According to the Committee, the benefits outweighed the risks of a rare blood-clot condition.

But the Committee voted 10 to 4 with one abstention to advise the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC to resume use of the vaccine without any conditions.

The J&J vaccine use was put on hold last week, following reports of rare blood-clot conditions in six people, including one fatality.Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, had expected that the U.S. use of the vaccine would resume as soon as Friday, perhaps with new restrictions.

However, the FDA is expected to include label warning on the J&J vaccine to women under the age of 50.

Bristol-Myers Squibb  got  approval for Opdivo as a treatment for gastric cancer from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Opdivo as an injection combined with chemotherapy to treat patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, and esophageal adenocarcinoma.FDA’s approval is based on a Phase 3 trial.

As demonstrated in the … trial, Opdivo is the first and only immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy to deliver superior overall survival versus chemotherapy alone in first-line metastatic gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, and esophageal adenocarcinoma,”said Adam Lenkowsky, general manager of oncology at the company.

Earlier this week, Truist boosted rating on the pharmaceutical company’s shares to buy from hold, citing optimism about its drug pipeline.

Gilbert also raised his price target to $74 a share from $66. 

“We launched on U.S. major [pharmaceuticals] in October with an overall bullish view on the group, but we started with a hold rating on BMY pending greater visibility on key late-stage pipeline assets,” Gilbert wrote in a commentary.Since then, BMY has received regulatory approval for Abecma (ide-cel) and Breyanzi (liso-cel), and announced positive top-line Phase 3 results for deucravacitinib (TYK2 inhibitor) and relatlimab (LAG-3 inhibitor), Gilbert mentioned.

Gilbert cited pipeline progress coupled with results from detailed pipeline analysis as factors behind the rating boost.

The coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca PLC has been linked to an autoimmune reaction that can lead to deadly blood clots in rare instances, according to a study by researchers in Norway and Germany. According to the researchers in Norway and Germany, the vaccine could trigger an autoimmune reaction that causes blood to clot in the brain, the Wall Street Journal reported. The...

Biopharmaceutical company Amgen agreed to buy Five Prime Therapeutics in a cash deal valued at $1.9 billion. Amgen will pay $38.00 in cash for each outstanding Five Prime share. This implies a 78.7% premium to Wednesday's stock closing price. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to antitrust clearance and approval by Five Prime shareholders. Five Prime...

Biogen posted fourth quarter adjusted earnings of $4.58 a share, which is lower than Bloomberg analyst consensus forecast of $4.80. The biotech company’s revenue for the quarter fell -22% year-over-year to $2.85 billion. The analyst consensus was $2.8 billion. Biogen’s guidance on net income of $17 to $18.50 a share for this year is below the average analyst forecast of $25.09 (according to...

On Friday, Johnson & Johnson Inc. said that its developing coronavirus vaccine has a 72% efficacy rate in U.S. trials, a lower-than-expected result. It had an overall/global efficacy rate of 66% in the 44,000 person study of patients with moderate to severe forms of COVID-19. J&J’s one-shot vaccine doesn't require excessively low temperatures to store. The trial also revealed an 85% rate of...

Stocks like Moderna and Novovax have enjoyed sharp rallies in the swirl of coverage about Covid-19 vaccines. Missing from the action to date has been Johnson & Johnson, which has quietly developed another messenger RNA vaccine to join those already approved and in circulation. Johnson & Johnson's vaccine only requires one shot, which could make it easier to distribute in large quantities,...

After Pfizer Inc. coronavirus vaccine  got a positive review  from a panel of experts advising the Food & Drug Administration, the pharma company increased its quarterly dividend.  Yesterday, a 17-4 vote endorsed the covid-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The FDA will move ahead with its Emergency Use Authorization approval later today. Pfizer announced that it would pay out a first quarter dividend of 39 cents per share, which is +3% higher than its previous level.  “Our commitment to returning capital to shareholders is strong and the dividend increase reflects our continued confidence in the business and in our scientific pipeline,” said CEO Albert Bourla.

The report comes ahead of its Thursday assessment of the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) request filed by Pfizer last month. According to the FDA, individuals infected with COVID 19 could benefit from the Pfizer vaccine. .It has not noted any specific concerns from the late-stage trials. Last month, Pfizer said that the vaccine, called BNT162b2, had a 95% efficacy rate across all age and race demographics.

