Notable moments in 2021

Abstract

PHARMACEUTICALS Notable moments in 2021The drug industry remained focused on conquering COVID-19, but the year also brought advances—and setbacks—in other areas. Here are a few highlights from the year in pharma ShareShare onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail C&EN, 2021, 99 (44), p 42December 6, 2021Cite this:C&EN 99, 44, 42COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer and BioNTech were rolled out across the US. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 70.2% of the US population had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Nov. 30. (Credit: Ringo Chiu/Shutterstock)Figure1of6On May 28, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Amgen’s Lumakras to treat lung cancers driven by KRAS G12C mutations. The drug is the first to inhibit KRAS, a common cancer driver that is notoriously difficult to overcome.Figure1of6Frances Collins (Credit: National Institutes of Health)Figure2of6On Oct. 6, the World Health Organization recommended broad use of the malaria vaccine RTS,S. The four-dose regimen does not provide complete protection but could significantly reduce the roughly 400,000 annual deaths caused by malaria. (Credit: Getty Images)Figure3of6On June 4, the FDA approved Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, a glucagon-like peptide 1 mimic that is the first new weight-loss management treatment since 2014. (Credit: Novo Nordisk)Figure4of6Ending months of speculation, President Joe Biden nominated Robert Califf as FDA commissioner on Nov. 12. Califf served as commissioner in the Barack Obama administration. (Credit: US Food and Drug Administration)Figure5of6July 7: Date when the contagious Delta variant officially became the dominant form of the coronavirus in the US, according to the CDC “I am proud of all we’ve accomplished. I fundamentally believe, however, that no single person should serve in the position too long, and that it’s time to bring in a new scientist to lead the NIH into the future.”—Francis Collins, in an Oct. 5 statement announcing his decision to step down as director of the US National Institutes of Health at the end of 2021$11.5 billion: Amount Merck & Co. agreed to pay to acquire Acceleron Pharma, in the industry’s largest deal to date in 2021>5.2 million: Number of deaths from COVID-19 worldwide as of Dec. 1On Jan. 20, the FDA approved ViiV Healthcare’s Cabenuva, the first long-acting HIV therapy. The once-monthly injection is a combination of ViiV’s cabotegravir and Johnson & Johnson’s rilpivirine.$56,000: Annual cost of Biogen’s controversial Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, which the FDA approved on June 7“The HIV vaccine story is a story of great disappointment. I think that the vaccine is the holy grail, but we haven’t found it yet.”—Warner Greene, director, Gladstone Institutes’ Michael Hulton Center for HIV Cure Research, on news that Johnson & Johnson’s HIV vaccine had failed in a Phase 2 trial in Africa$20 billion: Valuation of synthetic biology company Ginkgo Bioworks when it began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 17 under the ticker symbol “DNA”