HONG KONG – Fujifilm Holdings Corp. stock (TYO:4901) jumped 8.8% to ¥5,890 (US$53.48) on Feb. 25, as Japan considers using Avigan (favipiravir), an anti-influenza medication developed by the company’s Toyama Chemical Co. Ltd., to treat COVID-19. The share price ended the day at ¥5,567, for a gain of 2.83%.
BEIJING – As the clock ticks on COVID-19’s spread, Chinese biotech companies are hoping to unleash the power of cloud computing and artificial intelligence to find a cure for the virus.
BEIJING – Multiple China-based clinical trials have been put on hold as the country concentrates on its fight against COVID-19. To curb the spread of the novel coronavirus that has infected over 72,000 people and killed nearly 2,000, China has imposed travel and transport restrictions, making trips difficult or even impossible for patients and physicians.
SEATTLE – Tracing the family tree of COVID-19 through its evolving DNA sequence makes it possible to disprove many false claims circulating on social media about the novel coronavirus, and, in particular, that it was generated in a covert biological weapons program. “From everything I’ve looked at, there is zero evidence for genetic engineering; it looks like normal evolution,” said Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who has been using genomes sequences taken from patient samples to track the spread of the virus since Jan. 11.
Biopharma happenings in Asia-Pacific, such as deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief, including: Amarillo, Aptorum, Cipla, CNS Pharma, Codagenix, Cytodyn, Daewoong, Dr. Reddy’s, J&J, Jianjin University Haihe Hospital, Luye, M8 Pharma, Monash University, Recce, Synergy, Vir, Wockhardt, WPD Pharma, Xiamen Weiyang.
Biopharma happenings in Asia-Pacific, such as deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief, including: Alterity, Athenex, Aurigene Discovery, Beijing CC-Pharming, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bridge Biotherapeutics, China Grand, Clover, Curis, Ibio, Oncosec, Porton Pharma Solutions, Q Biomed, Recce.
HONG KONG – In another example that communication is proving as difficult as containment in the current coronavirus outbreak, China’s state media reported, to increasing skepticism, that a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) oral liquid could inhibit the new coronavirus.