Pfizer Inc.  announce that the  coronavirus vaccine that is has developed with German partner, BioNTech , has a 95% efficacy rate, in its complete results from a late-stage trial.The result is an improvement from the interim results of efficacy rate of 90% last month, which was based a cohort of around 94 patients. The latest result is consistent across all age and race demographics and based on a total case cohort of 170, according to Pfizer.   A few days ago, Moderna  published a efficacy rated of 94.5% of its vaccine, based on early look of its late-stage trial. Pfzer and BioNTech said they the will apply for Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in the coming days.

On Monday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 among those without evidence of prior infection “I think we can see light at the end of the tunnel,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla told CNBC’s Meg Tirell on “Squawk Box.” “I believe this is likely the most significant medical advance in the last 100 years, if you count the impact this will have in public health, global economy.” The coronavirus pandemic has claimed over 1.2 million lives worldwide. Pfizer’s findings were based on the first interim efficacy analysis conducted by an external Data Monitoring Committee from the phase three clinical study.By evaluating 94 confirmed Covid-19 infections among the trial’s 43,538 participants, the analysis was split between vaccinated individuals and those who received a placebo.

). The company mentioned that around two-thirds of the 42,000 patients enrolled in late-stage clinical trials have been dosed with its developing coronavirus vaccine.It plans to apply Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in late November.

The acquisition is expected to bolster Gilead’s cancer portfolio. Gilead’s tender offer includes buying all the outstanding shares of Immunomedics for $88 per share, which implies a premium of about 108% over their closing price on Friday. Through the deal, Gilead will have access to Immunomedics’ breast cancer treatment drug Trodelvy, which was granted an accelerated FDA approval in April.The tumor types are aggressive and tough to treat. “This acquisition represents significant progress in Gilead’s work to build a strong and diverse oncology portfolio,” Gilead Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Day said in a statement.

 The pharmaceutical company also raised its full-year earnings outlook. The company's non-GAAP earnings for the three months ending June came in at $1.63 per share, ahead of the Street consensus estimate of $1.48 per share .  Revenues surged +61% to $10.13 billion, beating analysts' forecasts of $9.97 billion. Looking ahead, Bristol-Myers said it projects its full-year non-GAAP earnings in the range of $6.10 to $6.25 per share, compared to a prior forecast of $6.00 to $6.20.

Many of the top pharmaceutical companies are working on a vaccination for COVID-19.The global pandemic has certainly changed the fortunes for a number of companies and the attention is obviously warranted. We don’t have a vaccine yet and there is definitely a race on between big pharma companies to produce a viable vaccine.

Biotech company Biogen received a double upgrade to an overweight rating from analysts at Morgan Stanley.P/S Ratio (3.31) is also within normal values, averaging (1243.63). The Tickeron PE Growth Rating for this company is 68 (best 1 - 100 worst), pointing to slightly better than average earnings growth.

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. agreed to provide 600 million doses of its developing coronavirus vaccine to the U.S. government.  In an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense, Pfizer, and its German partner, BioNTech BNTX, will receive $1.95 billion for the first 100 million doses of its BNT162 mRNA-based vaccine.The vaccine is subject to regulatory approval. Last week, Pfizer’s  BNT162 vaccine candidates received 'fast track' designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, based on preliminary data from Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies. According to Tickeron, PFE's price moved above its 50-day Moving Average on July 15, 2020 This price move indicates a change in the trend, and may be a buy signal for investors.

Britain's biopharmaceutical  AstraZeneca plc  and Oxford University published data from an early stage trial of a coronavirus vaccine study . The two groups described  humoral and cellular immune responses in human trials, with an acceptable safety profile.According to the study, there were 'potent' cellular and humoral immunogenicity in all 1,077 participants in the Phase 1/Phase II study. “The immune responses observed following vaccination are in line with what we expect will be associated with protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, although we must continue with our rigorous clinical trial programme to confirm this.

The COVID-19 virus has wreaked havoc on countries around the globe in 2020, both in medical terms and economic ones.The virus has taken a great toll on almost every economy around the world. Many pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms are working on vaccines for the COVID-19 virus.