Coronavirus - Pharma

Tesla’s ‘side project’ building RNA microfactories for CureVac

03-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Elon Musk revealed the news on Twitter that Tesla was working with CureVac and ‘possibly others’ to produce RNA vaccines.

Pfizer posts positive vaccine results and capacity for 1.2bn doses

02-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Pfizer and BioNTech release positive results from Phase I/II trials investigating their mRNA vaccine against COVID-19.

FDA says COVID-19 vaccine must be effective in half of recipients

01-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

US FDA demands that vaccine must prevent or decrease severity in at least 50% of people receiving doses.

Inovio posts positive COVID-19 vaccine results but few details

30-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The biotech reveals positive results of Phase I trials but does not provide a fuller picture of data.

Stevanato partners with CEPI for 2 billion vaccine vials

29-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

CEPI signs agreement for supply of glass vials to speed up COVID-19 vaccine development timeline.

Moderna secures fill-finish capabilities for COVID-19 vaccine

29-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Moderna signs deal with Catalent for fill-finish services, shortly after AZ announced the same move.

WHO seeks $31bn in next 18 months to combat COVID-19

29-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The organization wants to raise the sum to support its ‘three pillar’ approach to the pandemic: vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

AstraZeneca makes another vaccine supply agreement

25-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

AZ enters a supply agreement with Symbiosis as it continues to work on bolstering supply for its COVID-19 vaccine.

Europe working to secure supply of J&J vaccine

22-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

European Commission is working to guarantee access to J&J’s vaccine, as it bulks up vaccine supply, reports suggest.

Emergent in $75m expansion into viral vectors and gene therapy

22-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The company will buildout its Massachusetts facility to provide CDMO services for viral vector and gene therapies.

Sanofi to invest €610m in vaccine production site

18-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The company will create both a vaccine site and an R&D center in France.

Catalent to fill and package AZ’s COVID-19 vaccine

18-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The CDMO seals a deal to provide vial filling and packaging services for the commercialization of AZ’s potential COVID-19 vaccine.

Gavi backed with $8.8bn to support immunization plans

17-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The Vaccine Alliance given funds to support the immunization of 300 million children and to develop measures against COVID-19.

Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine set for Phase III trial

15-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The company will begin a late-stage trial for its potential vaccine in July, with 30,000 individuals to receive mRNA-1273.

COVID-19 pandemic is ‘worst nightmare’ scenario, says Fauci

10-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

However, the seriousness of the outbreak will result in multiple vaccines and therapeutics being approved, he suggests.

Single-use systems: Finding the ‘sweet point’ of capacity

10-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Samsung Biologics director outlines the difference between single-use and stainless steel systems, noting the difficulties of the former at large scales.

US government doubles down with $143m syringe investment

09-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Ramping up preparedness for potential COVID-19 vaccine, the US government awards SiO2 a contract for syringe and vials.

Oxford Biomedica adds two suites to manufacture AZ vaccine

09-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Oxford Biomedica teams up with VMIC to expand capacity for AZ’s vaccine candidate for COVID-19.

Lawsuit accuses CDMO of ‘blocking’ COVID-19 vaccine

08-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Inovio launches a lawsuit against VGXI, claiming that the CDMO has breached its manufacturing contract for vaccine candidate.

AZ secures two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine

05-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

AstraZeneca partners with three organization to boost manufacturing capacity to two billion doses.

US pushes forward five vaccine candidates

04-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Reports suggest US government has selected five companies with the most promising vaccine leads to be given additional financial and infrastructure support.

CEPI funds trials against emerging infectious disease

03-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

With many organizations pivoting to work on the pandemic, CEPI partners with consortium to develop a vaccine against the Chikungunya virus.

Investigation opened over biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine claim

03-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

A law firm investigates Inovio over claims it developed a vaccine to COVID-19 within three hours.

BARDA provides CDMO $628m to serve US government

02-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Emergent receives funds to provide manufacturing capabilities to the US government for COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

Novavax expands COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing through acquisition

02-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Novavax buys Praha Vaccines and gains the capacity to produce over one billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

First antibody treatment designed against COVID-19 hits trials

02-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Eli Lilly’s potential treatment is the first coronavirus-specific mAb to enter trials and large-scale manufacturing efforts will commence immediately.