Sanofi and Re­gen­eron score ear­ly ac­cess for dupilum­ab in UK; Sanders skew­ers Sanofi on Zi­ka vac­cine

→ Sanofi and Re­gen­eron have scored boast­ing rights for an ear­ly stamp of ap­proval on their close­ly-watched eczema drug dupilum­ab. With a US ap­proval loom­ing, UK of­fi­cials say they are pro­vid­ing ear­ly ac­cess to the drug ahead of an EMA de­ci­sion. This drug is wide­ly viewed as one of the top block­busters in late-stage de­vel­op­ment.

→ Sen­a­tor Bernie Sanders nev­er keeps his con­tempt for phar­ma com­pa­nies hid­den. And he’s fo­cused on Sanofi for his lat­est at­tack. The French phar­ma gi­ant, he says, is on the verge of gain­ing a mo­nop­oly on the mar­ket for a Zi­ka vac­cine, but on­ly with the con­sid­er­able help of the US gov­ern­ment, which bankrolled their re­search. Now in an op-ed for the New York Times, Sanders writes that he wants Sanofi to avoid its usu­al preda­to­ry prac­tices and keep the vac­cine cheap – but he’s not hold­ing his breath.

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