The Quadrant View

Serum Institute of India in its latest statement announced that it was decreasing the cost of its Covishield vaccine to INR 300 per dose. For the record, the vaccine was earlier available to the states at INR 400 per dose. Adar Poonawalla, CEO, SII quoted the move as a philanthropic gesture that will help save the states thousands of crores of funds and will enhance accessibility to the vaccine saving innumerable lives. Serum Institute of India received huge flak last week for the alleged high pricing for its vaccine. The world’s largest vaccine manufacturer responded to the criticism by citing the comparisons between global and country level pricing inaccurate. SII in its explanation cited that the initial global pricing of the vaccine was low as it was based on advanced funding by the countries for at-risk vaccine manufacturing. The pharmaceutical giant also maintained that the initial supply cost of Covishield has been the lowest for all government vaccination programme, includi...

Pfizer’s experimental oral pill to treat COVID-19 may arrive in the market by the end of 2021. Merck signs agreement with 5 Indian generics manufacturers to accelerate the supply of molnupiravir in India and other LMICs. Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, announced the arrival of its experimental oral pill to treat COVID-19 by the end of 2021. Pfizer reportedly began the early-stage clinical trial testing of the new antiviral therapy for coronavirus in March. The drug falls under a class of medicines, protease inhibitors and works by preventing an enzyme that the virus needs to replicate in the human cells. Protease inhibitors are utilized for treatment of other viral pathogens such as hepatitis C and HIV. As per sources familiar with the matter, the drug could be available for distribution across the U.S. by the end of 2021, provided the clinical trials are successful and the FDA approves it. Pfizer is further testing its COVID-19 vaccine in the 6 months to 11-year age group. The pharm...

In a deal worth $550 million, ride sharing firm, Lyft announces sale of its self-driving car unit, Level 5 to Toyota’s subsidiary, Woven Planet. Holdings Inc. As per sources familiar with the matter, Lyft and Toyota, under the deal, will work collaboratively on enhancement of automated driving technology. The deal will reportedly initiate with a payout of $200 million followed by additional payments of $350 million over five years. John Zimmer, Co-founder and President, Lyft, cited that the pact would also help in pulling Lyft’s profitability timeline. The company expects that the transaction would save Lyft $100 million of annual non-GAAP operating expenses. Zimmer further added that Lyft is expecting profitability in Q3 on an adjusted EBITDA basis provided that the deal closes under the targeted timeline that is the third quarter and the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continues. According to reliable sources, the self-driving division of Lyft will continue to operate in Palo Alt...

In what may be termed as a move to position itself as the most aggressive regulator of the technology industry, the European Union recently unveiled its plans to impose strict policies on the use of Artificial Intelligence. Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President at EU cited that with the new standards, the EU will ensure the use of AI, one of the world’s most transformative technologies, in an ethical manner. She further added that the revolutionary move by the EU will pave a way for development of new global norms to make sure that AI can be trusted. The new regulations would set limits on the use of AI by governments and companies on high-risk categories of AI applications. This would encompass areas that pose a serious threat and safety risk to EU fundamental rights. The EU will also have the authority to exercise strict regulations and expand high-risk use cases of AI by delegate acts as the risks evolve. The draft categorizes high risk examples into the following: Management...

American content platform and production company, Netflix has reportedly announced the plans to broaden its existing content programming in India. As per a statement by Reed Hastings, co-founder, Netflix, the firm is focused on getting content fit right in India, currently deemed as a more speculative investment than South Korea and Japan by the firm. As per reliable reports, the streaming entertainment service spent close to Rs.3,000 crore on content programming in India over 2019 and 2020. Under its plans to further increase its investments in the country, the firm rolled out its largest programming schedule with over 40 original titles lined up for debut on the platform over the coming year. In a bid to broaden the user base in India, Netflix is also conducting experiments with regards to subscription charges. Greg Peters, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer at Netflix stated that the company is continuously focusing on finding a set of plan types with right features a...

Information technology and business process outsourcing firm Tech Mahindra recently announced the acquisition of 100% stake in California based hybrid cloud services provider, DigitalOnUS. The move is a part of Tech Mahindra’s plan to strengthen cloud-native development, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and hybrid cloud infrastructure. As per the regulatory filing by Tech Mahindra, the deal is valued at up to $120 million and is inclusive of retention bonus and Earnout. The company will further acquire DigitalOps Technology, the Indian subsidiary of DigitalOnUs. Tech Mahindra Americas will reportedly buy all the other legal entities of DigitalOnUs. The move underlines the IT behemoth’s emphasis on digital growth and is a part of NXT.NOW framework focused on leveraging next-gen technologies to enable the delivery of disruptive solutions ‘today’. The takeover of DigitalOnUs will significantly enhance the firm’s hybrid-cloud offerings and help meet the dynamic and evolving needs of its ...