The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will give $40 million, including to a Belgian biotech company and two leading African vaccine manufacturers, in a bid to boost access to mRNA vaccines for protection against various diseases in Africa.

Sanofi appears to be considering a buyout of cancer drugmaker Mirati Therapeutics, according to Bloomberg reporting on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Amgen

Amgen said on Friday it had completed the $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics after it received the go-ahead from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last month on certain conditions.

Merck on Thursday reported that its blockbuster PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab) met one of its dual primary endpoints in the Phase III AMBASSADOR trial in muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma.

Philips logo

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it is still not satisfied with how Dutch healthcare technology company Philips has handled a major product recall and the company should conduct additional risk testing.

GlaxoSmithKline, GSK

British drugmaker GSK on Friday said it raised 885.6 million pounds ($1.08 billion) from a discounted stake sale in Haleon, cutting its shareholding to 7.4% in the world’s largest standalone consumer healthcare firm.

Dengue fever will become a major threat in the southern United States, southern Europe and new parts of Africa this decade, the WHO’s chief scientist said, as warmer temperatures create the conditions for the mosquitoes carrying the infection to spread.

On the potential cusp of FDA approval for its rare disease gene therapy, Orchard Therapeutics is being purchased by Japanese pharma Kyowa Kirin for close to $478 million if all conditions are met, the companies announced on Thursday. 

Pfizer, BioNTech, and biotech firm Promosome told a federal judge in San Diego, California that they have agreed to end Promosome’s lawsuit accusing the COVID-19 vaccine makers of infringing a patent related to messenger RNA technology.

syringes

Around 4 million Americans received the updated COVID-19 shots in September, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), even as some people have found it difficult to book vaccination appointments or find the vaccines at no cost.