Although U.S. President Joe Biden suggested in September that the pandemic is over, health officials insist there is still much to do in preparation for an endemic stage of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The number of weekly COVID-19 confirmed cases both globally and in the U.S. is similar with each of the last two years, but deaths from the virus are at some of the lowest levels since the pandemic began. Still, the virus will continue to evolve and circulate, and the biopharma industry will need to develop new booster vaccines, antivirals and monoclonal antibodies, among other candidates, to prepare for upcoming battles.

Imunon Inc. has reported partial results from an ongoing nonhuman primate study designed to examine the immunogenicity of its proprietary Placcine vaccine (PL-COV). The data support Placcine as a viable alternative to mRNA vaccines.

Three months after agreeing to an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, World Trade Organization (WTO) members are discussing expanding it to therapies, diagnostics and devices used in preventing, diagnosing and treating COVID-19 infections.

Maxwell Biosciences Inc. has announced data on the utility of its Claromer drug discovery platform for the treatment and prevention of SARS-CoV-2, and potentially other respiratory viruses, through a series of preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies.

The 2022 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award has been awarded to Richard Hynes, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Erkki Ruoslahti, of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, and Timothy Springer, of Harvard Medical School “for discoveries concerning the integrins, key mediators of cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion in physiology and disease.”