Universities in China’s Greater Bay Area have developed a recombinant receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein vaccine candidate that has shown promise against COVID-19, researchers said Monday at a press conference in Hong Kong. The vaccine can induce neutralizing activity after seven days with one dose, but more animal studies are now underway to test its durability.
HONG KONG – Singapore is Biofourmis Inc.’s latest destination for its Biovitals Sentinel platform to remotely monitor COVID-19 patients, with the country’s Ministry of Health (MOH) becoming the company’s latest customer.
NEW DELHI – If India’s government has its way, the country could launch a vaccine for COVID-19 in mid-August, an extremely short deadline that has caused controversy and pushed companies to speed up their development and the trials of prospective vaccines.
HONG KONG – Suwon-based Olix Pharmaceuticals Inc. is completing the final preclinical work before starting clinical trials for its as-yet-unnamed COVID-19 drug candidate, developed inside three months using RNA interference (RNAi) technology.
HONG KONG - California-based Iacta Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Hong Kong-based Zhaoke Ophthalmology Pharmaceutical Ltd. have inked a definitive license agreement for two of Iacta’s products.
Terns Pharmaceuticals Inc., a NASH specialist based in San Francisco and Shanghai, has out-licensed the Greater China rights of its BCR-ABL inhibitor, TRN-000632, for treating chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) to Chinese pharma giant Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. to move the preclinical oncology asset to the clinic faster.
HONG KONG – Los Angeles-based nonprofit accelerator Medtech Innovator has teamed up with the Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed) and picked 20 companies to participate in the organization’s Asia Pacific Accelerator program. With the competition in its eighth year, the accelerator also has revealed that Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices has committed to be a sponsor of the program for the next three years.
Senhwa Biosciences Inc., of Taipei, Taiwan, said casein kinase 2 (CK2) is the right target to aim at when developing a COVID-19 therapeutic treatment. The company’s silmitasertib is the only clinical-stage inhibitor of CK2, a kinase recently identified by researchers as being hijacked by SARS-CoV-2.
Emerging companies continue to have a bigger role in pushing biotech innovation, and their presence is more important than ever, given the race for a COVID-19 solution. Those companies’ role in global R&D and new drug approvals was stressed by experts at the current BIO Asia-Taiwan conference.
With no new cases reported for more than 100 days, Taiwan appears to have successfully contained the spread of COVID-19 and has drawn attention to its medical achievements.
RSS
