Developers of tests for the SARS-CoV-2 virus have gained a tremendous amount of experience in a very small amount of time, and of all the media for sampling, saliva offers the easiest route for test administration. The U.S. FDA’s Tim Stenzel said on the Aug. 5 testing town hall, however, that the FDA and developers have discovered that this is an extremely difficult medium to work with.
With strong results in hand from the phase I stage of its phase I/II study testing a would-be COVID-19 subunit vaccine, Novavax Inc.’s president of R&D, Gregory Glenn, said “it’s possible we could go down in the dose” as work proceeds and get similar efficacy.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Axsome, Diurnal, Pharmacyte, Revive.
The U.S. FDA gave an emergency use authorization (EUA) to the first semi-quantitative antibody test from Siemens Healthineers AG for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This test, known as the SARS-CoV-2 IgG (COV2G) antibody test, could potentially be used repeatedly over time to assess relative levels to gauge potential immunity.
Orthopedic companies felt pressure from COVID-19 in their most recent quarters. For example, Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. reported second-quarter net sales of $1.226 billion, a decrease of 38.3% from the prior-year period. Still, those revenues did come ahead of expectations, as Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen noted – $432 million ahead of his group's estimate and $305 million ahead of consensus.
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