The FDA continues to issue new and revised emergency use authorizations for testing for the COVID-19 pandemic in recent days, including three reissued and four revised EUAs dated March 24.
LONDON – T cells generated as a result of infection with common cold coronaviruses provide cross-protection against being infected with SARS-CoV-2, according to a new study.
A new engineered glycated vaccine induced production of neutralizing antibodies against severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and other coronaviruses in mice, scientists at The University of Osaka and the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Science in Yokohama have reported.
More than 21 months since the SARS-CoV-2 virus was first identified in Wuhan, China, the questions just keep coming, and the longer they go unanswered, the more divisive the opinions become. Controversies over the efficacy of current vaccines, over whether boosters are necessary for the general population, over the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for young children, over how to distribute the shrinking supply of highly effective monoclonal antibodies, and over how the virus originated in the first place – all of these looming questions have created a firestorm of uncertainty that will not stop burning.
When the SARS-CoV-2 virus first emerged in the U.S., the knee-jerk reaction by biopharma researchers was to make the best vaccines and therapeutics possible and to do so quickly. Since then, the number of those that have entered development has reached 1,001, more than for any other viral infection aside from HIV.
Horseshoe or Rhinopolus bats in Laos carry coronavirus species with a near-identical receptor binding domain to SARS-CoV-2, according to a paper posted on the preprint server Research Square by investigators from the Pasteur Institutes of Paris and Laos.
Autumn's arrival in the Northern Hemisphere on Sept. 22 swept in significant news of progress for the global fight against COVID-19. A protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate from Clover Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. and Dynavax Technologies Corp. appeared wholly effective in preventing severe disease and hospitalization, sending Dynavax shares (NASDAQ:DVAX) climbing 26.5% to close at $18.79 on Sept. 22. In another study of Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Veklury (remdesivir), the drug significantly reduced hospitalization in high-risk patients with COVID-19. Meanwhile, governments and companies continued to expand efforts to supply new vaccines and therapeutics against the disease even as efforts continued far and wide to evaluate the efficacy of new and emerging candidates in both categories.
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. said booster shots of its Coronavac vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 induce strong immune responses in adult and elderly populations following a considerable loss of antibodies six to eight months after completing the current two-dose regimen.
The world has been running an ultramarathon since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but despite the ups and downs of cases and deaths, the wins and losses of clinical efforts, every day is another step forward toward herd immunity and the finish line.
The lack of data surrounding the efficacy of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines against the Delta variant has had many questioning them, especially after a recent study showed that one of those vaccines, Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s Coronavac, was less effective than Pfizer Inc. and Biontech SE’s Comirnaty in Chile.
