Q&A: CMO and development chief Dietmar Berger says Sanofi is ‘right there at the table’ on diversity efforts

Dietmar Berger, Sanofi CMO and global head of development

July 26, 2022 12:30 PM EDTUpdated 04:08 PM

Q&A: CMO and development chief Dietmar Berger says Sanofi is 'right there at the table' on diversity efforts

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

Sanofi is debuting its newest diversity initiative today, a partnership with historically Black university Howard University to help launch the next generation of scientists — and Sanofi employees. The program with Howard’s pharmacy school includes the added extra step of promising jobs at Sanofi to successful candidates.

Helping to oversee the program is Dietmar Berger, Sanofi’s chief medical officer and global head of development. He joined Sanofi more than three years ago after a short stint at Atara Biotherapeutics, but before that had a long career in big biopharma drug development. Berger, a hematologist-oncologist, led Genentech’s hematology and oncology clinical development for six and a half years before Atara. Before that, he led Bayer’s oncology development in head cancers and worked at Amgen in clinical development for more than 10 years in a variety of oncology roles.

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IDC: Life Sciences Firms Must Embrace Digital Transformation Now

James Allgood

Sr Product Marketing Manager, Life Sciences, Egnyte

Pre-pandemic, the life sciences industry had settled into a pattern. The average drug took 12 years and $2.9 billion to bring to market, and it was an acceptable mode of operations, according to Nimita Limaye, Research Vice President for Life Sciences R&D Strategy and Technology at IDC.

COVID-19 changed that, and served as a proof-of-concept for how technology can truly help life sciences companies succeed and grow, Limaye said. She recently spoke about industry trends at Egnyte’s Life Sciences Summit 2022. You should watch the entire session, free and on-demand, but here’s a brief recap of why she’s urging life sciences companies to embrace digital transformation.

Chris Sheldon, AstraZeneca's former VP and head of investor relations

August 16, 2022 01:48 PM EDTUpdated 04:54 PM

People

Pharma

AstraZeneca files lawsuit against former exec as he jumps to GSK

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

AstraZeneca and GSK are once again wrangling over talent.

The British pharma giant has filed suit against former VP and head of investor relations Chris Sheldon as he prepares to start a new job at its rival next month. AstraZeneca argued in a London court filing that Sheldon would be violating a non-compete agreement, which he was paid more than $774,000 in shares to sign back in 2021, Bloomberg reported.

Bayer's first DTC ad campaign for chronic kidney disease drug Kerendia spells out its benefits

August 17, 2022 02:17 PM EDT

Pharma

Marketing

Bayer aims to simplify the complexities of CKD with an ABC-themed ad campaign

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

Do you know the ABCs of CKD in T2D? Bayer’s first ad campaign for Kerendia tackles the complexity of chronic kidney disease with a play on the acronym (CKD) and its connection to type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Kerendia was approved last year as the first and only non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist to treat CKD in people with type 2 diabetes.

In the TV commercial launched this week, A is for awareness, B is for belief and C is for cardiovascular, explained in the ad as awareness of the connection between type 2 and kidney disease, belief that something can be done about it, and cardiovascular events that may be reduced with treatment.

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Head of Site Finance mRNA - Cell & Gene

Lonza

Geleen, Netherland

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Marisol Peron, Genmab SVP of communications and corporate affairs

August 17, 2022 11:20 AM EDTUpdated 05:34 PM

Pharma

Marketing

Genmab launches corporate campaign amplifying its ‘knock your socks off’ antibodies

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

Genmab often talks about its “knock-your-socks-off” antibodies — and now the term is getting its own logo and corporate campaign.

The teal and purple logo for the acronym KYSO — Genmab pronounces it “ky-so” — debuts on Wednesday and comes on the heels of Genmab’s newly announced 2030 vision. That aspiration aims to expand Genmab’s drug development beyond oncology to include other serious diseases, while also doubling down on its own drug development.

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James Mock, incoming CFO at Moderna

August 17, 2022 02:15 PM EDTUpdated 02:59 PM

People

Pharma

Moderna taps new CFO from PerkinElmer after former one-day CFO ousted

Paul Schloesser

Associate Editor

When Moderna hired a new CFO last year, it didn’t expect to see him gone after only one day. Today the biotech named his — likely much more vetted — replacement.

The mRNA company put out word early Wednesday that after the untimely departure of then brand-new CFO Jorge Gomez, it has now found a replacement in James Mock, the soon-to-be former CFO at diagnostics and analytics company PerkinElmer.

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Joe Jonas (Photo by Anthony Behar/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

August 17, 2022 01:14 PM EDTUpdated 02:43 PM

Pharma

Solo Jonas brother carries Merz's new tune in Botox rival campaign

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

As the lyrics of his band’s 2019 pop-rock single suggest, Joe Jonas is only human — and that means even he gets frown lines. The 33-year-old singer-songwriter is Merz’s newest celebrity brand partner for its Botox rival Xeomin, as medical aesthetics brands target a younger audience.

Merz kicked off its “Beauty on Your Terms” campaign on Tuesday, featuring the Jonas brother in a video ad for its double-filtered anti-wrinkle injection Xeomin.

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Tom Barnes, Orna Therapeutics CEO

August 16, 2022 06:45 AM EDTUpdated 10:36 AM

Deals

UPDATED: 'We have failed to fail': Merck gambles $250M cash on a next-gen approach to mRNA — after punting its big alliance with Moderna

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Merck went in deep on its collaboration with Moderna on new mRNA programs, and dropped them all over time, including their RSV partnership. But after writing off what turned out as one of the most successful infectious disease players in the business, Merck is coming in this morning with a new preclinical alliance — this time embracing a biotech that hopes to eventually outdo the famously successful mRNA in a new run at vaccines and therapeutics.

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Head of Quality Systems

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Lexington, MA, USA

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President Joe Biden signs the Democrats' landmark climate change and health care bill. From L-R: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL). (Susan Walsh/AP Images)

August 17, 2022 11:06 AM EDTUpdated 02:27 PM

Pharma

Law

President Biden signs major drug pricing reforms into law: What's coming for biopharma?

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

President Joe Biden yesterday afternoon signed into law historic, decades-in-the-making new drug pricing reforms as part of a wider reconciliation bill that will likely take a chunk out of biopharma companies’ profits for some blockbusters just prior to generic or biosimilar competition.

The partisan bill (all Democrats in the House and Senate voted for it, and all Republicans voted against it) includes not only Medicare price negotiations — which won’t kick off until 2026, leaving ample time for a legal challenge — but mandatory inflation-related rebates, and a $2,000 annual cap on what seniors’ pay for their prescription drugs.

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August 16, 2022 12:45 PM EDT

Pharma

Marketing

What’s in monkeypox names? History, traditional convention and even sitcom suggestions

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

The Covid-19 pandemic and rush to vaccines created a stir with a raft of unusual and media-debated names including Moderna’s Spikevax, Pfizer’s Comirnaty and AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria.

Now monkeypox drug names are in the news — although both the leading vaccine Jynneos and the special use treatment Tpoxx have been around for years. Jynneos was approved as protection against smallpox and monkeypox in 2019, while Tpoxx was approved as an antiviral to treat smallpox in 2018.

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