The drive to find a vaccine to combat the coronavirus is well underway. Several large pharmaceutical and smaller biotech companies are working on making new antibodies, drugs and vaccines to combat the coronavirus disease but lack of funds may yet get in the way, writes John Whelan.

The rapid spread of Covid-19 around the globe has led to a flood of announcements from drug companies touting potential treatments for the still incurable disease.

Drug-makers are working as quickly as possible to develop a vaccine to combat the rapidly spreading coronavirus, which has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide.

Technology companies in Ireland’s South-East have launched a major recruitment drive, hoping to fill almost 700 roles across 40 firms.

The industry is devoting all its resources to finding a vaccine, but we should not be complacent about the need to invest in future innovation, says Bernard Mallee

French drugmaker Sanofi has said it is being investigated over Depakine, an epilepsy drug which caused birth malfunctions and slow neurological development when taken during pregnancy.

Helen Kelleher talks to Ken Murphy of CareerWise Recruitment

Swiss pharmaceutical firms Novartis and Lonza separately deepened their push into so-called biosimilars, betting cheaper copies of name-brand drugs will make headway among cost-conscious governments.

Pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Pfizer have said that it is too early to say what the implications are for their Irish staff after a partnership between the firms to create a €10.85bn consumer health division.

The contract is for supply, over about five years, of about one million doses of the 6in1 vaccine, which relates to Diphtheria, Tetanus, acellular Pertussis, Hepatits B, Inactivated Polio Vaccine and Hameophilus Infuenza Type B.

Pre-tax profits at one of the largest employers in the south-east, the Irish arm of the multinational medical products company formerly known as Genzyme, last year soared 44% to €99.4m.

Shares in beauty group L’Oreal surged the most in seven years on speculation that the death of the founding family’s matriarch, Liliane Bettencourt, could clear up the cosmetics maker’s ownership through a takeover or a buyback.

The Dow Jones industrial average missed the 20,000 mark by a fraction of a point on Friday as US stock indexes rose after the government said wages jumped in December, but two other major indexes set records.

Cutting cholesterol right back to the levels we were born with reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes by a third, a study in England has shown.

Pre-tax profits at one of the largest employers in the south-east, Genzyme last year soared by 35% to €68.5m.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has filed its shingles vaccine Shingrix for US regulatory approval, the drugmaker said yesterday, bringing the potential $1bn (€918m)-a-year seller a step closer to market.

Pfizer has clinched the purchase of US cancer drug company Medivation in a deal valued at about $14bn, (€12.4bn) adding blockbuster prostate cancer drug Xtandi to its portfolio.

A company specialising in providing HR software and technology to its customers globally is to create 300 jobs at existing centres in Cork and Kilkenny.

Pfizer has agreed to buy Anacor Pharmaceuticals for $5.2bn (€4.6bn), gaining control of an experimental treatment for eczema in its first deal since walking away from a $160bn takeover of botox maker Allergan.

Sanofi says it has sent a letter to Medivation’s board, urging the company to engage in negotiations regarding the French drugmaker’s unsolicited $9.3bn (€8.1bn) takeover offer and threatening to go directly to shareholders if talks don’t begin.

As the mid-year earnings season accelerates, here are four tailwinds driving European profit growth past the US.

IDA-affiliated companies created over 7,000 net new jobs during 2013 — the highest level of job creation seen for more than 10 years.

A multinational biotechnology giant is to provide annual scholarships to support two Leaving Certificate students from a school in Waterford under a new partnership.

Biogen Idec yesterday reported $286m (€207m) in third-quarter sales of its high-profile new multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera, providing fresh evidence that the medicine is off to an impressive launch and exceeding expectations.

Up to 100 jobs are to be created during the construction of a drug production line in Waterford which will see the city become only the second manufacturing base of a major insulin brand.

Pharmaceutical company Sanofi is to make a €44m investment at the Genzyme plant in Waterford.

The brain may be better suited to a split cycle of sleep, reports Richard Fitzpatrick.

A typhoid vaccine recalled in Britain because of concerns about its effectiveness has remained on the Irish market.

GlaxoSmithKline has resumed the hunt for a buyer for the European slice of its non-core drugs portfolio, with buyout firms and rival drug companies in the running to cherry pick consumer health brands, people with knowledge of the process said.

A near-$30 billion (€22.8bn) bid for Shire could emerge as the standout deal in the European pharmaceutical sector this year, a highlight for bankers in a market otherwise likely to be dominated by bolt-on acquisitions.

Eight drug companies have agreed to create a pool of patented information to spur new research into 21 tropical diseases and conditions, UN officials have said.

A PERSONAL health crisis has been revealed in Ireland after it emerged that one in three families is affected by diabetes — a condition that can lead to blindness, kidney failure, limb amputation and even death.

Health experts have warned that diabetes is reaching national crisis level after new research showed one third of families in Ireland have a relative suffering from the disease.

GREATER use of aspirin and other low-cost generic medicines would significantly reduce the toll from heart disease and stroke, according to a seven-year global study.

SHIRE chief executive Angus Russell said he understands why Sanofi-Aventis SA may buy Genzyme, his biggest rival in producing drugs for rare genetic diseases.

ELAN said yesterday that it is fully committed to its multiple sclerosis treatment Tysabri after its production partner — the US-based company Biogen Idec — announced it was not about to be taken over and would remain independent.