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.
Bolstered by new and positive open-label extension data, Minerva Neurosciences Inc. won’t let a failed phase III of roluperidone in treating schizophrenia get in the way of considering an NDA filing.
Biopharma companies need to provide unredacted access to both positive and negative clinical data for all new drugs and vaccines, whether the drugs have been rejected, authorized for emergency use, or granted full or conditional approval, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and international regulators. “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for improved transparency of medical research,” said EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke, who also chairs the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA).
Novavax Inc. backed off its guidance of submitting an EUA for its COVID-19 vaccine in June, pushing the anticipated date to this fall. “We expect to complete regulatory filings in the third quarter,” Stan Erck, Novavax’s president and CEO, told investors on a May 10 conference call. “We hope to have market authorizations in multiple countries in the third quarter, as early in the quarter as possible.”
Across the world, rates of depression have reached alarming new heights as a result of the grief, uncertainty and isolation experienced through the pandemic. Despite the high prevalence of depression, its treatment remains a hit-or-miss affair. Up to two-thirds of patients fail to respond to the first antidepressant prescribed and many of them never return to try another. Tel Aviv-based Taliaz Ltd. has developed an artificial intelligence-driven tool to help psychiatrists and other prescribers get it right the first time.
Despite two recent clinical trial failures, Orphazyme A/S’s arimoclomol is still on track for its June 17 PDUFA date in treating Niemann-Pick disease type C. The newest stumble is in the pivotal study of arimoclomol for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as it failed to hit its primary and secondary endpoints.
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