Merck KGaA raises full-year forecast; Perlmutter's new gig tackles 'undruggable targets'

• Lilly hit by staff accusations, FDA scrutiny at COVID drug factories (Reuters)
• Pharma showers Menendez with rare, off-cycle burst of campaign cash as Democrats eye drug pricing reforms (STAT)
• Rising wholesale drug prices really do matter to half of all commercially insured Americans (STAT)
• Facing fresh pricing threats in D.C., pharma spent a record $92M peddling influence during the first quarte (Fierce)
• White House will make unordered vaccine supply available to other states (WaPo)
• White House set to send vaccines abroad (Politico)
• U.S. cases, vaccinations continue to drop as White House sets new inoculation goal (CNBC)
• Connecticut becomes the first state with half of all adults fully vaccinated amid slowing pace of U.S. inoculations (CNBC)
• CDC projects a surge in U.S. Covid cases through May due to variants before vaccinations drive a ‘sharp decline’ (CNBC)

• UK Spinraza Data Review Shows Benefits Of NICE Flexibility (Pink Sheet)
• Younger people filling up COVID-19 intensive care wards in Americas, PAHO says (Reuters)
• India is suffering immensely under the weight of Covid. Now its failures are threatening much of the world (Reuters)
• New Scottish Agency Would Ensure Supply Of Cost-Effective Drugs (Pink Sheet)
• India approves Roche/Regeneron antibody cocktail to treat COVID-19 (Reuters)
• Explainer: COVID-19 vaccine patents dominate global trade talks (Reuters)
• WHO to open a global pandemic ‘intelligence’ hub in Germany (CNBC)

• Canada authorizes Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 (Reuters)
• Adagio offers first peek at Covid-19 antibody data, with preventative numbers that may rival mRNA vaccines (Endpoints)
• Canada's Alberta confirms first death linked to AstraZeneca vaccine (Reuters)
• BioNTech on course to produce three billion doses of Pfizer-partnered COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 (PMLive)
• WHO experts voice "very low confidence" in some Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine data (Reuters)
• Nasal spray shown to be effective in reducing COVID-19 transmission (EPR)
• CureVac says well on track to request vaccine approval as planned (Reuters) (NYT)
• Experts Weigh In On Mixing And Matching COVID-19 Vaccines (NPR)

• The long wait for Cel-Sci to finally admit its cancer drug doesn’t work (STAT)
• ChemoCentryx's stock sinks as FDA flags issues with pivotal data (Fierce) (BioCentury)
• Elizabeth Holmes back in court for first time in 15 months, putting Silicon Valley culture under scrutiny (CNBC)
• The editor of digital health’s newest journal wants to democratize medicine with data (STAT)
• Roger Perlmutter, former Merck R&D head, becomes CEO of super-microscopy startup (STAT) (Endpoints)
• Ex-Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez and a lead Kite player take up new posts at an off-the-shelf rival (Endpoints)
• FDA approves 100th monoclonal antibody product (Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
• Affinia Therapeutics raises $110 million for gene therapy treatments (STAT)
• Day One pivots to an IPO for more funding to back its work in pediatric cancer (Endpoints)
• The weird science of the placebo effect keeps getting more interesting (Vox)
• New variant-hardy AbCellera-Lilly mAb shows utility of viral genomics surveillance (BioCentury)
• Athenex shares soar with buyout of natural killer T cell player (Endpoints)
• Pfizer's Hospira recalls hospital anesthetics, flags 'moderate to high severity' safety risks (Fierce)
• Startup sets out to tackle the gene therapy manufacturing crisis (Endpoints)
• Esker, a new biotech startup, launches with plans to make targeted immune drugs (BioPharma Dive)
• AbbVie's Humira regains top pharma TV spender spot, while sibling brands Rinvoq and Skyrizi tag along (Fierce)
• Pfizer ups COVID-19 vaccine revenue estimates (BioPharma Reporter)
• Merck KGaA raises forecast for full year 2021 (Pharmaletter)

• Microneedles are promising devices for painless drug delivery with minimal side effects (EurekAlert)
• Inside Vida Health’s $110M Series D & Big Push into Digital Mental Health (The Health Care Blog)
• AI, digital health feature in latest batch of FDA breakthrough device designations (MedTech Dive)
• Operating Rooms Go Under the Knife (NYT)
• BD Taps Contract Packager for COVID-19 Test Kits (MD+DI)
• Zimmer sees Q1 sales growth after CEO warned of down quarter (MedTech Dive)
• A Digitalization Tipping Point for the Medical Manufacturing Supply Chain (MD+DI)
• Siemens Healthineers Sees Revenue Soar From COVID-19 Test Demand (MD+DI)

• My Conversation with Daniel Carpenter, on regulation and also the FDA (Marginal Revolution)
• Remote Regulatory Assessments (FDAatty)
• The new EU AI regulation proposal, medical devices and IVDs (Medicaldeviceslegal)
• USDA now only partially inspects some lab animal facilities, internal documents reveal (Science)