Ad­vax­is has tak­en its in­vestors on a bit of a roller coast­er ride this year.

The FDA slapped a clin­i­cal hold on a com­bo study of its lead drug ax­al­imo­gene filolis­bac and As­traZeneca’s Imfinzi in wake of a pa­tient death, which re­solved months lat­er af­ter a C-suite over­haul. Late Wednes­day, the New Jer­sey biotech added to the dra­ma by qui­et­ly dis­clos­ing that Am­gen has dropped their $540 mil­lion im­munother­a­py pact.

First inked in 2016 with $65 mil­lion up­front, the deal cen­tered around ADXS-NEO, which is de­signed to re­cruit a T cell at­tack on can­cer us­ing bio­engi­neered bac­te­ria. But Am­gen is re­turn­ing world­wide rights for de­vel­op­ment and com­mer­cial­iza­tion just as Ad­vax­is is en­rolling pa­tients for its proof-of-con­cept work — the last step be­fore Am­gen was sup­posed to take over.

The news sent shares $ADXS in­to a steep drop, plung­ing 28% in pre-mar­ket trad­ing.

With­out giv­ing any rea­sons for the ter­mi­na­tion, Ad­vax­is says it will now eval­u­ate whether to re-part­ner the ADXS-NEO pro­gram. Nei­ther com­pa­nies have re­spond­ed to my re­quests for com­ment.

Am­gen $AMGN will have un­til Feb­ru­ary 8, 2019 to tie up any loose ends.

In 2017 and 2018 Ad­vax­is has re­ceived $5.8 mil­lion and $7.5 mil­lion in re­im­burse­ments re­spec­tive­ly for an al­liance that once promised $475 mil­lion in mile­stones.

The biotech is al­so part­nered with Bris­tol-My­ers on an Op­di­vo com­bi­na­tion pro­gram for ax­al­imo­gene filolis­bac.

The Endpoints News team is continuing to track IPO filings for 2021, and we’ve designed a new tracker page for the effort.

Check it out here: Biopharma IPOs 2021 from Endpoints News

You’ll be able to find all the biotechs that have filed and priced so far this year, sortable by quarter and listed by newest first. As of the time of publishing on Feb. 25, there have already been 16 biotechs debuting on Nasdaq so far this year, with an additional four having filed their S-1 paperwork.

S&P Global has taken a look at the dominant forces shaping the pharma market and come to the conclusion that there will be more downgrades than upgrades in 2021 — the 8th straight year of steady decline.

But it’s not all bad news. Some things are looking up, and there’s still plenty of money to be made in an industry that enjoys a 30% to 40% profit margin, once you factor in steep R&D expenses.

The US could have a third authorized Covid-19 vaccine within hours.

The FDA’s advisory committee voted unanimously — 22-0 — to recommend the agency issue an emergency use authorization for J&J’s vaccine. If they follow the precedent of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine,  the FDA will likely authorize the vaccine by Saturday, immediately adding a few million doses to the US supply and adding a 100 million by June. An authorization would give the world its first single-dose vaccine, a major weapon in the effort to vaccinate the world and bring the virus to heel, particularly in rural and developing areas.