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Novavax on Friday said it has signed a multibillion-dollar deal with French drugmaker Sanofi to co-commercialize the company’s Covid vaccine starting next year and develop combination shots targeting the coronavirus and the flu, among other efforts. (Constantino, 5/10)

Novavax, the beleaguered maker of a Covid-19 vaccine, just got a boost of its own. The French pharma company Sanofi on Friday said it had reached a licensing deal to sell Novavax’s Covid shot going forward as well as to try to combine the vaccine with Sanofi’s own flu shot. (Joseph, 5/10)

The emergence of a new set of coronavirus variants, known colloquially as FLiRT, is sparking concerns about a potential summer uptick in COVID-19 cases after an extended period of calm and a relatively mild winter. The variants, known as KP.1.1 and KP.2, have recently overtaken JN.1 as the dominant omicron offshoot in the U.S. They now account for 1 in 4 infections nationwide, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Vaziri, 5/9)

Closing the border separating San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, during the COVID-19 pandemic didn't stop drug tourism and may have increased the spread of HIV, concludes a study posted in The Lancet Regional Health Americas. (Van Beusekom, 5/9)

Talks to draw up a global pact to help fight future pandemics are likely to miss an initial deadline on Friday, three sources close to the process said. Negotiators from the World Health Organization’s 194 member states were hoping to have a final draft agreement by the end of Friday, with a view toward adopting the legally-binding text at the World Health Assembly later this month. Instead talks on the text may have to continue, sources said, as countries grapple with key sticking points. (Rigby, 5/10)

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has initiated a global withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine just months after it admitted it could cause a rare side effect. The news sparked speculation on social media that the vaccine was being withdrawn because of concerns about associated health risks. However, the British-Swedish company said that the decision was made purely for commercial reasons after a decline in demand because of a "surplus of available updated vaccines." (Shoaib, 5/9)

After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak. A ninth and final round of talks involving governments, advocacy groups and others to finalize a “pandemic treaty” is scheduled to end Friday. (Cheng and Keaten, 5/10)