Fresh data about vaccines by Valneva SE and the Gamaleya Research Institute show strength against COVID-19’s omicron variant. The new results helped continue a worldwide race to create, approve and distribute vaccines to fight the pandemic.
PERTH, Australia – In preparation for easing COVID-19 restrictions and opening its international borders, Australia has added a new vaccine and two new oral antiviral therapies to its arsenal to fight the omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is sweeping the globe. Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration granted provisional approval on Jan. 20 to Biocelect Pty Ltd. (on behalf of Novavax Inc.) for its COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, as well as two oral antiviral treatments.
Cansino Biologics Inc. has received marketing approval from the NMPA for its ACYW-135 meningococcal conjugate vaccine, Menhycia, making it the first of its kind to be authorized in China. The approval marks “an important step in accelerating the development of China’s meningococcal vaccine immunization strategy,” the company said.
Should the U.S. government be in the business of manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines? Several prominent Democratic senators and representatives would say yes.
Following Philip Morris International Inc.’s controversial takeover of respiratory drug firm Vectura plc, British American Tobacco plc (BAT) is also making inroads into medical research with U.K.-based Kbio Holdings Ltd., a biotech focused on plant-based medicine.
LONDON – A population level study tracking every pregnancy in Scotland between the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and the end of October 2021 lays bare the devastating impact of COVID-19 on perinatal mortality.
Cansino Biologics Inc. has received marketing approval from the NMPA for its ACYW-135 meningococcal conjugate vaccine, Menhycia, making it the first of its kind to be authorized in China. The approval marks “an important step in accelerating the development of China’s meningococcal vaccine immunization strategy,” the company said.
Where’s the plan? That was the underlying question Jan. 11 as Biden administration health officials faced frustration and tough questions from both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee about how the U.S. government is responding to the surge of COVID-19 infections caused by the omicron variant.
A raft of potentially high-value drug development collaborations, most for gene and RNA therapies, led the first day of the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Monday. Pfizer Inc. enlisted Beam Therapeutic Inc. to advance in vivo base editing programs for up to $1.35 billion, while Bayer AG tapped Mammoth Biosciences Inc.’s in vivo CRISPR systems expertise in a potential $1 billion-plus deal. Selecta Biosciences Inc. inked a new $1.1 billion partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks Inc. to develop next-generation gene therapy capsids, while Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to pay Stoke Therapeutics Inc. as much as $967 million to develop RNA-based medicines. Work on new mRNA vaccines and therapies is also proceeding, with both Pfizer and Biontech SE announcing new collaborations in the space.
LONDON – T cells generated as a result of infection with common cold coronaviruses provide cross-protection against being infected with SARS-CoV-2, according to a new study.