With phase III vaccine trials nearly enrolled and data expected soon, a half-year of expedited development efforts, plus massive government funding may soon provide the ammunition needed to effectively stop the SARS-CoV-2 scourge of 2020.
HONG KONG – Cambridge, U.K.-based Astrazeneca plc has resumed phase I/II trials in Japan for AZD-1222, the experimental, adenovirus vector-based candidate coronavirus vaccine that it is co-developing with the University of Oxford.
HONG KONG – New data from Beigene Ltd. recently presented at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 showed its PARP inhibitor pamiparib helped shrink tumors in almost 65% of people with platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer treated with the candidate during a pivotal trial.
A new randomized controlled trial (RCT) of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) treatment for moderately ill COVID-19 patients run at 39 Indian hospitals found no association between CCP therapy and reduced mortality or progression to severe disease.
HONG KONG – Interim results of a phase I study CT-P59, an anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibody being developed by Incheon, South Korea-based Celltrion Inc., have confirmed the candidate’s safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics in healthy subjects, giving the company confidence to ramp up production of the experimental antiviral.
HONG KONG – Sanofi SA has finally ended its clinical development of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s efpeglenatide as a type 2 diabetes treatment, and the Korean firm is now considering how to move forward with developing the once-weekly GLP-1 receptor agonist, which employs Hanmi's Lapscovery delivery technology.
LONDON – Results from two non-randomized phase I/II trials of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V that recently received conditional regulatory approval show both a frozen and a freeze-dried formulation of the two-shot vaccine had a good safety profile and induced antibody responses in all 76 participants within 21 days.
HONG KONG – Singapore-based Tessa Therapeutics Pte. Ltd. released the results of two investigator-initiated phase I/II trials that found its autologous CD30 CAR T-cell therapy TT-11 showed a high rate of durable complete responses and a favorable safety profile in patients with relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.
Chinese state-backed vaccine developer China National Biotec Group (CNBG), of Beijing, published an interim analysis of randomized phase I/II trials of its inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate in the Journal of the American Medical Association last week. With the added detail, the data encouraged the company in its plans to produce 220 million doses per year.
HONG KONG – China’s Lianyungang-based Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co. Ltd. has obtained approval from Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) to begin a phase III trial for a combination therapy of its PD-1 inhibitor candidate camrelizumab and VEGFR-2 inhibitor rivoceranib.
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