Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a GSK vaccine deal, an Alzheimer’s drug approval, and more

By Ed Silverman July 3, 2024

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Alex Hogan/STAT

Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is. The skies are clear, the sun is shining, and all sorts of birds are chirping outside our window. Moreover, there is a one-day break tomorrow on this side of the pond due to a holiday. So to celebrate, yes, we are firing up the coffee kettle to indulge in another cup of stimulation. Our choice today is maple bourbon. As always, you are invited to join us. Meanwhile, here are a few tidbits to get you going. We hope you have a meaningful and pleasant day. And of course, do keep in touch. See you on Friday. …

An Eli Lilly early Alzheimer’s treatment was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, making it the second drug on the U.S. market aimed at slowing progression of the debilitating neurological disease, STAT tells us. The treatment, which will be sold under the brand name Kisunla, will compete with Eisai and Biogen’s Leqembi, which got full approval last year. Both therapies are monoclonal antibodies designed to clear amyloid in the brain. But while Alzheimer’s medicines are making it through the FDA, they face logistical hurdles that can slow their use and in some cases, skepticism about the balance between their benefits and risks.

Moderna scored a partial victory in its attempt to claim a share of billions of dollars in profits made by Pfizer and BioNTech from selling Covid-19 vaccine, after a judge in London ruled that one of its two patents was valid, according to Bloomberg News. Pfizer and BioNTech had filed a lawsuit in the U.K. seeking to invalidate two patents behind Moderna’s vaccine, Spikevax, claiming they were not novel. Moderna filed its own lawsuit that argued Pfizer and BioNTech infringed its patent by copying mRNA advances it had pioneered and patented well before the Covid-19 pandemic began in late 2019.

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