Things have just gone from bad to worse at Hop­kin­ton, MA-based Spring Bank Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals.

Re­searchers say that a pa­tient died in their Phase IIb study of ina­ri­givir for hep B — and they’re scrap­ping the work and shift­ing fo­cus to STING.

News of the pa­tient death came just weeks af­ter the biotech told in­vestors that safe­ty prob­lems marked by po­ten­tial liv­er dam­ag­ing he­pa­to­cel­lu­lar dys­func­tion and in­creas­es of ALT forced them to halt dos­ing over the Christ­mas break. That pause caused 1 rout for their share price, which once trad­ed north of $18 a share.

The lat­est rout fol­lowed the news Wednes­day morn­ing. The stock $SBPH tanked, drop­ping 26% more and leav­ing the share price just above the $1 mark.

Spring Bank’s work in STING cov­ers both an­tag­o­nists for in­flam­ma­to­ry con­di­tions and ag­o­nists for can­cer.

The STING strat­e­gy may not sit well with back­ers, though, as it has ex­pe­ri­enced sev­er­al set­backs at oth­er de­vel­op­ers in­ter­est­ed in see­ing its ef­fi­ca­cy in on­col­o­gy.

The biotech now plans to put its chimeric oligonu­cleotide an­ti­sense (CA­SO) pro­gram for HBV up for a li­cens­ing deal while slash­ing any HBV costs in the bud­get. “The com­pa­ny be­lieves its $54.5 mil­lion cash po­si­tion as of Dec. 31 will be enough to fund op­er­a­tions in­to late 2022.”

Janet Woodcock may have one of the most historically long and drug-intense tenures in FDA history, but her new role is outside of all things pharma and the once-acting FDA commissioner isn’t looking back.

“No I really don’t look back,” Woodcock told Endpoints News via email on Monday morning. “Yes I will be transitioning. Longer discussion on infrastructure needed.”

Pfizer has agreed to pay $290,000 to settle allegations of questionable copay coupon practices in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Vermont from 2014 to 2018.

While the company has not admitted any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, Pfizer has agreed to issue restitution checks to about 5,000 consumers.

A Pfizer spokesperson said the company has “enhanced its co-pay coupons to alleviate the concerns raised by states and agreed to a $30,000 payment to each.”

A judge in Delaware has ruled against Astellas Pharma and Gilead in a long-running patent case over Pfizer-onwed Hospira’s generic version of Lexiscan.

The case kicked off in 2018, after Hospira submitted an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for approval to market a generic version of Gilead’s Lexiscan. The drug is used in myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), a type of nuclear stress test.

The area of Ireland famous for Blarney Castle and its cliffsides along the Atlantic Ocean is seeing Merck KGaA expand its commitment there.

The German drug manufacturer is expanding its membrane and filtration manufacturing capabilities in Ireland. The company will invest approximately €440 million ($470 million) to increase membrane manufacturing capacity in Carrigtwohill, Ireland, and build a new manufacturing facility at Blarney Business Park, in County Cork, Ireland.

Twenty House Democrats, including Reps. Katie Porter of California and Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, are calling on Senate leaders to move quickly with a reconciliation bill (meaning they only need a simple majority for passage) with prescription drug pricing reforms, and to include adding new authority for Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

They also called on the Senate to specifically follow suit with the House passage of a $35 per month insulin cap (as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s deadline for a vote on that provision has come and gone), and to cap Medicare Part D costs at $2,000 per year for seniors.