The granting of emergency use authorization by the U.S. FDA to Roche AG for its four-in-one molecular test for SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A/B viruses and respiratory syncytial virus will allow the company to quickly bring the test to near-patient care environments ahead of the flu season, to address a real need in the marketplace, Ian Parfrement, head of the point of care customer area, at Roche Diagnostics, told BioWorld.

Moderna Inc. is gearing up to meet with regulators on the next steps for mRNA-1083, the first combination vaccine for influenza and COVID-19 to succeed in phase III testing, not only demonstrating noninferiority to individually licensed competitor vaccines but also eliciting statistically significant higher immune responses.

A preclinical trial in mice and ferrets of an experimental mRNA vaccine against the H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus generated neutralizing antibodies and prevented severe illness and mortality of the animals.

TFF Pharmaceuticals Inc. has announced it is advancing into preclinical testing multivalent universal influenza vaccine candidates to protect against seasonal and pandemic viruses, in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic.

Researchers from Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics LLC have presented data at the ongoing ESCMID conference regarding their unconjugated multiepitope vaccine against influenza, LHNVD-105.

An enzyme that activates cell death could be targeted to avoid the inflammation and lung lesions caused by influenza A virus (IAV). A collaborative study demonstrated that an inhibitor of receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 3 (RIPK3) blocked necroptosis in infected alveolar epithelial cells and prevented the consequences in the lungs of severe disease.

Blackstone Life Sciences made an investment of up to $750 million in Moderna Inc.’s influenza program created with its mRNA technology. The new funding is designed to help propel the program forward and may help bolster a stock that has struggled in the past 12 months.

Neuraminidase (NA) is an essential surface protein of influenza viruses with potential as an effective drug and vaccine target. However, knowledge of the NA antigenic landscape remains limited, and most current influenza vaccines induce antibodies against the surface glycoprotein hemagglutinin.

A common molecular pathway associated with lung fibrosis may also hold the key to pulmonary vascular repair. A group of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) found that when a viral infection damaged these vessels, the injury could be restored by activating the transforming growth factor-β receptor 2 (TGF-βR2) in endothelial cells, which led to cell proliferation.