The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, has awarded Vir Biotechnology Inc. approximately $50 million in new funding to advance the development of novel monoclonal antibody (MAb) candidates and delivery solutions to widen the applicability of MAbs in COVID-19 and in pandemic preparedness and response.
The development of new antimicrobials to combat bacterial resistance is an urgent need given the increasing presence of multidrug-resistant organisms, an important concern especially for vulnerable individuals.
Synthetic, multi-epitope peptide vaccines are becoming an attractive universal influenza vaccine strategy. Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics LLC has created LHNVD-105, an influenza vaccine candidate consisting of unconjugated multi-epitope influenza peptides.
Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) is awarding $1.75 million to the University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity to develop an oral therapeutic that restores the activity of common antibiotics used to treat community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP).
Redhill Biopharma Ltd. has announced a survival benefit with its oral sphingosine kinase-2 (SPHK2) selective inhibitor opaganib (ABC-294640) in an in vivo Ebola virus study.
Researchers from Assembly Biosciences Inc. recently presented details on the discovery and preclinical evaluation of a novel small-molecule hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis D virus (HDV) entry inhibitor, AB-1659.
Complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) are relatively short peptide loops in antibodies where they bind to their specific antigens. Bovines, unlike humans and other vertebrates, rely on ultralong CDR H3 antibody knob regions to neutralize cryptic viral epitopes.
Assembly Biosciences Inc. has selected ABI-6250, an orally bioavailable small-molecule entry inhibitor, as a development candidate to progress to IND-enabling studies for the treatment of chronic hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection.
Tuberculosis (TB) is the second leading infectious disease killer. According to the World Health Organization, every year, more than 10 million people fall ill with TB, and 1.5 million people die from the disease. The thing is, though, that it could be worse. Not nearly everyone who is infected has TB disease. “Tuberculosis is a disease that targets a small number of infected people,” Igor Kramnik, of Boston University, told BioWorld.