What was once effective is now a non-starter. Newly updated guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) caution against using the COVID-19 treatments sotrovimab, from GSK plc and Vir Biotechnology Inc., and Regen-Cov (casirivimab + imdevimab), from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. Omicron, the group said, has rendered the monoclonal antibodies ineffective.
From the beginning of the monkeypox outbreak in the U.S. in May, the federal government has bungled the response, according to both Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
A new vaccine that uses the native-like HIV-1 envelope (Env) trimer CH505 and a Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7/8 agonist adjuvant, successfully evaluated in macaques, generated potent polyclonal neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) and a high protection against the infection of the homologous simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV).
Intravacc BV has announced additional preclinical and toxicology data for Avacc 10, the company's SARS-CoV-2 intranasal candidate vaccine, showing a reduction in upper respiratory tract viral load, broad cross protection against circulating variants of concern and a promising safety profile.
Akston Biosciences Corp. emerged from a successful small company that was sold to a pharma major. For Todd Zion, that’s a back-to-basics move that suits him just fine. Zion co-founded Smartcells Inc. in 2003 with technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company went on to develop the once-daily injectable self-regulating insulin product, Smartinsulin, and sold it to Merck & Co. in what was at the time one of the largest preclinical pharmaceutical acquisitions ever.
Evaxion Biotech A/S, in collaboration with UMass Chan Medical School, has received a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the development of a lead vaccine candidate for gonorrhea.
Biovaxys Technology Corp. has announced that Millipore-Sigma, the contract manufacturer for its preclinical viral vaccine program, has completed the bioproduction and batch release endotoxin screening of BVX-1021, the company's vaccine for SARS-CoV, which is being used in the collaboration with The Ohio State University (OSU) to develop a pan-sarbecovirus vaccine.
China’s NMPA has granted emergency use authorization for two COVID-19 vaccines as boosters, Cansino Biologics Inc.’s inhaled vaccine Convidecia Air and Livzon Pharmaceutical Group Inc.’s recombinant protein vaccine. Convidecia Air is an aerosolized adenovirus type 5 vector-based vaccine. It is the first inhaled COVID-19 vaccine to be approved globally, according to Cansino.
In the hope of preventing thousands of hospitalizations and deaths over the next few months, the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP) voted 13-1 Sept. 1 to recommend the use of Moderna Inc.’s and Pfizer Inc.-Biontech SE’s updated vaccines that contain components of both the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and the omicron BA.4/5 subvariants as boosters.
As cases and deaths begin to level out, not showing the up-and-down spikes indicative of the first two COVID-19 pandemic years, the world may finally breathe a sigh of relief. But behind the scenes, the biopharma industry and global governments are not underestimating the evolving SARS-CoV-2 virus.
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