The global COVID-19 pandemic is prompting an unprecedented effort to develop a vaccine in record-breaking time. But there may be pitfalls in letting optimism run too far ahead of the realities of vaccine development.

Merck Sharp & Dohme will begin manufacturing licensed doses of Ervebo in Germany and will continue to send investigational vaccine doses to Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tender deadline for Roche acquisition of Spark pushed back to 30 October; 21.4% of Spark shares tendered so far. Vertex further diversifies with fourth deal of 2019 – an RNA-targeted collaboration with Ribometrix.

Recent executive-level hires and director appointments at venture capital firms and biopharma and medtech start-ups.