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Moderna is hard at work ramping up production of its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, which is projected to reap over $19 billion for the company by year’s end. But given that the pandemic is easing in parts of the world, what’s less certain is how 2022 will play out…After a breakout year, Moderna sees strong reason to believe 2021 won't be a one-off boom year. That's thanks to the predicted need for booster shots and additional supply deals coupled with stronger pricing power…READ MORE

It turns out pharma sales reps didn't need to worry about a pandemic effect on their salaries. Pharma reps’ average pay jumped to $158,013 in 2020 from $151,217 the previous year, according to MedReps’ annual survey...That’s good news for the three-fourths of reps who last March said they were concerned about pay cuts. What actually happened? Only 14% reported earning less money during 2020...READ MORE

The Russian Direct Investment Fund announces the launch of vaccination with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus in India...Sputnik V has become the first foreign-made vaccine that is used in India contributing to the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Inoculations with Sputnik V in Hyderabad...followed the arrival of the first batch of the vaccine in India on May 1, 2021...Sputnik V was approved for use in India on April 12, 2021 and granted an emergency use authorization...READ MORE

In the first three months of 2021, Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine pulled in as much revenue as some pharma blockbusters make in an entire year. That’s just the beginning, as Pfizer eyes sales from more than a billion additional doses before the end of 2021...The mRNA-based shot Comirnaty—first to market in the U.S.—reeled in $3.5 billion globally in the first quarter...For the full year, Pfizer projects a whopping $26 billion in Comirnaty sales, based on the 1.6 million doses the company has pledged worldwide...READ MORE

News continues to come out about COVID-19, including support for an investigation into the origins of the virus, a new naming system, and legal discussions of whether employers can mandate vaccination. Here’s a look...READ MORE

• WHO Creates Naming System for COVID-19 Variants
• Scientists Support Full Investigation of Viral Leak Theory
• US Companies Can Legally Mandate Vaccinations
• New Variant from Vietnam is Highly Contagious
• Moderna Initiates Rolling Submission to FDA for Full Approval of COVID-19 Vaccine

...Eli Lilly’s COVID-19 drug factory in New Jersey garnered unwanted headlines for quality control snafus and alleged document tampering. Now, the Department of Justice has stepped in to investigate...Lilly revealed the DOJ has issued a subpoena demanding documents relating to the site in Branchburg, New Jersey. The site produces doses of Lilly's COVID-19 antibody treatment, which has recently faced setbacks for its susceptibility to certain variants...In early May, Reuters reported that employees at the site accused an executive of altering FDA-required documents in an effort to downplay serious quality control problems...READ MORE

Europe’s drug regulator says it’s evaluating an assortment of potential side effects following inoculation with leading COVID-19 vaccines, including heart inflammation, facial swelling and a rare nerve-degenerating disorder. Yet in most circumstances, it’s not clear whether the vaccines are to blame...In AstraZeneca’s case, the European Medicines Agency’s safety committee...said it’s examining reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome among people who received the drugmaker’s COVID-19 vaccine...The agency is tracking the data for all coronavirus shots as part of its routine safety procedures...READ MORE

An increasing number of American citizens have been apprehended as they have tried to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S. since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, an uptick that’s come amid travel restrictions at the border with Mexico...the closure of the southern border to nonessential traffic has sharply limited the number of foreign citizens entering the U.S. by land...Law enforcement officials and drug trafficking experts say the border rules — put in place in April 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus — and their lopsided enforcement are driving the rise in U.S. citizens involved in borderland drug busts...U.S. citizens were apprehended nearly seven times more often than Mexican citizens between October 2020 and March 31 for trying to smuggle drugs in vehicles, U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows...READ MORE

In reality, nearly half (44%) of hospital pharmacists experienced a diversion event within the past 12 months, which is up from 37% in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this “hidden epidemic,” a multi-faceted challenge which poses serious risks to patients, clinicians and healthcare systems...Here are 5 questions frequently asked by health systems seeking to accelerate and improve their efforts to detect and mitigate drug diversion incidents...READ MORE

1. What are the biggest challenges in identifying drug diversion?
2. How have responsibilities for addressing and resolving drug diversion issues evolved?
3. What offers the biggest opportunity to improve diversion identification?
4. When selecting automated systems and software, which capabilities are most critical?
5. How do you justify the cost of technology in a difficult economic environment?

In a first for the U.S., the FDA has authorized the use of Pfizer's BioNTech-partnered COVID-19 vaccine for use in adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15—months ahead of the upcoming school year in the fall...The FDA will amend the existing emergency authorization for the vaccine, which was first issued in December, the agency said. Pfizer’s vaccine is currently the only shot allowed in the U.S. for Americans as young as the age 16. The vaccine's two-dose regimen will be the same for adolescents as it is for adults, the agency said...READ MORE