Novartis is the latest firm to partner with CureVac and plans to help make up to 250 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV by 2022.  The Swiss firm is set to support manufacturing of CVnCoV, an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which is currently in Phase II studies and expected to merge into a Phase III efficacy trial. The manufacturing is anticipated to start in Q2, 2021 at Novartis’ site in Kundl, Austria. The firm is aiming to produce…
Amgen says it will leverage its biologics process development and manufacturing proficiency to bring Five Prime Therapeutics’ gastric cancer antibody bemarituzumab to market. The deal announced yesterday and expected to go through before July sees Amgen bag South San Francisco-based biotech Five Prime Therapeutics for about $1.9 billion in cash. Five Prime’s lead candidate is bemarituzumab, a monoclonal antibody designed to block tumor growth in patients with tumors that overexpress FGFR2b. The company is studying the drug in partnership with…