Global pharmaceutical operations and technology company Biogen partnered with Chinese commercial-stage biopharmaceutical firm InnoCare Pharma to develop a treatment for multiple sclerosis. 

Health agencies and vaccine and immunology experts have pushed back against Pfizer and BioNTech’s assertions that a Covid-19 booster shot is necessary.

Galapagos announced new post-hoc analyses for the Belgium-based company’s Phase III SELECTION program for the JAK1 inhibitor filgotinib for ulcerative colitis, touting rapid symptom improvement and sustained steroid-free remission. 

The United States Food and Drug Administration approved Bayer’s Kerendia (finerenone), a first-in-class nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist indicated to reduce the risk of sustained eGFR decline, kidney failure, cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction and hospitalization for heart failure in adult patients with chronic kidney disease associated with type 2 diabetes.

The World Health Organization recommended using arthritis drugs Actemra from Roche and Kevzara from Sanofi with corticosteroids for Covid-19 patients after data from some 11,000 patients showed they cut the risk of death.

Keytruda

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an expanded label for Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) that is not curable by surgery or radiation.

The highly transmissible Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, first identified in India, has become the most prevalent variant among new Covid-19 cases in the United States, according to California-based genomics company Helix.

Members of the U.S. military who were vaccinated against Covid-19 showed higher-than-expected rates of heart inflammation, although the condition was still extremely rare, according to a study released on June 29.

Sanofi announced the company will invest 400 million euros (about $476.4 million) into research and development for vaccines leveraging mRNA technologies.

Lilly

Eli Lilly’s investigational diabetes drug tirzepatide is showing significant promise in targeting A1C levels and weight loss in patients with type 2 diabetes, including those who had never been previously treated for the disease. In other positive clinical results presented at the American Diabetes Association’s 81st Scientific Sessions meeting, Novo Nordisk data demonstrated an investigational 2mg dose of injectable Ozempic (semaglutide) generated statistically significant and superior reductions in A1C compared to a 1mg dose of Ozempic.