Swept up into a coronavirus whirlwind, the biopharma industry has ramped up development of therapeutics and vaccines and altered business plans to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a way that nobody could have imagined only months ago.
In order to redirect health care resources and protect patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, many drug companies have paused enrollment in some or all of their ongoing clinical trials.
A new, worldwide coalition of plasma companies seeking to develop and deliver a hyperimmune immunoglobulin therapy for fighting COVID-19 takes the view that many hands make light work.
DUBLIN – Three different vaccine technologies are being deployed in the desperate global effort to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but Rino Rappuoli, chief scientist at the GSK Vaccines arm of Glaxosmithkline plc, said he sees traditional protein-based adjuvanted subunit vaccines, the trusted workhorse of infectious disease prevention, as offering the best bet for delivering a safe and effective vaccine at scale, within the tight timescales necessitated by the present crisis.
Business as usual only three months ago has transformed into health care industry overdrive as biopharma and med-tech companies scramble to test and scale-up treatments, vaccines and diagnostics to address COVID-19.
A list of biopharma companies and nonprofit entities, including academia, working feverishly to find a vaccine or antiviral treatment to address the rapidly spreading coronavirus, now known as COVID-19, has more than doubled, increasing from about 30 a few weeks ago to 71 as of March 6.
BEIJING – While repurposing drugs may be a quick solution to an epidemic like COVID-19 that has a limited research window, it’s just luck as to whether an already available drug candidate exists for newly emergent diseases. Experts say it’s more realistic to develop better drugs instead of attempting to repurpose old ones.
HONG KONG and BEIJING – Not just multinational players but domestic Chinese pharmaceutical companies are poised to benefit from China’s promise under a phase one trade deal with the U.S. to better protect intellectual property (IP), even if question marks remain around how the deal will be enforced. The move is in line with China's ambition to strengthen IP rights protection and upgrade the approach to innovation of its pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
According to Janet Lambert, CEO of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), in her delivery of the international advocacy group’s state of the industry briefing at Biotech Showcase in San Francisco, 2019 proved to be a significant year of growth for the regenerative medicine sector.
SAN FRANCISCO – Pacing the stage at this year's China Showcase Saturday, Chinabio CEO Greg Scott sounded a touch disappointed. Last year lacked the kind of record-breaking stats he likes to punctuate with iconic explosions, a common image in his widely valued China health care talks. "Simply stated, business is continuing as normal," he said.
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