Merck (MRK) Acquisition of Acceleron Pharma Cleared by Antitrust Authorities in Germany and Austria

Avoro Calls Merck's $180/sh Offer for Acceleron Pharma (XLRN) Inadequate; Urges Shareholders Not to Tender

November 10, 2021 5:56 AM EST

Avoro Capital Advisors, a long-term and collaborative investor in life sciences and biotechnology companies, together with certain of its affiliates and managed funds beneficially owns approximately 7% of Acceleron Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq: XLRN), making Avoro one of the Company's most significant shareholders. Avoro today released a detailed presentation outlining why shareholders should not tender their Acceleron... More

Merck (MRK) and Ridgeback Announce Additional Purchase of 1.4M Courses of Molnupiravir by the US Government

November 9, 2021 6:04 AM EST

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics today announced that the United States government will exercise two of its options to purchase a total of 1.4 million additional courses of molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral medicine, if the medicine is granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for approximately $1 billion. With these exercised options, the U.S. government has now committed to purchase a total of approximately 3.1 million courses of molnupiravir, for approximately $2.2 billion, between authorization and... More

COVID-19 pills are coming, but no substitute for vaccines, disease experts say

November 8, 2021 2:30 PM EST

(This Nov. 8 story has been corrected to remove reference to BioNTech in introduction)

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Oral antiviral pills from Merck & Co and Pfizer Inc have been shown to significantly blunt the worst outcomes of COVID-19 if taken early enough, but doctors warn vaccine hesitant people not to confuse the benefit of the treatments with prevention afforded by vaccines.

While 72% of American adults have gotten a first shot of the vaccine, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, the pace of vaccination has slowed, as political partisanship in the United States... More

Merck (MRK) ahead of Pfizer (PFE) in EU talks on COVID-19 pills -EU source - Reuters

November 8, 2021 11:15 AM EST

Merck (NYSE: MRK) ahead of Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) in EU talks on COVID-19 pills -EU source - Reuters

... More

Regeneron's (REGN) Antibody Cocktail Can Prevent Covid-19 Infection for 8 Months, Phase 3 Data Shows

November 8, 2021 8:30 AM EST

Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN) are up 1.5% in pre-open Monday after the company announced new phase 3 trial results for its antibody cocktail against COVID-19 infections.

Data showed that risks of getting COVID-19 were slashed by 82% for up to eight months in patients that... More

Merck (MRK ) PT Lowered to $88 at Morgan Stanley

November 8, 2021 1:59 AM EST

Morgan Stanley analyst Matthew Harrison lowered the price target on Merck (NYSE: MRK ) to $88.00 (from $90.00) while maintaining a Equalweight rating.... More

Pfizer (PFE) considering allowing generic makers to produce pill - Bloomberg

November 5, 2021 2:23 PM EDT

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) considering allowing generic makers to produce pill - Bloomberg

says covid pill to cost less than Merck's (NYSE: MRK)... More

Pre-Open Stock Movers 11/5: (BIGC) (EXPE) (PFE) Higher; (PTON) (MRNA) (MRK) Lower (more...)

November 5, 2021 9:25 AM EDT

Pre-Open Stock Movers:

Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON) 33% LOWER; reported Q1 EPS of ($1.25), $0.18 worse than the analyst estimate of ($1.07). Revenue for the quarter came in at $805.2 million versus the consensus estimate of $810.76 million. Peloton sees Q2 2022 revenue of $1.1-1.2 billion, versus the consensus of $1.51 billion. Peloton sees FY2022 revenue of $4.4-4.8 billion, versus the consensus of $5.4 billion.

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) 14.7% LOWER; falls on positive data from Pfizer's COVID-19 antiviral drug.

BigCommerce (NASDAQ:... More

Pfizer's (PFE) COVID Pill Best in Class, Will Put Pressure on Merck (MRK) and Regeneron (REGN) - Analyst

November 5, 2021 8:47 AM EDT

(Updated - November 5, 2021 8:54 AM EDT)

Earlier today, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced its investigational novel COVID-19 oral antiviral candidate, PAXLOVID, significantly reduced hospitalization and death, based on an interim analysis of the Phase 2/3 EPIC-HR study of non-hospitalized adult patients with COVID-19,... More

Mizuho Defends Merck (MRK) on Weakness Related to Pfizer's Antiviral Drug

November 5, 2021 8:32 AM EDT

Mizuho Securities analyst Mara Goldstein defended Merck (NYSE: MRK) following positive news on Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) oral COVID-19 antiviral drug PAXLOVID.

The analyst commented, "Taken together, we see the weakness in MRK's shares outsize relative to the... More

Pfizer (PFE) Shares Surge 13% Following Game-Changing COVID-19 Pill Data, Merck (MRK) Down 9%; Analyst Sees Oral Antiviral Market Totaling 'Tens of Billion of Dollars Annually'

November 5, 2021 8:23 AM EDT

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) shares are up 13% in pre-open Friday after the company presented testing data of its COVID-19 oral antiviral treatment candidate Paxlovid.

Pfizer said that data showed Paxlovid cut the chances of hospitalization or death for adults at risk of developing the severe disease by 89%. The data surpassed results recorded by Mercks (NYSE:... More

Pfizer says its antiviral pill slashes risk of severe COVID-19 by 89%

November 5, 2021 6:59 AM EDT

By Deena Beasley

(Reuters) -Pfizer Inc's experimental antiviral pill to treat COVID-19 cut by 89% the chance of hospitalization or death for adults at risk of severe disease, the company said on Friday, as its CEO vowed to make this promising new weapon in the fight against the pandemic available globally as quickly as possible.

The trial's results suggest that Pfizer's drug surpasses Merck & Co Inc's pill, molnupiravir, which was shown last month https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/mercks-covid-19-pill-cuts-risk-death-hospitalization-by-50-study-2021-10-01 to halve the chance of dying or being hospitalized for COVID-19 patients at... More

Pfizer (PFE) Surges 8%, Merck (MRK) Down 5% Following Pfizer's COVID-19 Oral Antiviral Treatment Data

November 5, 2021 6:49 AM EDT

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) Surges 8%, Merck (NYSE: MRK) Down 5% Following Pfizer's COVID-19 Oral Antiviral Treatment Data

... More