Two major papers on repurposed drugs for COVID-19 by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital face intense skepticism from the research community, prompting the editorial boards of TheNew England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet to publish Expressions of Concern on the validity of the underlying data. Such expressions are often the first step toward an outright retraction.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Aldeyra, Algernon, Anavex, Can-Fite, Elixirgen.
The latest U.S. FDA town hall for testing for the COVID-19 included a few updates on serological testing, but perhaps the most important take-away was when Tim Stenzel, director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiology, advised attendees that performance expectations regarding next-generation sequence (NGS) testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus will closely resemble those of conventional molecular testing.
Hesperos Inc.'s Human-on-a-Chip in vitro system demonstrated two types of responses of the immune system in a study conducted with Hoffman-La Roche Pharmaceuticals and the University of Central Florida.
As more COVID-19 antibody testing becomes available, one question has been on everybody’s mind: Does the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the global pandemic, mean that people are protected from future infection? To that end, Genscript Biotech Corp., of Piscataway, N.J., has applied for emergency use authorization (EUA) with the U.S. FDA to market a test that specifically recognizes neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.