Pharmacy giants stand to profit from vaccines

Hello,

There’s a lot going on this morning! The CEOs of Merck and UnitedHealth Group announced their retirements, and 23andMe confirmed it plans to go public via a SPAC IPO.

Here’s today’s healthcare news: How much CVS and Walgreens stand to profit as the vaccine rollout continues, meet the biotechs tackling the pathogens of tomorrow (and today), and what Jazz Pharmaceuticals is getting by buying GW Pharma. 

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Here’s how much CVS and Walgreens stand to profit as the federal government opens up access to COVID-19 shots at retail pharmacies

• The US government said it will ship COVID-19 shots directly to retail pharmacies starting next week.
• Jefferies analysts expect retail pharmacies to give half of all coronavirus shots to adults.
• CVS Health and Walgreens could make more than $650 million in gross profits each, the analysts said.

Read the full story from Shelby Livingston here>>

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VCs have finally started paying attention to infectious diseases. Meet 6 up-and-coming biotechs tackling the pandemic pathogens of today and tomorrow.

• The pandemic has forced VCs to confront the large-scale impact of infectious disease.
• Evolving virus variants have made major firms like Andreessen Horowitz rethink the value of investing in the space.
• Here are Insider’s top 6 picks for companies tackling infectious disease therapeutics and diagnostics.
  

Read the full story from Patricia Kelly Yeo here>>

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A biotech known for its sleep and brain drugs just made a $7.2 billion bet that medical cannabis is crucial to its neuroscience ambitions

• Jazz Pharmaceuticals is buying drugmaker GW Pharma in a blockbuster $7.2 billion deal.
• Jazz is paying a 50% premium for GW, a signal of the biotech's bullishness on cannabis-based treatments.
• GW produces Epidiolex, an epilepsy drug derived from cannabis. It's the only FDA-approved drug containing CBD.

Read the full story from Jeremy Berke here>>

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More stories we're reading: 

• Mark your calendars: Hear from healthcare's biggest VCs on the future of digital health, biotech, and startups next Wednesday (Insider)
• One Medical has been letting people jump the vaccine line (Forbes) 
• India's sudden drop in coronavirus cases has puzzled disease experts. Strict public-health measures and difficulty recording rural cases may have factored in. (Insider)
• GSK and CureVac are making 'next-generation' vaccines that they say can tackle multiple COVID-19 variants at once (Insider)
• The number of people vaccinated worldwide has passed the number of COVID-19 cases (Financial Times) 

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- Lydia