J&J has joined a grow­ing group of bio­phar­ma com­pa­nies to re­quire that its US-based staffers and con­trac­tors get vac­ci­nat­ed against Covid-19, tak­ing a stance as the Delta vari­ant and re­open­ing mea­sures threat­en to trig­ger new, dan­ger­ous surges.

High-pro­file vac­cine man­dates have trick­led in since Pfiz­er — the man­u­fac­tur­er of the first jab to be au­tho­rized by the FDA — an­nounced it’s ask­ing all US work­ers to ei­ther be vac­ci­nat­ed or par­tic­i­pate in week­ly Covid-19 test­ing, mea­sures that the De­part­ment of Jus­tice has called le­gal (while the Supreme Court has turned down chal­lenges). No­var­tis, Genen­tech, Eli Lil­ly and Gilead im­posed sim­i­lar rules, while oth­ers like Sanofi and Glax­o­SmithK­line took a more vol­un­tary ap­proach, in­stead say­ing they’d en­cour­age vac­ci­na­tion.

The is­sue is clear­ly top of mind among a slew of biotechs as they con­sid­er the new nor­mal.

In a state­ment to CN­BC’s Meg Tir­rell, J&J said its de­ci­sion was the re­sult of fol­low­ing the sci­ence and want­i­ng to sup­port the health of em­ploy­ees while up­hold­ing re­spon­si­bil­i­ties to pro­tect the com­mu­ni­ties and help­ing end the pan­dem­ic.

They have un­til Oct. 4 to get ful­ly vac­ci­nat­ed.

“In­di­vid­u­als who have med­ical con­di­tions or oth­er rea­sons not to be vac­ci­nat­ed will be able to seek ac­com­mo­da­tions,” it added.

End­points snap poll

We would like to know whether the rest of the in­dus­try is fol­low­ing suit — and what you make of it. Is your com­pa­ny re­quir­ing vac­cines, and is it a good idea?

Take the poll here, or use the em­bed­ded sur­vey be­low. We will be back with the re­sults in a few days.

Dupixent, the blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug from Sanofi and Regeneron, has cleared a high-stakes Phase III study in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the companies announced Thursday morning.

If they hold up in a second, identical trial, the data pave the way for Dupixent to become the first biologic to treat patients whose COPD remains uncontrolled despite being on maximal standard-of-care inhaled therapy — the patient population studied in the pivotal program. The companies had spotlighted this as a key readout as they look to expand the Dupixent franchise and explore its full potential.

Incyte touted an accelerated approval for its PD-1 retifanlimab in a rare skin cancer on Wednesday, roughly a year and a half after the drug suffered a rejection in squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCAC).

Retifanlimab, marketed as Zynyz, was approved for metastatic or recurrent locally advanced Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a fast-growing skin cancer typically characterized by a single, painless nodule. It’s roughly 40 times rarer than melanoma, according to the nonprofit Skin Cancer Foundation — but incidence is growing, particularly among older adults, Incyte said in its announcement.