Look back at pharma news in the week to October 9, 2020

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell. Editor

Last week’s notable news included Bristol Myers Squibb making a further push into the cardiovascular arena with a $13.1 billion bid for MyoKardia and its drug mavacamten. Australia’s Mesoblast suffered a setback with the US Food and Drug Administration issuing a complete response letter (CRL) on its graft versus host disease candidate Ryoncil. Coronavirus was never out of sight, with the European Medicines Agency using its emergency program of rolling reviews for two COVID-10 vaccines: AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 and also Pfizer and BioNTech’s BNT-162b2. Also, despite warnings from the Trump administration, the FDA last week issued guidelines on the submission and review of COVID-19 vaccine that contain provisions that would prevent any such products being cleared before the November 3 presidential elections. On the research front, Axovant Gene Therapies released new Phase II data on its Parkinson’s disease candidate AXO-Lenti-PD that investors did not view as positive as the company.

Bristol Myers bets big on MyoKardia