To support the long-term goals of Novartis, the Swiss pharma giant is initiating a share-buyback program of up to $2.5 billion that is expected to be carried out over the next few months.

Merck & Co.

Merck acquired Maryland-based OncoImmune and the Covid-19 therapeutic candidate CD24Fc for $425 million in upfront cash two months after the Phase III asset demonstrated efficacy during an interim analysis.

Shares of Endo International were up after announcing positive earnings and a new restructuring plan that is expected to “optimize” the company’s operations through the elimination of several manufacturing sites and the employees who work there.

Bayer is making a big bet on gene therapy with the acquisition of North Carolina-based Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio).

San Diego-based Retrophin is buying Orphan Technologies for $90 million in cash up front and up to $427 million in milestone payments.

Corbus Pharmaceuticals intends to restructure the company’s workforce and reallocate capital toward specific clinical and preclinical programs.

A vaccine against Covid-19 may be ready by year-end, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said, without elaborating.

XtalPi Inc., an AI-based pharmaceutical technology company with an AI-powered platform that twins with existing R&D pipelines, raised an additional $318.8 million through a Series C financing round to bring drug development into the future.

Somerville, Massachusetts-based Finch Therapeutics closed a $90 million Series D financing, with plans to use the funds to advance the company’s lead candidate CP101 for recurrent C. difficile infection through the final stages of clinical development and regulatory submission.

iBio Inc. is developing a decoy molecule as a therapeutic against SARS-CoV-2.