Recon: 2021's priciest drugs; A leaderless FDA?

• Novartis' canakinumab failed to improve survival in Phase III trial (Reuters) (Endpoints)
• Is a leaderless FDA clamping down on drug reviews? Not knowing is weighing heavy on biotech (STAT)
• Pandemic Forces FDA to Sharply Curtail Drug Company Inspections (NYT)
• A Survey of Survival Outcomes for Targeted Cancer Drugs Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (PubMed)
• Fauci, other Biden health officials to testify on vaccination effort (The Hill)
• Biden Cancels Visit to Vaccine Maker After Times Report on Its Tactics (NYT)
• Health official ousted by Trump to lead private coronavirus tracking effort (Science)
• Avoiding a ‘gender recession’: New report details how the pandemic has impeded women’s STEMM careers (STAT)

• Japan's Terumo says makes syringe to draw seven doses from Pfizer vaccine vials (Reuters)
• Swiss biopharma company to produce Russian Sputnik vaccine in Italy (The Hill)
• Why Scientists Are Infecting Healthy Volunteers With The Coronavirus (NPR)
• Russia's Sputnik V nabs first Twitter-verified vaccine handle, but is it PR or propaganda? (Fierce Pharma)
• NICE rejects AZ’s Lynparza for metastatic prostate cancer (PharmaTimes)
• Opinion: DTAC - Not left to our own devices (Healthcare IT News)

• Mexico to buy 22 million more doses of Chinese coronavirus vaccines (Reuters)
• Indonesia approves AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use (Reuters)
• Exclusive: J&J 'under stress' to meet EU second-quarter vaccine supply goal - source (Reuters)
• Slow pace of vaccine delivery risks global COVID-19 recovery (The Hill) (BioPharma Reporter)
• Ukraine approves China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine (Reuters)
• Russia's Sputnik V could be made in European Union after reported deals (Reuters)
• Developers of Russian Sputnik V vaccine doubt EU regulator's neutrality, want apology (Reuters)
• COVID-19 vaccine batch Austria has halted use of went to 17 countries (Reuters)
• Pfizer, BioNTech vaccine tackles 3 troubling COVID-19 variants in lab study (Fierce Pharma)

• Samantha Truex's Quench Bio calls it quits after failing to solve the Gasdermin D inflammation puzzle (Endpoints)
• Acadia's surprise Nuplazid snag—and subsequent cold shoulder at FDA—beg more questions than answers (Fierce Pharma)
• Ultrarare disease specialists top 2021's pricey drugs list, but Takeda, Merck KGaA meds rank, too (Fierce Pharma)
• Koch's 'disruptive' VC bets $110M on one of Flagship's new, big computational startups (Endpoints)
• Ready to exit 'quiet mode,' joint entity Ventyx debuts its immune modulator pipeline with $114M round (Endpoints)
• No more squinting at menus? Visus Therapeutics nabs $36M for presbyopia-correcting eye drop (Endpoints)
• Analysts picked the top 4 blockbuster contenders in the mix — and #1 is a $3.8B coin toss (Endpoints)
• With data on a cancer drug derived from red blood cells looming, Rubius Therapeutics seeks to shed its bumbling image (Endpoints)
• Gilead’s Investigational Lenacapavir Demonstrates Sustained Long-Acting Efficacy Through Week 26 in Data Presented at CROI (BusinessWire)
• CBD reduces plaque, improves cognition in model of familial Alzheimer's (EurekAlert)
• Charcot-Marie Tooth disease: A 100% French RNA-based therapeutic innovation (EurekAlert)
• Taking a page from Celgene, Takeda builds and buys a cancer biotech (BioPharma Dive)
• Lilly partners with Biolojic Design to develop diabetes antibody therapies (PMLive)

• Can chips replace animal testing? (EurekAlert)
• Abbott updates app-based neuromodulation platform with remote programming (MobiHealthNews)
• European ecosystem for health tech launched by Sanofi, Capgemini, Generali and Orange (MobiHealthNews)

• Novartis sues FDA over its stance on Sanofi blockbuster’s exclusivity (Endpoints)
• Tax Breaks Will Offset $26 Billion Opioid Settlement, Drug Firms Say (NPR)
• Regulatory updates are needed to prevent commercialization of islet transplantation in the US (PubMed)