LONDON – Initial results from the U.K. randomized trial assessing mixed COVID-19 vaccine schedules show there is a significant increase in systemic side effects with one dose of Astrazeneca plc’s and one of Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE’s vaccines (in either order), compared to receiving two doses of the same vaccine.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Applied DNA, Bioecho Life Sciences, Desktop Health, Chordate Medical, Endologix, Johnson & Johnson Vision, Qiagen.
It came as no surprise May 12 that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 14-0, with one recusal, to recommend the use of Pfizer Inc.-Biontech SE’s COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty (tozinameran), in 12- to 15-year-olds following the FDA’s decision earlier this week to expand the vaccine’s emergency use authorization (EUA) to that age group.
LONDON – The SARS-CoV-2 variant first detected in India last year has joined those from the U.K., South Africa and Brazil as a “variant of global concern,” the World Health Organization said on May 10.
With Monday's announcement that the U.S. FDA has expanded emergency use authorization for Pfizer and BioNtech's COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty (tozinameran), to include adolescents 12 through 15 years of age, and the EMA expected to follow suit in short order, the COVID vaccination campaign is expanding its age range.
The FDA’s operations have been badly hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, but Jeff Shuren, director of the agency’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), said review times for most non-COVID product categories should resume their normal clip by the end of 2021. However, he acknowledged that the lag for in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) may not be fully resolved until 2022 because of the resources needed to review emergency use authorizations for tests for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Amid what Moderna Inc. called "overwhelming" demand from global governments for mRNA vaccines and boosters with efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, the company said both its authorized vaccine, mRNA-1273, and a strain-matched candidate, mRNA-1273.351, increased neutralizing titers against the variants.
Dangerous blood clots and thrombocytopenia, rare simultaneous side effects seen with two adenoviral vector vaccines from Astrazeneca plc and Johnson & Johnson, as well as a worldwide spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths, primarily in India, has set the stage for what could soon become the next big vaccine option, a protein subunit candidate from Gaithersburg, Md.-based Novavax Inc.
HONG KONG – Celltrion Inc. has received the European CE mark for Tekitrust, its COVID-19 tests kit developed with Mico Biomed Co. Ltd. “Mico, which is a diagnostic device specialist, partnered with Celltrion to combine both companies’ strengths in the test kit sector,” a Celltrion spokesperson told BioWorld. Mico will manufacture the kits, while Celltrion handles marketing and sales.
LONDON – A single dose of Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE’s COVID-19 vaccine does not promote a strong enough immune response to provide protection against variants of SARS-CoV-2, including the Kent variant B.1.1.7, which as of April 29 had caused 226,635 confirmed infections in the U.K.
