A federal judge indicated his intention to dismiss Johnson & Johnson’s talc unit bankruptcy case. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan said during a hearing in Trenton, New Jersey that he intends to toss the Chapter 11 case once the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issues a formal mandate to carry out a Jan. 30 ruling by a three-judge panel to dismiss the matter. (Reuters)
GSK revised its COVID-19 deal with Vir and pulled out of next-gen work. The companies aren’t cutting ties entirely; they will remain allied on Xevudy (sotrovimab) in markets where it’s authorized, and an experimental “dual function” Covid antibody dubbed VIR-7832. (Endpoints News)
The deadly Marburg virus has surfaced this week for the first time in Equatorial Guinea, causing at least nine deaths in the west African nation, according to the World Health Organization. A handful of Marburg cases were identified in Ghana late last year. Although it remains “a very rare disease in people,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “when it occurs, it has the potential to spread,” and can be fatal. (The Washington Post)
With $520 million in hand, Alexis Borisy, Zach Weinberg and Christoph Lengauer said they will try to upend the biotech funding model. Greg Bowman, a University of Pennsylvania biophysicist, had the kind of idea biotech venture capitalists salivate over. (STAT News)
Sesen Bio, Carisma Therapeutics amended a merger deal after reaching an agreement with the investor group. A Sesen Bio investor group last month proposed an alternative to the merger with Carisma that it said would deliver “superior value” for the company’s stockholders. Now the group is on board with the deal. (Philadelphia Business Journal)
