DUBLIN – Bowing to public and political pressure, the EMA has brought forward its review of BNT-162b2, the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer Inc. and Biontech SE, to Dec. 21, more than a week ahead of its originally scheduled date of Dec. 29.

DUBLIN – Minervax Aps raised €47.4 million (US$57.6 million) in a series B funding round to take a recombinant-protein-based vaccine for group B streptococcus (GBS) through a phase II program as well as parallel surveillance studies to enable it to define correlates of protection against GBS in newly born infants.

A day after the FDA granted emergency authorization for the use of the Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE COVID-19 vaccine, the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) gave a thumb’s up for the vaccine, as did the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup.

The Sanofi SA-Glaxosmithkline plc COVID-19 vaccine program is taking a step backward to recalibrate as weak interim phase I/II data showed an insufficient response in patients age 50 and older. The step is a large one, delaying a potential launch until mid-2021 at the earliest and the end of next year at the latest.

PERTH, Australia – The University of Queensland (UQ) and CSL Ltd. are abandoning their trials of an Australian COVID-19 vaccine after recipients generated HIV antibodies during phase I trials. The response means the antibodies produced by the vaccine can interfere with HIV diagnostic tests. However, there was no possibility the vaccine caused infection, and routine follow-up tests confirmed no HIV virus was present, the partners said.

The FDA’s vaccine advisory committee voted 17-4 with one abstention Dec. 10 to recommend an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE mRNA vaccine BNT-162b2 to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 16 and older.

Roche Holding AG has revealed a partnership with Moderna Inc. involving the use of the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S antibody test in the latter’s mRNA-1273 vaccine research trials. The news comes shortly after Roche received emergency use authorization from the U.S. FDA for the antibody test. 

With the FDA perhaps days away from granting emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first U.S. COVID-19 vaccine, the Trump administration took a bow Dec. 8 at a summit called to celebrate what’s been accomplished and to explain what lies ahead in getting vaccines distributed throughout the country.