Recon: Moderna touts bivalent booster’s response against Omicron subvariants; EU to raise investment in Latin American drug manufacturing

• Moderna booster candidate shows strong response against Omicron subvariants (Reuters)
• Moderna CEO: COVID variant vaccine to be ready for shipping in August (Reuters)
• Omicron-specific COVID vaccines on the horizon, Pfizer chief says (Reuters)
• More vulnerable people receiving fewer COVID pills - U.S. study (Reuters)
• FDA to Order Juul E-Cigarettes Off U.S. Market (WSJ) (Reuters)
• FDA Aims to Cut Down on Smoking by Slashing Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes (NYTimes) (FDA)
• Supreme Court rules against DaVita over dialysis coverage (Reuters)
• Schumer will put legislation to cut insulin costs on Senate floor 'very soon' (Reuters)
• Biden picks former DARPA director Prabhakar as next science adviser (STAT) (Endpoints)
• Pfizer sued for patent infringement over COVID-19 drug Paxlovid (Reuters)

• EU to boost investment in Latin American vaccine, drug production (Reuters)
• EQT's Galderma announces positive trial results on skin drug (Reuters) (Endpoints)
• COVID-19 vaccine scheme for world's poorest pushes for delivery slowdown (Reuters)
• Moderna to build new vaccine facility in Britain (Reuters) (FT)
• Biotechs face ‘funding Sahara’ as easy money runs dry (FT)

• Galapagos finally takes M&A plunge, spending $251M for 2 biotechs in CAR-T push (Fierce) (Endpoints)
• Merck, Sanofi join Novartis’ 10-year quest to improve clinical trial diversity as historically Black colleges pitch in (Endpoints)
• Takeda to further cement presence in Cambridge, MA biopharma hub with 600,000-square-foot R&D center (Endpoints)
• Novartis hunting for sickle cell cure with Precision deal (BioPharmaDive) (Endpoints)
• Game on, Pfizer: Merck's Vaxneuvance boosts pneumococcal vaccine fight with coveted pediatric nod (Fierce)
• Athira’s alternative Alzheimer’s approach runs into a PhII brick wall (Endpoints)
• AbbVie walks away from Morphic deal in aftermath of safety signal in preclinical testing (Endpoints)
• NICE opts to reject Acorda’s MS drug Fampyra (PharmaTimes)
• Merck scoops up new chief marketing officer from Biogen's neurology business (Endpoints)
• Doudna research team finds CRISPR-Csm delivery potentially outperforms RNAi, Cas13 (Endpoints)

• FDA adds Class I tag to Dräger’s recall of 36K ventilator filters (Fierce)
• FDA opens consultation on tissue removal devices to reduce cancer risk (MedtechDive)
• Medtronic reinforces spine surgery portfolio with FDA nod for ligament-augmenting implant (Fierce)
• GE Healthcare debuts wireless, wearable hospital patient monitor (Fierce)

• Fraud trial against Elizabeth Holmes’ partner at Theranos nears end (CNBC)
• Two Florida Men Charged With Profiting Off Fake Prescriptions (NYTimes)
• Philips Knew Of CPAP Foam Issues In 2015, Device Users Say (Law360)
• Senate lawmakers introduce a bill to help the FDA and the U.S. Patent Office coordinate (STAT) (Law360)