It is not the first malaria vaccine, but R21, recommended for use by the World Health Organization in October, is the first that can be manufactured at modest cost and the sort of scale needed for widespread prevention of the killer disease in Africa.
The World Health Organization recently endorsed an economical malaria vaccine with a 75% effectiveness rate, which costs less than half of the initial vaccine (RTS,S/AS01) created two years ago. The new vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, marks a significant milestone after decades of scientific research.
In addition to the four COVID-19 vaccines it has provisionally approved, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is recommending that two more vaccines – Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s Coronavac and Astrazeneca plc-Serum Institute of India’s Covishield – be considered “recognized vaccines.”
In addition to the four COVID-19 vaccines it has provisionally approved, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is recommending that two more vaccines – Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s Coronavac and Astrazeneca plc-Serum Institute of India’s Covishield – be considered “recognized vaccines.”
HONG KONG – In the midst of a COVID-19 crisis, India has waived the need for “well-established” foreign vaccines to undergo local trials. That could open doors for vaccines by Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Moderna Inc.
As the World Trade Organization (WTO) debate intensified this week over a demand to waive patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, the group’s new director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, urged members to “walk and chew gum” at the same time by working with “companies to open up and license more viable manufacturing sites now in emerging markets and developing countries. We must get them to work with us on know-how and technology transfer now.”
As the World Trade Organization (WTO) debate intensified this week over a demand to waive patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, the group’s new director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, urged members to “walk and chew gum” at the same time by working with “companies to open up and license more viable manufacturing sites now in emerging markets and developing countries. We must get them to work with us on know-how and technology transfer now.”
NEW DELHI – India is taking a multipronged approach to developing and distributing vaccines against COVID-19, with at least 10 different products under development, domestically or through collaborations with foreign developers. Vaccinations are likely to begin early next year but, with a population of around 1.2 billion, it is unlikely India will be able to vaccinate everybody it needs to before the end of 2022.
DUBLIN – Spybiotech Ltd. has secured a first vaccine deal for its proprietary Spytag/Spycatcher protein conjugation technology. The Serum Institute of India Pvt. Co. Ltd. (SIIPL) is employing the technology in a COVID-19 virus-like-particle (VLP)-based vaccine, which recently entered a phase I/II trial in Australia. An initial data readout is expected in October or November.
BOGOTA, Colombia – A two-year-old shortage of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in Mexico has become more serious, with 2020 starting out with renewed complaints of even lower availability of the vaccine all over the country.