DUBLIN – Sanofi SA and Glaxosmithkline plc are lending their considerable weight to the urgent global effort to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 by teaming up to develop an adjuvanted recombinant subunit vaccine that will employ technologies from each company. Paris-based Sanofi is contributing its recombinant spike protein antigen and its baculovirus expression system, which is also the basis of its U.S.-licensed influenza vaccine Flublok. London-based GSK is contributing its pandemic adjuvant technology.
The U.S. FDA’s routine guidance agenda may be badly disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak, but the agency continues to pump out guidances and emergency use authorizations (EUAs) directed to the pandemic. While the FDA has included only one serological test under the diagnostic EUA paradigm, Rep. Diana DeGette penned a letter inquiring into when the agency intends to move more decisively on serological tests, arguing that the absence of action on this front endangers the nation’s economic health as well as the public’s health.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: Johnson & Johnson, Takeda Pharmaceutical.
Med-tech happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Apollo Endosurgery, Atricure, Eos imaging, Kolon Tissuegene, Piranha Medical, Pluristem, Predictive Biotech, Predictive Technology, Rethink My Health, Scworx, Shockwave Medical, Staar Surgical.
Med-tech happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Allen Technologies, Alphatec Holdings, Auburn University, Avacta Group, Biobot Analytics, Biodesix, Chembio Diagnostics, Cryo Innovations, Cytiva, Genomoncology, Hai Kang, HPC-AI, Integra Lifesciences, Intuitive, JMA, Labcorp, Myomo, Myriad, Nanomix, National Supercomputing Centre, Novacyt Group, Organovo, Pacific Biosciences of California, Pharmacyte, Phunware, Ping An Good Doctor, Predictive Laboratories, Resolution Medical, Roji Health Intelligence, Tarveda Therapeutics, Vitalhub, Wellgistics.
Physicians who perform a variety of device implant procedures face a difficult choice in determining whether a patient should be treated. A new article in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) recommends that patients who ordinarily would be candidates for surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) might instead be referred for the transcatheter alternative.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Abbott, Cipla, Diacarta, DNAe, Vapotherm, Silk Medical Aesthetics.
There will be lessons learned aplenty when the COVID-19 pandemic finally breaks, including how serological and molecular testing can be used to maximum effect to corral a future pandemic. Carmen Wiley, president of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry, told BioWorld that the existing instrument types are up to the job, but that surge capacity is needed, and that it is not clear how the cost of that capacity will be handled.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Genmark Diagnostics Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., has offered a preliminary look at its first-quarter results. And it is forecasting hopeful news, increasing its full-year guidance to a range of $112 million to $122 million. That's up from a previous prediction of $100 million to $110 million.
