Armed with $55 million in series A funds and a U.S. government contract, Cambridge, Mass.-based Red Queen Therapeutics Inc. launched operations this week, with plans to advance its novel stapled lipopeptide platform, which creates new antiviral therapies that do not rely on the immune system to work.

Muscle fatigue associated with brain inflammation could be prevented by modulating certain cytokines. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) have studied inflammation in the CNS in infection models of Escherichia coli, SARS-CoV-2 and amyloid-β toxicity, unveiling its impact on motor function, the role of IL-6 in this process and how to mitigate it in chronic disease.

Severe COVID-19 causes a complex lung injury implicating dysregulated immune responses, endothelial dysfunction and coagulopathy, consistent with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

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.