Shares of Calliditas Therapeutics soared in trading after the company announced positive Phase III data from a study of Nefecon in IgA nephropatjhy (IgAN), an autoimmune renal disease.

An AstraZeneca executive said he felt encouraged by “incredibly promising” large-scale Covid-19 vaccine trial results unveiled by New York-based Pfizer and the company’s German partner BioNTech.

ViiV Healthcare announced that an independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) recommended the early unblinding of data from the HIV Prevention Trials Network 084 trial of the investigational, long-acting injectable cabotegravir for HIV prevention in women.

Pfizer and BioNTech released very promising interim data from a Phase III Covid-19 vaccine trial suggesting a more than 90 percent efficacy rate for the vaccine.

A panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted that a potential Alzheimer’s treatment from Biogen Inc. has not been proven to slow progression of the disease, a sharp rebuke to agency staff who had praised the drug.

Novartis’ IL-1β inhibitor Ilaris (canakinumab) came up short in a Phase III Covid-19 study, the company reported, following an interim analysis of data.

South San Francisco-based Allogene Therapeutics released some early data from the company’s UNIVERSAL clinical trial of ALLO-715 for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Shares of bluebird bio fell in trading after the company announced that the sickle cell disease gene therapy treatment bb1111 will not be submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for two more years.

Biogen

Biogen Inc. showed “exceptionally persuasive” evidence that the company’s experimental Alzheimer’s disease drug aducanumab is effective, U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff said, elevating chances of a swift approval and sending company shares soaring.

Additional findings from Biogen’s Phase II LILAC study show the biotech company’s lupus drug candidate BIIB059 is superior to placebo for reducing joint disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).