Look back at pharma news in the week to December 11, 2020

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell. Editor

COVID-19, regulatory news and M&A activity featured last week, with Amgen gaining Breakthrough Therapy designation for sotorasib (AMG 510), its candidate for lung cancer patients with KRAS G12C mutations. Pfizer and BioNTech received a positive vote for their COVID-19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2 from a US Food and Drug Administration advisory panel, followed the next day with an emergency use authorization from the FDA. Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit filed for European Medicines Agency approval of its PP6M, a new formulation of paliperidone palmitate for schizophrenia. Also of significance was Gilead Sciences’ announcement of its fifth M&A deal this year, with an agreement to acquire Germany’s MYR GmbH for $1.39 billion. Also, Boehringer Ingelheim announced a $1.4 billion acquisition of Swiss immune-oncology company NBE Therapeutics.

SVBL forecasts Amgen’s KRAS inhibitor sotorasib sales likely to be $1.0 billion in 2025