Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. posted positive initial results from its ongoing phase III study of its monoclonal antibody cocktail, REGEN-COV (casirivimab and imdevimab), used as a passive vaccine, designed to provide immediate short-term passive immunity to prevent COVID-19 in people at high risk of infection due to household exposure to a COVID-19 patient. Eli Lilly and Co. reported upbeat news the same day, as the phase III Blaze-1 trial testing its antibody cocktail met its primary and key secondary endpoints.

In signing an executive order (EO) on strengthening American manufacturing Jan. 25, President Joe Biden made it clear that the order is aimed at more than infrastructure. While Biden’s Build Back Better Recovery Plan calls for investing hundreds of billions of dollars in buying American products and materials to modernize the nation’s infrastructure and increase its competitiveness, “it also means replenishing our stockpiles to enhance our national security,” the president said.

Tscan Therapeutics Inc. CEO David Southwell told BioWorld that his firm’s series C financing of $100 million will allow two IND filings in liquid tumors this year and three – possibly more – in solid tumors starting next year. “We’ll be filing a lot of INDs in solid tumors,” he said. The Waltham, Mass.-based firm works with T-cell receptor-engineered T-cell therapies.

PERTH, Australia – Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has granted provisional approval to Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd. for its COVID-19 vaccine, branded Comirnaty, making it the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive approval in Australia.