-gen variable angle clavicle plate system

[Image from DePuy Synthes)

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) unit DePuy Synthes announced that it launched the 2.7 mm variable angle locking compression plate (VA LCP) clavicle plate system.

West Chester, Pa.-based DePuy Synthes designed the VA LCP clavicle plate system for the treatment of lateral, shaft and medial fractures for small, medium and large clavicles.

According to a news release, the new system offers plate shapes that reflect the correlation between patient stature and clavicle size to match the bow and contour of the clavicle while accommodating a wide range of anatomic variability of the clavicle with thinner plates, a more accurate plate-to-bone fit and reduced prominence.

DePuy Synthes looked at more than 600 clavicle CT scans from a broad-based patient population while analyzing 15 different parameters on the bone to identify the correlation between patient height and clavicle sh…

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AstraZeneca could enlist Catalent to produce COVID-19 vaccines

After stopping the production of its COVID-19 vaccine at an Emergent Biosolutions facility in Baltimore, AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) is in negotiations with Catalent (NYSE:CTLT) to shift production to one of its plants in nearby Harmans, Md.

FDA has yet to authorize the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, although it has won full approval in Australia and Brazil and has received emergency use authorization (EUA) in 168 other countries.

As a majority of U.S. citizens have already received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, officials at AstraZeneca are reportedly mulling the option of pursuing full approval of its vaccine instead of EUA, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. government required Emergent Biosolutions to halt production of the AstraZeneca vaccine after a production error forced Emergent to discard 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. Emergent intended to produce AstraZeneca’s and Johnson & Johnson’s adenovirus-vectored vaccines in the same f…

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J&J’s proposed opioid settlement framework eclipses its $2B talc penalty

The Supreme Court’s decision to deny reviewing a Johnson & Johnson talc lawsuit leaves the company on the hook for paying $2.5 billion, or $2.1 billion in damages plus interest.

But the talc litigation development also serves as a reminder that the company faces multiple litigation risks — some related to opioid litigation. The company has a proposed opioid settlement framework recommending a $5 billion payment to settle outstanding litigation. “If finalized, this would considerably reduce uncertainty related to J&J’s opioid exposures,” concluded a recent Moody’s report.

The company had initially agreed to a $4 billion settlement framework in negotiations with state attorneys general. Last October, the company agreed to pay an additional $1 billion as part of that framework.

The Supreme Court’s denial of a talc verdict appeal will leave Moody’s Aaa rating for J&J unchanged. “The company’s financial flexibility remains very strong, with gross …

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Almost one-quarter of Americans remain vaccine-hesitant

[Photo by Maksim Goncharenok from Pexels]

A study from Informa Pharma Intelligence and YouGov concluded that vaccine hesitancy remains a significant hurdle in the U.S. A separate study published in JAMA indicates vaccine hesitancy is falling. Specifically, the number of people who were suspicious about COVID-19 vaccines fell from 46% in October 2020 to 35% in March 2021.

Conversely, the Informa-YouGov survey from April 21 and 22 concluded that 23% of Americans were vaccine-hesitant. The study had 1,327 adult participants.

While approximately half of the U.S. public has received at least one vaccine dose, vaccinating the remainder of the eligible population could be a hurdle.

But the recent data from the Informa-YouGov survey indicate that achieving President Biden’s goal of providing at least one vaccine dose to 70% of the American adults by July 4 is at least feasible.

Another factor tha…

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U.K. authorizes J&J COVID-19 vaccine

The United Kingdom announced that it approved the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical business.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted the regulatory approval, making Janssen’s the fourth COVID-19 vaccine authorized by the independent regulator and the first to be approved as a single-dose option, according to a news release.

Get the full story at our sister site, Pharmaceutical Processing World.

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U.K. authorizes J&J COVID-19 vaccine

The United Kingdom announced that it approved the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical business.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted the regulatory approval, making Janssen’s the fourth COVID-19 vaccine authorized by the independent regulator and the first to be approved as a single-dose option, according to a news release.

Read: 9 things to know as AstraZeneca and J&J COVID-19 vaccines face safety scrutiny

Approval gives authorization to the use of the vaccine in people aged 18 years old and above in the UK, the MHRA said, while the decision on use of the vaccine in pregnant or breastfeeding women should be made in consultation with a healthcare professional after considering the benefits and risks, the regulatory body said.

“We have undertaken a thorough review of the conditional marketing authorization applica…

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10 of the best pharma companies to work for

The pharmaceutical industry is on the upswing and is poised to have a compound annual growth rate of 13.7% from 2020 to 2027, according to projections from Grand View Research.

The industry’s resurgence is a good opportunity for employees in the sector, who frequently enjoy comfortable salaries.

To get a sense of which pharmaceutical companies in the sector were the best employers, we sifted through data on company reviews sites Glassdoor and Comparably, and other sources.

Here are the 10 companies that came in on top:

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

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10 of the best pharma companies to work for

The pharmaceutical industry is on the upswing and is poised to have a compound annual growth rate of 13.7% from 2020 to 2027, according to projections from Grand View Research.

The industry’s resurgence is a good opportunity for employees in the sector, who frequently enjoy comfortable salaries.

To get a sense of which pharmaceutical companies in the sector were the best employers, we sifted through data on company reviews sites Glassdoor and Comparably, and other sources.

Here are the 10 companies that came in on top.

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

And browse data on all the Pharma 50 companies here.

Read more
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10 of the best pharma companies to work for

The pharmaceutical industry is on the upswing and is poised to have a compound annual growth rate of 13.7% from 2020 to 2027, according to projections from Grand View Research.

The industry’s resurgence is a good opportunity for employees in the sector, who frequently enjoy comfortable salaries.

To get a sense of which pharmaceutical companies in the sector were the best employers, we sifted through data on company reviews sites Glassdoor and Comparably, and other sources.

Below are the 10 companies that came in on top. (And browse data on all the Pharma 50 companies here.)

1. Sage Therapeutics

Glassdoor rating: 4.4/5 83% would recommend to a friend

Pros: Workers at Sage Therapeutics applauded the company’s work-life balance and culture. Just under three-quarters (74%) had a positive business outlook for the firm. One recent reviewer found meaning in “doing the toughest job in the world by developing CNS drugs.” The company’s brain health p…

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