Omnix Medical Ltd. is gearing up for a phase II trial next year of its novel peptide-based antibiotic OMN-6, the lead compound in a pipeline inspired by the antimicrobial strategies of insects.

About two weeks after chikungunya virus (CHIKV) vaccine contender Bavarian Nordic A/S provided phase III data with its prospect, rival Valneva SE rolled out positive phase III safety findings in adolescents with its single-dose candidate VLA-1553. Results from the Saint-Herblain, France-based company’s first trial in an endemic area with people previously infected with CHIKV showed the product was generally safe and well-tolerated in subjects aged 12-17 years, regardless of previous infection by the mosquito-borne disease, carried mainly by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Immunogenicity data from the study are expected in November.

SK Bioscience Co. Ltd.  and Vaxxas Pty. Ltd. have entered into a joint development agreement that could revolutionize vaccines by developing a vaccine-delivery device combination product using Vaxxas’ high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) coupled with SK Bioscience’s typhoid vaccine, Skytyphoid.

Imunon Inc. has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for the evaluation of the immunogenicity and efficacy of two Imunon DNA-based Lassa virus vaccine candidates. Under the 3-year agreement, the NIAID will assess the efficacy of Placcine DNA constructs against Lassa virus in guinea pig and non-human primate disease models, including both prime and prime-boost vaccine strategies.

Research led by investigators at Ghent University in Belgium showed dysregulation of the complement part of the immune system, regulated by the pro-inflammatory protein interleukin (IL)-6, is a key driver of severe COVID-19 and a good target for drugs to treat the effects of the disease. Writing in the Aug. 23, 2023, issue of Science Translational Medicine, the researchers also described a cellular map of the alterations seen in the complement system during COVID-19 related respiratory deterioration for use in future research.

The COVID-19 pandemic might be officially over, but future variants could still pose a threat, and serious health consequences of the causative virus continue to arise, a fact that has prompted the U.S. government to offer Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. about $326 million to develop and manufacture a next-generation COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapy.

Exavir Therapeutics Inc. has received a US$3 million award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health, to support the development of XVIR-110.

Most of the West African population is at risk of infection with Lassa virus (LASV), which leads to Lassa fever that causes thousands of deaths every...

A newly discovered antibiotic has been shown to block the synthesis of bacterial cell walls via immutable targets, raising the prospect of a class of drugs that will not lose effect through the development of antimicrobial resistance. Clovibactin, isolated from soil bacteria, targets the cell wall precursor molecules lipid II, lipid III and undecaprenyl phosphate (C55PP), all of which have a pyrophosphate group in common.