Philip Morris to buy British inhaler specialist Vectura for £1bn July 9, 2021 Cigarette maker Philip Morris International will buy Vectura Group, a British pharmaceutical company, in a £1.05bn deal as it expands beyond tobacco, and into inhalers. Vectura had already agreed to a £958m deal with Carlyle Group in May but said it had withdrawn its backing for the offer which would have given shareholders 136p per share, [...]
Test and Trace: UK regulator extends approval for Innova Covid test, despite US recall June 17, 2021 Britain’s medicines regulator has extended the emergency use approval for Innova’s rapid Covid tests, used for NHS Test & Trace, after the US said they “should be thrown in the bin”. The MHRA approved the lateral flow tests for continued use, after carrying out its own checks over the last week. Innova is the UK’s [...]
US bins 60m contaminated Johnson and Johnson covid jabs June 11, 2021 Regulators in the US have ruled that 60 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine will need to be discarded because of suspected contamination, according to reports. The doses were produced in a factory in Baltimore operated by Emergent BioSolutions, where federal regulators have been conducting a review over the course of several [...]
UK pharma Vectura snapped up by US private equity giant Carlyle for £958m May 26, 2021 UK pharma Vectura snapped up by US private equity giant Carlyle for £958m
Competition watchdog to probe Covid-19 vaccine maker AstraZeneca over £27.5bn US drug deal May 25, 2021 The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will probe Covid-19 vaccine maker AstraZeneca's £27.5bn megadeal to buy a US drug company.
Bitter clash at Astrazeneca as 40 per cent of shareholders reject CEO pay package May 11, 2021 A share bonus hike for Astrazeneca’s chief executive was only narrowly approved in a vote where nearly 40 per cent of the pharma’s shareholders rejected the proposed pay package. The pharmaceutical giant did pass the proposal, however, which could take Pascal Soriot’s total pay, including a £1.3m salary, above the £15.4m he received last year. [...]
Covid-19, a year on: How Big Pharma reinvented itself March 25, 2021 In this series, CityAM looks back at the last year of the pandemic and Covid restrictions and takes stock of its impact on industries and issues at the heart of British society. Read more: Read the full Covid-19, a year on series here. Six years ago, pharmaceutical chief executive Martin Shkreli drew international condemnation when his [...]
Rush hour in Israel as global interest in potential Covid-19 cure accelerates March 9, 2021 Brazil’s foreign minister, Ernesto Araujo, arrived in Israel yesterday as his government is said to be highly interested in EXO-CD24, a new drug that has been hailed as a possible cure for Covid-19. Araujo, accompanied by Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, is reportedly keen to learn more about the treatment, which [...]
World’s first Covid-19 study where people are infected with virus to begin in London February 17, 2021 World's first Covid-19 study, where people are injected with virus, begins in London
AstraZeneca gets vaccine boost as sales jump to nearly $26bn February 11, 2021 Product sales at AstraZeneca jumped 10 per cent in 2020, up to nearly $26bn, in a year that made the at pharmaceutical company a household name. Total revenue at the business stood at $2.6bn, up nine per cent from 2019. Globally, new medicines represented 52 per cent of total revenue for the year. AstraZeneca’s share [...]