Moderna, Inc., (Nasdaq: MRNA) a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced that the U.S. government has purchased an additional 200 million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, including the option to purchase other COVID-19 vaccine candidates from Moderna's pipeline.

Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX), today announced that NVX-CoV2373, its recombinant nanoparticle protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, demonstrated 100% protection against moderate and severe disease, 90.4% efficacy overall, and met the primary endpoint in its PREVENT-19 pivotal Phase 3 trial.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) today announced plans to provide the U.S. government at a not-for-profit price 500 million doses of the companies' COVID-19 vaccine, 200 million doses in 2021 and 300 million doses in the first half of 2022, to further support the multilateral efforts to address the surge of infection in many parts of the world and to help end the pandemic.

Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company focused on the development and commercialization of prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases with significant unmet medical need, today announced that it has completed recruitment for the pivotal Phase 3 trial of its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001.

Bayer AG announced today that BlueRock Therapeutics (BlueRock), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company and wholly-owned subsidiary of Bayer AG, successfully administered the first dose of its pluripotent stem cell-derived dopaminergic neurons, named DA01, to a Parkinson's disease patient in their open-label Phase 1 clinical study.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) announced that the Conditional Marketing Authorization (CMA) for COMIRNATY® in the European Union (EU) has been expanded to include individuals 12 to 15 years of age. This follows the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) positive opinion to authorize the vaccine in this age group.

Novartis and Molecular Partners announced the start of the clinical trial EMPATHY, a Phase 2 and 3 study, to explore the use of its novel DARPin® therapeutic candidate ensovibep (MP0420) for the treatment of COVID-19. Novartis will conduct the clinical trial program for ensovibep, with Molecular Partners as sponsor of the studies.