Recon: CureVac partners with Bayer on COVID vaccines; Sinovac vaccine found 78% effective in Brazil trial

• Moderna CEO says vaccine likely to protect for 'couple of years' (Reuters)
• Operation Warp Speed’s Moncef Slaoui will stay on as a consultant for Biden (STAT) (Politico)
• Serial biotech entrepreneur John Hood raises $62 million for company aimed at deadly lung disease (STAT)
• Generic drug makers fear a ‘skinny labeling’ court ruling will pose a huge threat (STAT)
• 17.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines distributed, 5.3 million administered: US CDC (Reuters)
• Blood Plasma Reduces Risk of Severe Covid-19 if Given Early (NYTimes) (NEJM)
• Fauci Says US Needs More Time To 'Catch Up' On Vaccine Rollout (NPR)
• US healthcare M&A: strategies encapsulated (FT)

• CureVac strikes COVID-19 vaccine alliance deal with Bayer -Bild (Reuters) (FT)
• Britain working with Pfizer, AstraZeneca to increase vaccine supplies (Reuters)
• Roche, Sanofi arthritis drugs reduce death rates among sickest COVID-19 patients (Reuters)
• Covid-19 Vaccines Expected to Work on South Africa Coronavirus Strain (WSJ)
• Covaxin: Bharat Biotech completes volunteer enrollment for Phase 3 clinical trials (LiveMint)
• Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine 78% effective in late-stage trial in Brazil -source (Reuters) (NYTimes)
• WHO Europe urges safe flexibility on timing of COVID-19 vaccine doses (Reuters)
• Poorer countries could start getting COVID vaccines this month-WHO (Reuters)
• As Olympics loom, Japanese approval of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine unlikely till May (Reuters)

• Vaccine scepticism among medics sparks alarm in Europe and US (FT)
• Delaying second Covid vaccine shots can be ‘very risky,’ says former FDA director (CNBC)
• Beyond Politics — Promoting Covid-19 Vaccination in the United States (NEJM)
• In Los Angeles and Beyond, Oxygen Is the Latest Covid Bottleneck (KHN)
• Morocco approves AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine- Minister (Reuters)
• South Africa's Aspen could produce J&J COVID shots by end-March (Reuters)
• S.Africa says to get 1.5 million vaccines from Serum Institute of India (Reuters)
• Peru inks deals with Sinopharm, AstraZeneca for coronavirus vaccines -president (Reuters)
• Over 4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China's CNBG administered in emergency use (Reuters)
• UAE starts trials of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as cases rise (Reuters)
• Kenya expects 24 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to start arriving next month (Reuters)
• Brazil firm to request emergency use for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine in Feb -Valor (Reuters)

• Pfizer beats Sarepta to the start of first late-stage Duchenne gene therapy trial (BioPharmaDive) (Endpoints)
• DBV restructuring claims 200 jobs as it beats out a path toward peanut patch OK (Endpoints)
• FDA extends immunodeficiency drug's shelf life as pandemic exacerbates shortages (Fierce)
• Catalent inks deal to offload blow-fill-seal business to SK Capital (Fierce)
• BioGeneration Ventures closes 4th fund, with $170M in tow for early European biotechs (Fierce)
• President Signs the Orange Book Transparency Act (Big Molecule Watch) (Law360)
• Kite and Oxford BioTherapeutics sign oncology research pact (PMLive)
• NICE recommends AstraZeneca's FORXIGA for heart failure (Pharmafile)
• Scorpion Therapeutics strikes major $162M funding round for 'precision oncology 2.0' (Fierce)
• Indian Pharma exports get a boost as nations depend less on China (Economic Times)
• Fujifilm's CDMO arm plots massive $2B plant in the US for broad range of therapeutics (Endpoints)
• Dermira vets license back candidates from Eli Lilly to launch their own upstart (Endpoints)
• EXCLUSIVE: Zai Lab’s Samantha Du scoops up China rights to an autoimmune drug with a hefty $175M licensing deal — heavily fronted with cash and stock (Endpoints)
• Alnylam nears FDA filing for 4th RNAi therapy vutrisiran after late-stage data back use in protein misfolding disorder (Endpoints)
• With decades in gene therapy under his belt, Ronald Crystal launches new venture with up to 18 candidates in the pipe (Endpoints)
• Bristol Myers Squibb ices licensing pact with ArsenalBio to draft its designer T cells into the solid tumor fight (Endpoints)
• Kira and its complement-target inhibitors plot run to the clinic with new investor cash just months after uncloaking (Endpoints)
• Rick Klausner fronts cash for his fungus outfit LifeMine and brings on Nobel Laureate to further push cancer discovery (Endpoints)
• Looking to solve the solid tumor puzzle box, Carisma aims to take 'CAR-M' groundbreaker into early-stage trial (Endpoints)
• Abcuro will take an anti-KLRG1 antibody into the clinic with new funding, and has big plans for another (Endpoints)
• Gary Glick, Keith Flaherty now have $270M to realize their vision for Precision Oncology 2.0 — we'll just have to wait for the details (Endpoints)
• Werewolf prepares to bare its teeth in 1st trial for targeted cytokine tumor fighters with new round of investor cash (Endpoints)
• Factor Bioscience spins out a new cell therapy player with eyes on the clinic within 2 years (Endpoints)

• Trump Signs Bill Allowing FDA Seizure Of Counterfeits (Law360)
• MDIC Announces Pathology ‘Collaborative Community’ With FDA Involvement (MedtechInsight)
• UK All-Party Report Assesses Brexit Medtech Impact While Germany Worries Over Border Delays (MedtechInsight)
• French medtechs Carmat, CorWave advance heart failure device plans (MedtechDive)
• New Mexico sues device sterilizer Sterigenics over ethylene oxide emissions (MedtechDive)
• Medtronic’s ICM Proves Cost-Effective In Preventing Recurrent Stroke (MedtechInsight)
• MTI’s Top 20 Of ’20: Medtech Industry Laser-Focused On FDA’s Quality System Reg Rewrite, Facility Inspections, And More (MedtechInsight)

• Biden’s FDA Commissioner Playbook: Build On COVID Innovations To Modernize Agency (Pink Sheet)
• Horizon Pharma, Inc. v. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2021) (Patent Docs)
• Strike Three. Southern District of New York Joins Other Federal Courts In Blocking Trump Administration’s Most Favored Nation Drug Pricing Rule on Procedural Grounds (FDA Law Blog)
• Allergan Says Federal Law Preempts Breast Implant Claims (Law360)
• Hatch-Waxman Venue Issue Still Live After Fed. Circ. Ruling (Law360)
• Gov't Pandemic Response Will Boost Life Sciences In 2021 (Law360)
• Feds Want In On Allergan Collusion Suit Amid Criminal Probe (Law360)
• 4th Circ. Undoes $1.25M Verdict In Pradaxa Suit (Law360)
• W.Va. Opioid Distributor Bellwether Trial Set For May (Law360)
• Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Axed Horizon Pain Drug Patents (Law360)
• DOJ Misled Court About Planned Opioid Suit, Walmart Says (Law360)