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| December 21, 2020
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| Executive Summary |  
| The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered (or self-administered) to patients, with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate the symptoms. Pharmaceutical companies may deal in generic or brand medications and medical devices. They are subject to a variety of laws and regulations that govern the patenting, testing, safety, efficacy and marketing of drugs. |  |  
 
| Industry News |  
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| Industry News |  
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Reuters, December 17, 2020
 Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate has a better immune response when a two full-dose regime is used rather than a full-dose followed by a half-dose booster, the university said on Thursday, citing data from early trials.  |  
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Reuters, December 17, 2020
 Biogen Inc has agreed to pay $22 million to resolve U.S. allegations that it illegally used two charities that help cover Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket drug costs as a means to pay them kickbacks to use its multiple sclerosis drugs.  |  
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The Washington Post, December 17, 2020
 Officials in multiple states said they were alerted late Wednesday that their second shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine had been drastically cut for next week, sparking widespread confusion and conflicting statements from Pfizer and federal officials about who was at fault.  |  
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FierceBiotech, December 17, 2020
 GlaxoSmithKline is stumping up $85 million upfront and up to an extra $730 million in biobucks for Surface Oncology’s early-stage antibody asset.  |  
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| Government & Regulatory |  
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Bloomberg, December 17, 2020
 Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine won backing from a panel of experts who advise U.S. regulators, setting the stage for its shot to be the second vaccine cleared in the U.S.  |  
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The Hill, December 17, 2020
 Vice President Pence and President-elect Joe Biden will receive the vaccine for the novel coronavirus publicly as part of an effort by officials to build public confidence in the critical shot.  |  
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Healio, December 17, 2020
 Pembrolizumab plus fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy received FDA priority review for the first-line treatment of locally advanced unresectable or metastatic esophageal and gastroesophageal junction cancer, according to a press release.  |  
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FiercePharma, December 17, 2020
 AbbVie's aiming to make the most out of its new moneymaker Botox, gained in its Allergan megamerger last year, and it just scored a legal win—against a much smaller rival—that should help.  |  
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