Barely more than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, there are five approved vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 available in the U.S. Forty years into the HIV pandemic, there are none. That contrast was repeatedly made by speakers at the 2022 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI).
At the 2022 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), investigators reported on a fourth patient who has achieved HIV remission after a stem cell transplant. The patient is the first woman and the first mixed-race person to achieve HIV remission through a transplant procedure. In 2017, she was transplanted with cord blood stem cells lacking a functional CCR5 receptor, which prevents HIV from entering cells.
Altesa Biosciences Inc. CEO Brett Giroir called the firm’s scientific co-founders George Painter and Dennis Liotta “the most important developers of drugs against viruses on the planet, and probably in history.” Giroir’s remarks came as the College Park, Ga.-based firm launched to develop and commercialize new antiviral drugs against common respiratory bugs such rhinovirus and parainfluenza, as well as vector-borne threats such as Dengue fever, yellow fever, Zika and Powassan.
Infectious disease specialist Aicuris Anti-infective Cures AG has signed a worldwide license agreement worth up to €100 million (US$114 million) with Hybridize Therapeutics for a potential therapy to prevent BK virus (BKV) infections in immunocompromised patients.
Curevo Vaccine Inc. closed on a $60 million series A financing designed to take the company through releasing top-line data for its phase IIb study of CRV-101 for treating shingles in older adults. That means taking on a blockbuster, Shingrix from Glaxosmithkline plc.
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S. and is also common in certain areas of Europe. Yet, despite this, there are no FDA-approved vaccines available to treat it, meaning those diagnosed must receive a dose of antibiotics. But antibiotics are problematic because of the risk of treatment-resistant strains emerging. That leaves a pressing need for a vaccine or other way to prevent infections from the tick-borne bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.
Gilead Sciences Inc. is making a one-time $1.25 billion payment, with a commitment for a royalty that analysts predict could add as much $1.5 billion more, to Viiv Healthcare Ltd., in a deal designed to resolve all global pending or potential patent infringement claims relating to sales of HIV drug Biktarvy (bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide). The initial payment, recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021, put a significant dent in Gilead’s earnings per share but removes the uncertainty of a trial outcome and clears the way for future bictegravir-containing products.
North China Pharmaceutical Group New Drug Research & Development Co. Ltd. has received approval from China’s NMPA to market ormutivimab as post-exposure treatment for the prevention of rabies.
While BioWorld’s Infectious Disease Index showed a huge 144% climb in 2020, an enthusiastic response toward defeating the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the index dropped significantly in early 2021 and spent most of the year spiking up and down, reacting abruptly to the promises of herd immunity and the threats of vaccine-resistant variants.
Leyden Laboratories BV has raised $140 million in a series B financing round to develop drugs that treat whole families of viruses, including a wide-spectrum flu antibody licensed from Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. unit earlier this month.
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