The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has opened a priority track for patents related to the COVID-19 pandemic, another signal of federal government intent on overcoming this new plague. However, Scott Marty, a partner with the Atlanta office of Ballard Spahr LLP, told BioWorld that while the program offers some distinct advantages for pandemic-driven patents, inventors should have their filings in good form before entry because any delays incurred by a less-than-airtight application could lead the PTO to boot the application out of this program.
LONDON – Geopolitical tensions over the issue of access to COVID-19 vaccines intensified this week, after the CEO of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi SA said the U.S. government would get first access to its product because it was first to fund the research.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Abivax, Aim Immunotech, Cellphire, Enzychem, Immunic, Nordic Nanovector, Pharmazz, Restem, Sanofi, Scimount, Seattle Genetics, Takeda, Verona, Zealand.
DUBLIN – Abivax SA has rejected an acquisition offer in order to pursue a phase IIb/III trial of its lead anti-inflammatory drug ABX-464 in 1,034 COVID-19 patients.
LONDON – The U.K. is launching a £28 million (US$34.5 million) project to sequence the whole genome of every COVID-19 patient in the country treated in intensive care, with the aim of uncovering host genetic factors that lead some people to be more severely affected by the infection. The study will involve up to 20,000 people currently or previously treated in one of 170 intensive care units (ICUs), whose genomes will be compared to 15,000 people with a confirmed infection who had mild or moderate symptoms.
PERTH, Australia – Australian stem cell company Mesoblast Ltd. completed a capital raising of AU$138 million (US$90 million) to scale up manufacturing of its allogeneic cell therapy, remestemcel-L, to treat COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
CAJICA, Colombia – Previous research to develop vaccines for dengue and Zika virus could become the cornerstone for a vaccine against COVID-19, which the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is working on.