The Biden administration said it will use the U.S. Defense Production Act to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic in a plan that includes a large increase in vaccine purchases. Also on tap is an increase in production of at-home test by six companies in addition to Ellume Ltd., of Perth, Australia, which will ship more than 8 million of their tests to the U.S. by the end of the year.
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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