| | | |   | Meghana again. Today we write about Stéphane Bancel's expansive charity plans, how Covid therapeutics and vaccine sales are flattening, and more. PS: As I write this, my 4-year-old is hovering and wants to tell you all that you should take "strawberry medicine," which is "strawberries and calcium all blended together." Sounds not bad. | | | A Covid un-boom Covid is becoming less and less profitable for companies that have been profiting. Both vaccine and drug sales are plateauing, with companies like Merck and Johnson & Johnson cutting sales expectations for pandemic products, the Wall Street Journal writes. And analysts believe that drugs like Paxlovid won’t sell as much as initially expected, thanks to lessening demand and fewer supply deals. Many countries already have enough of a stockpile of drugs and vaccines alike. And fewer people are getting boosters than initially expected. “This year is probably the peak, then going forward, it’s going to decline,” one analyst said. “The question is how much?” | Stéphane Bancel will donate $355 million to charity Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel will donate all proceeds, after taxes, from his original Moderna stock options to charities. In this billionaire’s case, that will likely amount to a cool $355 million, he writes in a blog post. The stock options were initially granted in 2013, and set to expire in 2023. He says that his Jesuit upbringing, which emphasizes the concept of “servant leadership” and “existing to serve a greater good,” helped inform his decision. Bancel is currently worth about $4.6 billion, according to Forbes. “If we do not exercise this stock option, it will expire and be worthless,” he writes. “As such, our choice is clear: Exercise the option and use this moment to create positive change in the world.” | STAT’s Latest E-book — The cutting edge: A close look at the advances shaping science and medicine This e-book offers an inside look at the latest weapons being leveled against disease, the novel models to pay for this innovation, and regulatory questions raised along the way. Download now. | Genocea shutting down, delisting Genocea, the Cambridge-based biotech attempting to develop personalized cancer vaccines and immunotherapies, is shuttering. The company plans to soon delist from the Nasdaq, which isn’t exacting surprising, given that the share price has been below $1 and was not in compliance, FierceBiotech writes. The news comes just a few months after Genocea laid off 65% of its staff and said that it needed a sale to continue operations. Now, all nonessential staff will be let go as well. The company has been teetering on the edge of insolvency for several years now, lacking the cash to test its herpes vaccine in Phase 3 trials back in September 2017. The company then pivoted toward cancer therapeutics, but despite showing promise in this area, never recovered financially. | SpringWorks shares jump and drop on good news After initially jumping 14%, shares in SpringWorks Therapeutics dropped 11% following news that its drug nirogacestat achieved its primary and secondary endpoints in a late-stage trial. The experimental therapy treats desmoid tumors, which are rare and noncancerous growths in the connective tissue. The company plans to submit a new drug application to the FDA in the second half of this year. However, after the news came out, Goldman Sachs cut its price target for the company’s shares from $92 to $76, MarketWatch points out. So despite the initial climb, SpringWorks hit a 52-week low after the positive trial data. | More reads - Pfizer's Arena delivers on inflammatory disease drug Etrasimod. (FierceBiotech)
- CSL-UniQure Hemophilia B Gene Therapy Scores Priority Review. (BioSpace)
| Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow,  | | | |
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