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In yet another turn in the high-profile Zantac litigation, Sanofi and Pfizer agreed to settle a case set for trial in California...which comes after a U.S. District Judge ruled against the plaintiffs in the federal group of cases against the companies and others. Earlier this month, that ruling took out about 50,000 Zantac claims off the board.As for the California settlement, that lawsuit came in California Superior Court for Alameda County...The financial terms of the agreement were not revealed...READ MORE

It was a good year to be a pharmaceutical company, especially one that came up with a product to combat COVID-19. Of the world’s top 20 pharmas ranked by 2021 revenues, 12 had at least 10% growth, including five that saw their sales boom at least 40%...No company pulled in more revenue from COVID products than Pfizer. Fueled by Comirnaty, Pfizer nearly doubled its top line.Johnson & Johnson needed a healthy 14% increase in revenue to stay comfortably in front of Pfizer and remain in the top spot, where it has resided since 2012. But that reign is in jeopardy this year, as Pfizer is projecting combined sales of $54 billion from Comirnaty and its oral COVID-19 treatment, Paxlovid...READ MORE

After coughing up nearly $24 million in a federal settlement over donations to patient charities, Pfizer went on the offensive last summer and took the U.S.' anti-kickback policies to task. Late last month, the drug giant got its day in court...The company, angling to help Medicare patients pay for its costly heart drugs Vyndaqel and Vyndamax, recently challenged U.S. copay and kickback policies in New York federal court...a Pfizer win...could spur drug pricing fallout across the industry...Pfizer last June sued HHS in a bid to assist patients with their Medicare copays for two costly new medicines. U.S. kickback laws currently forbid drugmakers from helping patients with those costs...Pfizer is battling for the go-ahead on two programs. The first would allow the company to offer copay support directly to Medicare patients on its tafamidis meds Vyndaqel and Vyndamax, which run for $225,000 a year before rebates. The second would allow it to fund an independent charity to help with copays...READ MORE

Pfizer has been accused of bullying governments in Latin America over coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine negotiations, a recent investigative article revealed...The accusations involve the company’s requests that some countries establish sovereign assets as a guarantee against the costs associated with future legal suits made on behalf of citizens who experience an adverse event after the shot...The story, published in The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, states that demands made by the global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer resulted in a three-month delay in a vaccine deal for one country. In the case of Argentina and Brazil, the countries made no national deals with the company...READ MORE

With the era of free COVID-19 vaccines winding down in the U.S., lawmakers are pressing Pfizer for a fair Comirnaty price tag and singling out the pharma giant for its “unseemly profiteering.”...Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Vermont Sen.-elect Peter Welch blasted Pfizer’s purported Comirnaty pricing scheme—which could see the company charge between $110 and $130 per vaccine dose on the private market—as “pure and deadly greed.”...To date, more than 650 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the U.S...Warren and Welch explained. But that “public health achievement” is “now at risk” thanks to Pfizer’s greed, they warned...READ MORE

Thirty five generic drugmakers around the world will make cheap versions of Pfizer Inc's highly effective COVID-19 oral antiviral Paxlovid to supply the treatment in 95 poorer countries, the U.N.-backed Medicines Patent Pool said...Pfizer struck a deal...with the group to allow generic drugmakers to make the pills for 95 low- and middle-income countries...Paxlovid is expected to be an important tool in the fight against COVID-19 after it reduced hospitalizations in high-risk patients...Merck, on its own and through the MPP license, has deals with dozens of drugmakers to make its pill...available in some countries...Read More

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

...the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took the unusual step of authorizing pharmacists to directly prescribe antiviral medication Paxlovid to patients testing positive for COVID-19...But don’t expect to get a prescription right away from your neighborhood pharmacist for the pills...Major pharmacy chains and a state regulatory agency said Friday that they’re continuing to work with the FDA on how to best implement the change, including whether any new costs will be passed on to patients. Although the details still need to be worked out, the change was applauded by the industry...“I’m elated,” said Christina Madison, an associate professor at the College of Pharmacy at Roseman University in Southern Nevada...The change eliminates a barrier to getting treatment, especially in rural areas and “medical deserts” where a pharmacy is “the only place a person can get medical information for miles,” she said...READ MORE

Less than three weeks after two companies sued Moderna, claiming the vaccine maker infringed on their patents in developing its COVID-19 shot, Alnylam has done the same, suing Moderna and Pfizer in separate lawsuits...In...federal court, Alnylam filed claims against the two COVID-19 vaccine producers alleging that more than a decade ago it invented the delivery technology employed by both shots...Alnylam says its Patent No. 11,246,933 covers “a breakthrough class of cationic biodegradable lipids used to form lipid nanoparticles that carry and safely deliver” mRNA-based vaccines...Alnylam is not attempting to halt production of the vaccines, it is seeking damages for the “defendants’ wrongful acts in an amount to be determined at trial” and royalties...READ MORE

It’s lights, camera, action for Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine scientists and executives. They're starring in “Mission Possible,” a branded content film from Pfizer and National Geographic that tracks the COVID-19 vaccine's journey to market...The movie-length product placement is a behind-the-scenes look at Comirnaty, the now-authorized coronavirus shot Pfizer developed and produced in concert with its partner BioNTech. Pfizer provided National Geographic's scientific storytellers “unprecedented access” to the vaccine's development...READ MORE