Moderna Inc., late on Nov. 30, said it has asked the FDA to bless emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 after phase III data confirmed it to be 94.1% effective in preventing symptomatic cases of the disease and 100% effective in preventing severe cases. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said efficacy was "consistent across age, race and ethnicity and gender demographics."

PERTH, Australia – Mesoblast Ltd. inked an exclusive global licensing deal with Novartis AG for the development, manufacture and commercialization of Mesoblast’s mesenchymal stromal cell product remestemcel-L, with an initial focus on the acute respiratory distress syndrome, including that associated with COVID-19, just six weeks after the FDA issued a complete response letter for the therapy as a treatment for steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease.

SHENZHEN – To accelerate the development of cell therapies, China’s NMPA has introduced a dual-track regulatory pathway that allows companies to seek an IND with data from investigator-initiated trials.

BOGOTA, Colombia and VANCOUVER, Canada – Anvisa, Brazil’s health care surveillance agency, re-started phase III trials for Coronavac, the COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by China-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd., after a suspension of just two days. “Anvisa understands that it has sufficient subsidies to allow the resumption of vaccination,” the regulator said on Nov. 11. Anvisa said it plans to continue monitoring “the possible relationship of causality” between an unexpected serious adverse event and the vaccine.

PERTH, Australia – Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd. announced two new pharmaceutical indications for its lead product, Scenesse (afamelanotide). “The company has until now focused on one drug and has slowly gathered evidence and is now in a position to add other products to its pipeline,” Clinuvel CEO Philippe Wolgen told BioWorld.

PERTH, Australia – With the approval of cystic fibrosis treatment Bronchitol (mannitol), Sydney-based Pharmaxis Ltd. joins a small group of elite Australian biotech companies to take their drugs all the way to FDA approval.

HONG KONG – South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has approved an additional indication for CT-P59, Incheon-based Celltrion Inc.’s anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibody.

PERTH, Australia – Regenerative medicine company Mesoblast Ltd. saw its stock drop 37% on the news that it received an FDA complete response letter to its BLA for Ryoncil (remestemcel-L) for the treatment of pediatric steroid-refractory acute graft-vs.-host disease.

HONG KONG – Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. has won regulatory approval for Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) in Japan based on a pivotal phase II trial alone. The HER2-directed antibody-drug conjugate has been approved for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive unresectable advanced or recurrent gastric cancer that has progressed after chemotherapy.

HONG KONG – Tokyo-based Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Roche Holding AG, has received approval from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) to add new indication to the list of those treatable with its combination of Tecentriq (atezolizumab) and Avastin (bevacizumab): unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Both medicines originated at Genentech Inc.