| | | |   | Good morning! Damian here, pointing your attention to the STATUS List, our inaugural accounting of the most influential leaders in health, medicine, and science. You can find it here. | | | Adagio’s Valentine’s Day breakup Late on Friday, the Covid-19 antibody company Adagio Therapeutics disclosed that CEO Tillman Gerngross had handed in his resignation on Feb. 14, leaving the firm to fend without its co-founder and voluble public face.
The news follows a tumultuous run of form for Adagio, beginning with its Nov. 29 conclusion that Omicron would have no effect on its antibody’s potency, which sent the stock price up about 80%, and rolling into a Dec. 14 revelation that, actually, the antibody had a 300-fold reduction in potency against the new variant. Adagio’s share price fell about 82%, and it has been trading around there ever since.
The company raised more than $300 million in an August IPO, giving it a valuation of about $1.8 billion. The idea was to develop an antibody that would work not only against the known variants of SARS-CoV-2 but any that were yet to emerge. Omicron was the first major test of that theory. | Allogene has ground to make up Allogene and its plot to develop off-the-shelf CAR-T cancer therapies took a hit in October after one patient developed what the company called a “chromosomal abnormality,” leading the FDA to place all of its clinical trials on hold. The matter seemed to clear up in January, when the agency lifted its hold and, according to Allogene, ruled that the issue was not related to the company’s product or manufacturing.
And yet Allogene’s share price remains at all-time lows. The October clinical hold cut nearly 50% of Allogene’s value, and the stock has gradually fallen another 30% ever since. Some of that is likely related to the broader downturn for the entire biotech sector, but it also reflects investors’ uncertainty about the novel technology on which Allogene’s entire business relies.
The company will get a chance to explain itself at tomorrow’s earnings presentation. In January, Allogene promised to start a pivotal clinical trial of its lead CAR-T in mid-2022, “pending final discussions with the FDA.” Investors will surely be curious how those discussions played out. | Tackling vaccine misinformation through online video The American College of Physicians has produced a YouTube video series for both physicians and patients that will address vaccine misinformation and provide evidence-based, scientific information about vaccine safety and efficacy. The Physician to Physician Conversation video series will focus on supporting healthcare professionals with effective communication strategies to build vaccine confidence and address misinformation concerns. The video format will help the ACP share health information in a digestible way, accessible to global audiences on YouTube. Explore now. | Lilly to build a new RNA medicine center Eli Lilly, which spent about $1 billion on the gene therapy firm Prevail Therapeutics in late 2020, is investing another $700 million to construct a Boston site devoted to RNA medicines, the company said today.
Called the Lilly Institute for Genetic Medicine, it will eventually employ some 250 researchers in Boston’s Seaport, the company said. In tandem, Lilly plans to expand the New York City headquarters of Prevail, which has become its hub for gene therapy research, to employ about 200 scientists.
Lilly’s investment in RNA follows an industry-wide embrace of the technology, fueled in part by the success of mRNA vaccines against Covid-19. Over the past two years, Pfizer, Sanofi, and others have staked billions on efforts to make medicines out of genetic information. | What does Moderna have to do to win over Wall Street? Moderna, which is about a year removed from developing a vaccine that literally helped save the world, has lost nearly 40% of its value in 2022, and nothing management says seems to change the narrative.
This month alone, Moderna has announced vaccine supply agreements, global expansions in Europe and Asia, and three new pipeline projects using the same technology that worked against Covid-19. Through it all, the stock price only declined.
On Thursday, when Moderna presents its 2021 earnings, management will get to make a long-form case for the company’s future. A strong projection for Covid-19 vaccine revenue would help move the needle, as would a coherent explanation of just which of Moderna’s many pipeline programs is going to generate important in 2022. | More reads - The WHO’s chief scientist on Covid-19 vaccines, patent battles, and speeding up access in Africa. STAT+
- AstraZeneca boosts oncology credentials with breast cancer trial success. Reuters
- Synairgen shares plunge as Covid-19 treatment misses trial targets. MarketWatch
- Covid-testing stocks fall back to Earth as India outbreak eases. Bloomberg
| Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow,  | | | |
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