On the success of last year’s establishment of a global mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced its next step Feb. 23: the creation of a global biomanufacturing training hub in South Korea that will serve low- and middle-income countries wanting to produce biologics, such as vaccines, insulin, monoclonal antibodies and cancer treatments.
In the quest for regulatory approval for their COVID-19 vaccine, Sanofi SA and Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) said they plan to submit their phase III and booster efficacy study data showing it induced a significant increase in neutralizing antibodies after a primary series of mRNA or adenovirus vaccines.
A raft of potentially high-value drug development collaborations, most for gene and RNA therapies, led the first day of the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Monday. Pfizer Inc. enlisted Beam Therapeutic Inc. to advance in vivo base editing programs for up to $1.35 billion, while Bayer AG tapped Mammoth Biosciences Inc.’s in vivo CRISPR systems expertise in a potential $1 billion-plus deal. Selecta Biosciences Inc. inked a new $1.1 billion partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks Inc. to develop next-generation gene therapy capsids, while Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to pay Stoke Therapeutics Inc. as much as $967 million to develop RNA-based medicines. Work on new mRNA vaccines and therapies is also proceeding, with both Pfizer and Biontech SE announcing new collaborations in the space.
LONDON – The global pandemic has put the term mRNA on lips worldwide, but vaccines apart, the field of RNA therapeutics has failed to overcome the problem of delivery and is stuck at first base, targeting the liver. Newco Sixfold Bioscience Ltd. is the latest company working to end this constraint, applying a mixture of computation and advanced chemistry to design tissue-specific RNA delivery systems.
Everest Medicines Ltd. and Providence Therapeutics Holdings Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine was cleared for inclusion in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Solidarity Trial Vaccines clinical trial.
Everest Medicines Ltd. and Providence Therapeutics Holdings Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine was cleared for inclusion in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Solidarity Trial Vaccines clinical trial.
Abogen Biosciences Co. Ltd. has raised $300 million in a series C+ round to support the development of its mRNA products, specifically to support the development of its COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and expand to the global market.
Abogen Biosciences Co. Ltd. has raised $300 million in a series C+ round to support the development of its mRNA products, specifically to support the development of its COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and expand to the global market.
New positive phase III study results for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s COVID-19 monoclonal antibody cocktail show a single dose reduced the risk of contracting the virus by 81.6% during a two- to eight-month follow-up period. The strong data go along with Pfizer Inc.’s recent positive results for its oral antiviral, Paxlovid, hinting that COVID-19 therapeutics could begin cutting into powerful mRNA vaccine margins from Pfizer Inc.-Biontech SE and Moderna Inc.
Despite some concerns from a few members, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices unanimously approved recommendations to the CDC that boosters be made available to those wanting them. The advisory committee recommended that a single COVID-19 vaccine booster dose be given six months or more after completing an mRNA primary series in the same risk group for whom the CDC recommended a booster dose of Pfizer Inc-Biontech SA’s vaccine. The CDC presented data to the committee that the single mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose be given to those age 65 and older, for those at least 18 years old and reside in long-term-care settings, and also for those ages 50 to 60 with certain underlying medical conditions.
