Be it viral, nucleic acid or protein vaccines, recent efforts that led to the first regulatory approvals for not only COVID-19, but also for malaria and respiratory syncytial virus, positioned infectious diseases in the headlines for much of the last four years.
In a global first, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has approved CSL Ltd.’s and Arcturus Therapeutics Inc.’s self-amplifying messenger RNA (sa-mRNA) vaccine (ARCT-154) for COVID-19 in adults. The approval marks the first milestone for a November 2022 licensing deal under which CSL subsidiary CSL Seqirus in-licensed Arcturus’ late-stage sa-mRNA vaccine platform technology.
Australia has a lot to celebrate when it comes to vaccines. The University of Queensland is where Ian Frazer invented the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil, and now Australia is projected to be the first in the word to eliminate cervical cancer, Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said during the Ausbiotech 2023 conference held Nov. 1-3 in Brisbane, Australia.
Researchers who follow their instincts and achieve slow results while trying to break barriers have little support. They replace it with persistence. This is the story of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. What was once a dream in their minds was later a success.
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.
Novavax Inc. has signed off 6.5 million shares to SK Bioscience Co. Ltd. for an $85 million equity investment from the South Korean pharmaceutical firm, which also wrote off some of Novavax’s manufacturing liabilities, as part of their continuing vaccine alliance. Seongnam-si, South Korea-based SK Bioscience purchased Novavax shares at $13 each, reflecting a 59% premium over the 90-day trading value, to gain a 6.45% stake in the Gaithersburg, Md.-based mRNA vaccine company, an SK Bioscience spokesperson confirmed to BioWorld.
South Korea’s antitrust agency on July 20 imposed fines of ₩40.9 billion (US$31.9 million) to crack down on 32 pharmaceutical firms charged with colluding on production, distribution and wholesale of vaccines in the country’s immunization program.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has voluntarily withdrawn its U.S. BLA for its dengue fever vaccine, Qdenga (TAK-003), following discussions with the FDA centered on “aspects of data collection, which cannot be addressed within the current BLA review cycle,” the company said in a statement.
Moderna Inc. may have risen to prominence during the pandemic with its messenger RNA (mRNA)-based COVID-19 vaccine, but it’s now casting a net far larger and wider. The company said on July 5 that it is readying international approval for its second mRNA vaccine called mRNA-1345 for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-associated acute respiratory disease based on positive interim data from the ongoing Conquer RSV study in individuals 60 and older.
In a move to address both prevention and treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV), Brii Biosciences Ltd. has acquired from VBI Vaccines Inc. a global exclusive license to HBV therapeutic vaccine BRII-179 (VBI-2601) and an exclusive license for HBV prophylactic vaccine Prehevbri in the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan.
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