Tracking the pandemic in all its manifestations – from symptoms and spread, to viral genomics and repurposing drugs – has massively increased appreciation of the importance of real world data, with significant implications for the future of drug discovery and clinical development, the use of patient data and health care as a whole.

Intervenn Biosciences said it has identified stark differences in the glycoproteomic profile of COVID-19 patients who became very sick and people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus who were either asymptomatic or experienced only minimal effects. The contrast could help clinicians better understand the biological mechanisms of the disease and triage patients at risk of responding detrimentally to early treatments and more intensive care.

Johnson & Johnson said it has temporarily paused further dosing of its adenoviral vector-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, JNJ-78436735, due to an unexplained illness in a study participant. Trial enrollment is also on hold while the company awaits a recommendation on how to proceed from the study's data safety monitoring board.

LONDON – Apogenix GmbH has added its CD95 ligand inhibitor, asunercept, to the band of cancer immunotherapies that are being repurposed to treat the most severe effects of COVID-19 infection.