Shares of Avrobio were up in trading after the company posted positive clinical data from gene therapy trials in three different rare lysosomal diseases: Fabry, Gaucher type 1 and cystinosis.

In a historical move, healthcare investor giant Deerfield Management entered a second partnership with one of its academic collaborators, investing up to $130 million over the next ten years into Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to advance the development of new therapeutics and diagnostic tools for cancer patients.

The Biden administration is exploring every option for increasing manufacturing of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, which is under regulatory review, and said on Feb. 5 that currently expected levels of early doses were less than hoped.

Merck Chief Executive Officer Kenneth C. Frazier is stepping down from his role atop the helm of the pharma giant on June 30, 2021, after nearly 30 years with the company.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals is beefing up its neurology pipeline with a $7.2 billion buyout of GW Pharmaceuticals, the only company yet to score U.S. regulatory approval for a cannabis-derived product.

Bayer

Bayer AG struck a $2 billion deal to resolve future legal claims that the German company widely used weedkiller Roundup causes cancer.

IPG Health Germany won the communications account around the new women’s health portfolio of pharmaceutical manufacturer DR. KADE Health Care.

Amgen

U.S. biotech Amgen Inc. provided a 2021 earnings forecast below Wall Street estimates and said the company paused or halted enrollment for clinical trials of three cancer drugs.

Data with Sanofi’s investigational enzyme replacement therapy avalglucosidase alfa in late-onset Pompe disease and infantile-onset Pompe disease will be featured as platform and poster presentations at the 17th annual WORLDSymposiumTM, to be held February 8-12, 2021.

Oxford University and AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine showed in a study it had 76% efficacy against symptomatic infection for three months after a single dose, which increased if the second shot is delayed, backing Britain’s vaccine rollout policy.