Osaka, Japan-based Shionogi & Co. Ltd. said May 13 that ensitrelvir fumaric acid (Xocova), its oral antiviral for COVID-19, showed no statistical difference against placebo in completely resolving 15 common COVID-19-related symptoms in a global phase III Scorpio-HR trial.
Is the U.S. getting the best return on investment (ROI) for its NIH buck? That’s the basic question at the heart of a white paper Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) issued May 9 to continue a conversation he started in September on the reforms needed at the country’s premier biomedical research institution.
By isolating a single clone from human isolates, researchers from the National Taiwan University College of Medicine aimed to enhance the immunogenicity of the Zika virus (ZIKV).
A licensing deal worth potentially up to $1.2 billion with Sanofi SA has breathed new life into Novavax Inc., which has struggled to compete in the COVID-19 space with powerhouses Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc.
The U.K.’s world-first subscription model for antimicrobials is to be expanded following a successful pilot scheme in which companies are being paid a fixed annual fee for their drugs, regardless of the volume dispensed.
The BioWorld Infectious Disease Index (BIDI) has continued to decline in the first four months of 2024, finishing April with a year-to-date decrease of 25.12%. BIDI trailed both the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, which saw a 4.76% downturn by April’s end, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which closed the month with a 0.34% increase for the year. In 2023, BIDI ended the year with a 43.48% decline, preceded by an 83.57% drop in 2022.
Three years ago when Keting Chu pondered the name for a new biopharma company that would fold in infectious disease assets from Novartis AG, she looked out over her West Coast backyard. “I was looking for a name that made you think of California,” she told BioWorld. She nixed the idea of incorporating redwood trees into the name, but then she saw the blue jays flying around those trees and thought, “that’s a beautiful bird.” Hence, Chu founded and became CEO of Bluejay Therapeutics Inc., first raising $20 million through a series A in June 2021 and a $41 million series B in August 2022. On May 9, the San Mateo, Calif.-based company closed a $182 million series C round, with plans to accelerate development of lead compound BJT-778 to treat chronic hepatitis D virus, a condition for which there are no approved therapeutics in the U.S.
Researchers at F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. have synthesized 3C-like proteinase (3CLpro, Mpro) (coronavirus) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of coronavirus acute respiratory syndrome infections.
The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund has announced a total investment of approximately ¥1.64 billion (US$10.8 million) in four projects for the development of new drugs for malaria and neglected tropical diseases.
New treatment options for treating Mycobaterium abscessus infections are needed. Previous findings had identified the leucyl-tRNA synthetase inhibitor MRX-6038 to have significant activity against M. abscessus. The aim of this new study was to focus on the activity of MRX-5, the oral prodrug of MRX-6038, both in vivo and in vitro.