Two life sciences powerhouses are coming together to develop an off-the-shelf beta cell replacement therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes patients, which they hope will become a functional cure for both types of the disease.

Lilly

Eli Lilly scored another win against diabetes as the company’s once-weekly dual glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist tirzepatide won approval under Priority Review from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The World Health Organization’s European chief said on May 10 that at least 3,000 people had died in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February because they had been unable to access treatments for chronic diseases.

Although 2020 was a tough year for the biopharma industry — and most other industries as well — it appeared to rebound significantly in mid-2021. However, biotech stocks are generally getting hammered during 2022, although to be fair, the entire stock market is down.

Life expectancy in the United States fell by nearly two years in 2020 to about 77 years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the sharpest drop compared to 21 other high-income countries, according to a global study.

Jane Qiu, a freelance science writer based in Beijing, published an overview of her efforts to investigate the lab-leak theory for the origin of COVID-19. In another update, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet on February 15 to discuss an amended Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months through 4 years of age.

More than 100,000 Americans died from diabetes in 2021, marking the second consecutive year for that grim milestone and spurring a call for a federal mobilization similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The U.S. health regulator issued a warning letter to Medtronic Plc highlighting certain concerns related to medical device quality management at its diabetes business, the company said on December 15.

The New York Times profiled the success story of a type 1 diabetes patient who was dosed with Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ experimental fully differentiated pancreatic islet cell replacement therapy, and after an infusion of VX-880, he began to produce his own insulin.

Bristol Myers Squibb

The U.S. health regulator extended the review of Bristol Myers Squibb’s oral heart disease drug candidate mavacamten, which the company acquired in its $13 billion buyout of MyoKardia during 2020.