As COVID-19 vaccine sales continue to soar, Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel’s total personal financial compensation increased by 41 percent in 2021, reaching $18.2 million. The company’s total revenue rose 2,200 percent in 2021, jumping from $803 million to $18.5 billion.1 2 Moderna partnered with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), headed […]
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who recently announced that a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose will be necessary for everyone who has already gotten three doses, was awarded $24.3 million in personal financial compensation in 2021. In addition to his $1.69 million salary, which increased by 15 percent, Bourla took home a cash incentive of $8 million, […]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General has issued a warning to the public about fraudulent schemes and scams related to COVID-19 services and testing that involve telemarketing calls, text messages, social media platforms, and door-to-door visits.1 At the outset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, there was a proliferation of fraudulent […]
Pfizer, Inc. has withdrawn its emergency use authorization (EUA) application for its experimental BNT162b2 (also known as “Comirnaty”) messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 biologic (developed in collaboration with Germany’s BioNTech) in India.1 Pfizer was the first pharmaceutical company to apply for an EUA to distribute a COVID biologic in India in 2021. However, India’s regulatory agency […]
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials have urged widespread testing for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is associated with COVID-19 disease. The two types of coronavirus tests used for diagnosis are laboratory tests and rapid tests, which can either be an antigen test or a Nucleic Acid Amplification Test […]
Based on better than expected sales of its experimental messenger RNA (mRNA) BNT162b2 COVID-19 biologic, New York-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Inc. last summer revised projected sales of its experimental drug, also known as “Comirnaty,” from $26 billion to $33.5 billion in 2021. Characterizing second-quarter sales of BNT162b2 as “remarkable,” Pfizer’s chief executive officer (CEO) Albert […]
A former testing site researcher in Texas has alleged that Pfizer’s pre-licensure BNT162b2 (also known as “Comirnaty”) COVID-19 biologic trials included falsification of data, unblinding patients, employing inadequately trained vaccinators, and delays in following up on experimental COVID vaccine adverse reaction reports.1 According to clinical trial researcher Brook Jackson, the incidences occurred during the phase […]
Merck and Pfizer have submitted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize distribution of what would be the first antiviral drug specifically designed to treat COVID-19 disease.1 Merck/Ridgeback Biotherapeutics are seeking EUA approval for Molnupiravir (MK-4482/EIDD-2801), an investigational oral antiviral drug originally developed to treat influenza.2 Pfizer […]
Pfizer, Inc. reported that the company sold $7.8 billion worth of their COVID-19 biologic BNT162b2 in the second quarter of this year raising the company’s 2021 sales forecast for the two-dose vaccine to $33.5 billion from the previously estimated $26 billion.1 The $7.8 billion from direct sales of the shot is split with its German […]
Story Highlights A group of Israeli researchers have studied close to 3,000 approved drugs to see if any could be repurposed to treat COVID-19. They identified 18 that showed encouraging results in laboratory studies, in many cases completely protecting human cells despite infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Three drugs have been singled […]