Under threat of emerging variants, the EU is taking to heart lessons learned so far in the global COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate the review of vaccines, improve data sharing from clinical trials and address the difficulties inherent in the mass production of vaccines that may contain up to 400 components.
HONG KONG – Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s COVID-19 vaccine, Coronavac, received conditional approval for use by the general public from China’s National Medical Productions Administration, two days after filing for conditional market authorization.
LONDON – South Africa has decided against using the 1 million doses of Astrazeneca plc’s COVID-19 vaccine already in the country to start the rollout of its national vaccination program, in favor of opening a phase IIIb study of Johnson & Johnson’s single shot product. “Over the next few days, we expect to announce a plan to expedite vaccination using [J&J’s] investigational vaccine in health care professionals in South Africa,” said Glenda Gray, CEO of the South African Medical Research Council and chair of the country’s research committee on COVID-19.
LONDON – A follow-up study of participants in the phase II/III U.K. trial of Astrazeneca plc’s COVID-19 vaccine has shown it remains effective against the new B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2.
LONDON – The U.K has started the world’s first trial alternating an adenoviral vectored COVID-19 vaccine with one that delivers the virus spike protein instructions encoded in messenger RNA. The heterologous prime boost trial will recruit 820 participants into an eight-arm study comparing different combinations of the Astrazeneca plc/Oxford University and Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE vaccines, administered in a different order and at different intervals.
While the Biden administration’s America Rescue Plan began its journey through Congress Feb. 3 as the next U.S. effort to address the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers came together to identify steps to improve vaccine distribution and curb ongoing supply shortages.
Vaxart Inc. investors who stuck by company shares Feb. 3 had to swallow a bitter pill – watching shares of the oral vaccine developer (NASDAQ:VXRT) fall 57.8% to $9.85. Driving the trade in part was news that, during a phase I trial, neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were not detected in most of the five subjects given two doses of VXA-CoV2-1, its oral recombinant protein vaccine for the potential prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Furthermore, the company concluded it was "unable to evaluate" a study of the candidate organized by Operation Warp Speed.
Pfizer Inc. reported solid earnings for 2020 and said it expects even bigger things this year as the company projects approximately $15 billion in earnings from the COVID-19 vaccine it co-developed with Biontech SE.
CAJICA, Colombia - Colombia approved two different phase II/III trials for COVID-19 vaccine candidates over the last week, advancing one candidate developed by Germany’s Curevac AG and another by China’s Clover Biopharmaceuticals Inc.
LONDON – Two new U.K. studies point to long-term persistence of COVID-19 antibodies after both natural infection and vaccination, conferring protection against subsequent infection for at least three months.
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