After plunging dramatically at the beginning of the month, biopharmaceutical equities appear to be recovering some of the valuation they originally lost when the financial markets cratered. As the curtain closed on a very turbulent month that most investors will want to forget, the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical index finished up 0.75%, but down about 2% for the year.
LONDON – Two papers published online in Nature following accelerated peer review provide fine detail of how the spike protein on the COVID-19 coronavirus binds to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) through which it infects its human host.
The newest angle in the partnership between Johnson & Johnson and the U.S. federal government, part of the company’s $1 billion commitment to COVID-19 R&D, is designed to drive its lead candidate into the clinic by year-end and to increase its vaccine manufacturing worldwide.
As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, biopharma companies are being forced to respond to multiple challenges that could derail their existing business plans. Already companies are reporting that, in therapeutic indications not involving COVID-19, their ongoing and planned clinical trials are being interrupted or delayed by the pressures now being imposed on global health care systems.
HONG KONG – Chengdu, China-based Clover Biopharmaceuticals Inc. has teamed up with Emeryville, Calif.-based Dynavax Technologies Corp. on a research collaboration to develop a vaccine candidate to prevent COVID-19.
Biopharma industry leaders in China who were the first to experience the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic shared their thoughts during a closing plenary session of the virtual Bio-Europe Spring 2020 meeting.
The stimulus bill passed by the U.S. Senate March 26 on a vote of 96-0 does more than throw $2.2 trillion into the war against COVID-19. “This is not … a stimulus package. It is emergency relief,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor before the vote.
HONG KONG – Singapore-based Proteona Pte. Ltd. has formed a couple of significant partnerships recently, including a Germany-Singapore partnership to develop a drug screening and discovery platform using single cell multi-omics analysis for patient-derived micro-tumors, and an international alliance to develop antibodies against coronaviruses.
DUBLIN – The Genentech arm of Roche Holding AG plans to move its interleukin-6 inhibitor, Actemra, into a global phase III trial in patients with severe pneumonia associated with COVID-19 infection.
