Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Basking In The Moment, Pfizer Debuts New Logo
FiercePharma: Goodbye Pill, Hello Science: Pfizer Debuts Redesigned Logo With Double Helix
Pfizer’s got a new blue. Two new blues in fact, with the company’s rebrand and new logo design. Gone is the staid blue oval pill background, replaced by a two-tone blue double helix spiral. It’s the first significant visual redesign for Pfizer in 70 years since the company began using the blue oval background. The tagline outlining Pfizer’s purpose, “Breakthroughs that change patients' lives,” remains the same. (Snyder Bulik, 1/5)
In other pharmaceutical and biotech news —
Becker's Hospital Review: FDA Updates Medical Device Shortage List
The FDA recently added new supplies, including pipette tips and micro pipettes, to its medical device shortage list. The agency also changed some of the categories for the list, which includes the reason the supply is in shortage and gives an estimate on how long the shortage is expected to last. (Anderson, 1/5)
FiercePharma: Becton Dickinson, Ramping Up Syringe Capacity, Set To Turn Out 1B COVID-19 Vaccine Devices By Year-End
As Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna and now AstraZeneca rack up emergency authorizations for their COVID-19 vaccines, the world is racing to get shots shipped out and into patients’ arms. A slew of injection device deals—inked early during the pandemic’s spread—are obviously key to that effort. Becton Dickinson, for one, last month surpassed 1 billion pandemic injection device orders globally. Now, as more than 300 million devices arrive in North America, Europe and the Middle East—with the rest slated for delivery by the end of the year—BD is leveraging some pandemic know-how gained with the 2009 swine flu, Elizabeth Woody, SVP of public affairs, said in an interview. (Kansteiner, 1/4)
FiercePharma: Pharma Ads Got Animated In 2020—But COVID's Not The Only Reason They'll Stay That Way
One of the most obvious adaptations to the “new normal” of the COVID-19 pandemic—when filming on a set was well nigh impossible—was the move to animation in advertising. And pharma joined right in. As stay-at-home orders and social distancing made it difficult to get people together for TV and video ad production, pharma came up with some clever workarounds. Intra-Cellular Therapies hired actors and their real-life families to act out scenes for its schizophrenia drug Caplyta. Merck & Co. used existing footage for its awareness spot reminding parents to keep up on their preteen children's wellness exams after nearly everything went online. (Klahr Coey, 12/29)
