Big news for GSK...

GSK and its development partner, the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, announced yesterday that enrollment has begun in a major Phase III malaria vaccine trial. This study is taking place in Africa and hopes to enroll up to 16,000 children with hopes of showing that this vaccine, unlike its predecessors, is effective in preventing the disease. The potential ramifications of a successful trial here are obvious. A safe and effective malaria vaccine would be great for tropical regions that suffer from the illness. One would think it would also be a financial boon for GSK, but in order for this vaccine to be distributed on a large scale the vaccine would have to be very cheap and likely subsidized by each GSK or governments. Unlike other game-changing biologics, this one may not be a financial blockbuster but it should serve to provide GSK with a lot of positive public relations fodder...

Read more here...and here

BioCryst got its initial orders for Peramivir to be used for hospitalized flu patients under the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization. The order comes from the government and it really put a little bit of cash in BioCryst's coffers...to the tune of $22.5 million dollars. That's a lot of money for 10,000 doses, so it seems that Peramivir is not only effective, but also expensive...makes sense I suppose. Keep an eye on BioCryst to jump off their success with Peramavir with future products...

BioCryst Press Release

Finally...Merck has been talking a lot lately about potential buyouts to get a bigger foothold in the biotech industry. Fierce Pharma indicated that Merck has averaged about 50 deals per year over the past 6 years, which is crazy. Anyway, check out the AP story and you can hypothesize for yourself over which direction the company may go...

Merck on the hunt