Failure of ex-US Kevzara phase 3 further dents IL-6 COVID-19 hypothesis 01-Sep-2020 By Nick Taylor Sanofi’s Kevzara fails to beat placebo in COVID-19 phase 3, further diminishing hopes of repurposing anti-IL-6 antibodies.
Takeda sets up deal to distribute Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in Japan 31-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Takeda positions itself to distribute 40 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in Japan starting next year.
COVID-19 vaccine contributes to doubling of Sinovac R&D spending 31-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Sinovac increases second quarter R&D spending by 130% in race to bring COVID-19 vaccine to market.
UK backs push to take pan-coronavirus vaccine toward the clinic 27-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor UK government provides £1.9 million ($2.5 million) to move pan-coronavirus synthetic DNA vaccine toward human testing.
Trade group accuses FDA of rendering COVID-19 plasma units unusable 27-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor FDA faces criticism over labeling that has allegedly made “hundreds, if not thousands, of in-date, ready to transfuse” COVID-19 plasma units unusable.
Collaborative VLP tech bolsters COVID-19 vaccine development 26-Aug-2020 By Maggie Lynch VLP platform using structural elements of coronavirus and modified surface spike molecules could be an ‘ideal’ for COVID-19 vaccine development.
FDA grants emergency authorization to COVID-19 convalescent plasma 25-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor President Donald Trump claims plasma “will save countless lives” despite experts questioning efficacy evidence.
CureVac advances talks to sell 405m COVID-19 vaccines to EU 24-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor European Commission lines up deal to buy 405 million COVID-19 vaccines from CureVac, swelling stockpile to 1.5 billion doses.
MaaT starts manufacturing campaign after France lifts COVID-19-related restrictions 24-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Lifting of French restrictions on stool collection clears microbiome player MaaT Pharma to start new manufacturing campaign.
Roche, Regeneron ally to triple supply of COVID-19 antibody cocktail 20-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Roche agrees to distribute Regeneron’s COVID-19 antibody combination outside the US, more than tripling manufacturing capacity.
Analyst tips first wave of COVID-19 vaccines to generate $20b 20-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor Bernstein's Ronny Gal tips leading vaccine developers to rack up sales of $20 million from COVID-19 shots in the first immunization wave.
AstraZeneca, J&J and Sanofi-GSK set to sell up to 1.1bn COVID-19 vaccines to EU 18-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor European Union lines up deals to source up to 1.1 billion doses of three COVID-19 vaccines.
CDC tasks McKesson with distributing COVID-19 vaccines in US 18-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor McKesson leverages existing link to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to land $178 million COVID-19 vaccine.
UK strikes deals with J&J, Novavax to source 90m COVID-19 vaccines 17-Aug-2020 By Nick Taylor UK government reaches agreements to buy millions of COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, bringing total stockpile up to 340 million.
