Aridis Pharmaceuticals Inc. is one of two companies posting COVID-19 data just days before Christmas. Its fully human monoclonal antibody cocktail, AR-701, was shown to be broadly reactive against COVID-19 variants, including Omicron, in preclinical research. Moderna Inc. also posted new data that showed preliminary neutralizing data against Omicron following 50-mg doses of its vaccine, which is currently authorized, and 100-mg dose boosters, which increased neutralizing antibody levels 83-fold from the pre-boost levels.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Antengene, Bioinvent, Can-Fite, CG, Checkmate, Henlius, Iliad, Mediwound, Novartis, Summit, Targovax, Viridian.
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.
Antibiotics continue to take a beating as top-line results from Summit Therapeutics Inc.’s phase III study of ridinilazole failed to meet the primary endpoint for sustained clinical response and treating C. difficile infection (CDI). Looking for an upside on its lead candidate’s results, the company noted participants treated with ridinilazole had substantially less recurrence of CDI, the most common cause of diarrhea in hospitalized patients, as compared to those who were administered vancomycin (nominal p-value = 0.0002).
Top-line data from Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc.’s phase II study of its pulsed inhaled nitric oxide technology, Inopulse, showed decreases in mean pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) in treating pulmonary hypertension associated with sarcoidosis.
Wall Street didn’t much like Uniqure NV’s decision to hold off reporting efficacy measures in the phase I/II trial with one-time gene therapy AMT-130 for the treatment of Huntington’s disease (HD), but safety findings proved encouraging and analysts held out hope.
In the face of rare, sometimes fatal, side effects associated with Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted unanimously to recommend that the agency say it prefers mRNA COVID-19 vaccines over the Janssen vaccine for preventing COVID-19 in those ages 18 years and older.
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