Recon: Evotec, Lilly team up on metabolic diseases; Gilead says counterfeiters sold $250M of spurious HIV drugs

• US would seek global approach to updating Covid-19 vaccines, official says (STAT)
• FDA approves AbbVie, Pfizer drugs for eczema, creating competition for Sanofi (BioPharmaDive) (Fierce)
• With few remaining unapproved drugs, researchers tell FDA its Unapproved Drugs Initiative is no longer effective (Endpoints)
• FDA orders DMD trial halt, raising questions about a whole class of promising drugs (Endpoints)
• Gilead says counterfeiting network sold $250 mln worth of its HIV drugs (Reuters)
• Keeping Track: Idorsia’s Quviviq Is FDA’s First Novel Approval Of 2022; AbbVie’s Rinvoq Gains Eczema Claim (Pink Sheet)
• Drugmaker Endo signs $65 mln opioid settlement with Florida (Reuters)

• EU watchdog urges vaccine developers not to focus only on Omicron (Reuters)
• EU regulator finds mRNA COVID-19 shots safe during pregnancy (Reuters)
• Germany's Evotec partners with Lilly to research metabolic diseases (Reuters)
• GlaxoSmithKline rejects Unilever’s $68B consumer buyout offer, but a bigger bid is brewing (Fierce)
• UK upstart raises $100M in bid to digitize and standardize cell and gene therapy manufacturing  (Endpoints)
• Britain preparing for end-June switch to paid COVID tests – document (Reuters)
• UK Regulator Calls For More Patient Involvement In Trial Design (Pink Sheet)

• WHO urges manufacturers to provide COVID-19 vaccine data (Reuters)
• WHO's top scientist says no evidence healthy kids, adolescents need COVID-19 boosters (Reuters)
• Merck signs supply deal with UNICEF for 3 mln courses of COVID-19 pill (Reuters)
• At Davos, a ‘good news, bad news’ message emerges about Covid-19 (STAT)
• ‘Nocebo effect’: two-thirds of Covid jab reactions not caused by vaccine, study suggests (The Guardian)
• Walensky faces CDC burnout as pandemic enters third year (Politico)
• Israel sticks with 4th vaccine shot, sees Omicron wave waning next week (Reuters)
• Britain reports 438 new COVID-19 deaths, highest since February (Reuters)
• Public health experts say vaccine equity a must to end pandemic (Reuters)

• Covid vaccine makers Pfizer, J&J notch high brand marks amid overall still-strong pharma industry rep: Harris Poll (Endpoints)
• Roche Tries Again With Failed Huntington’s Drug Tominersen (Scrip)
• CBO: Medicare negotiations will hamper drug development more than previously thought (Endpoints)
• 5 questions facing gene therapy in 2022 (BioPharmaDive)
• Ten months after devastating failure, Roche says it sees path forward for Huntington’s drug  (Endpoints)
• With key FDA decision pending on psoriasis, UCB’s bispecific notches phase 3 win for spinal arthritis condition (Fierce)
• Tiny biotech hammered as lead drug fails a key PhII study (Endpoints)

• Cybersecurity leads ECRI's list of top medtech hazards for 2022 (MedTech Dive)
• Abbott, BD, Quidel pursue DTC strategies amid 'paradigm shift' for at-home, self-testing (MedTech Dive)
• Cardio Industry Puts Weight Behind UK Call For National CVD Strategy (Medtech Intelligence)
• Dexcom CEO on G7's global launch, COVID-19 slowing new patient adds, international growth (MedTech Dive)

• US faces ‘critical moment’ in pricing reform that ‘won’t come again,’ nonprofit founder says after tallying 554 new hikes (Fierce)
• Novo Nordisk comes out clean in $1.8B investor lawsuit alleging insulin misdirection (Fierce)