March 22 Quick Takes: Pfizer to supply UNICEF with Paxlovid

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) will supply UNICEF with up to 4 million courses of Paxlovid nirmatrelvir/ritonavir for 95 low- and middle-income countries, starting in April. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed, but all low- and lower-middle-income countries will be offered the treatment courses at an unspecified not-for-profit price. The company licensed Paxlovid to the Medicines Patent Pool last November; as of last week, 35 generic manufacturers had agreed to produce low-cost versions o f the antiviral.

Argenx SE (Euronext:ARGX; NASDAQ:ARGX) is closing in on a second regulatory submission this past year after a subcutaneous formulation of FCRN inhibitor efgartigimod alfa-fcab met the primary endpoint of non-inferiority to intravenous Vyvgart efgartigimod in the Phase III ADAPT-SC trial to treat generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG). FDA’s approval of Vyvgart came last December and was the company’s first. The subcutaneous formulation uses the Enhanze recombinant human hyaluronidase PH20 drug delivery technology from Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO). Argenx said it plans to submit a BLA for the new formulation by year-end 2022...