The latest Omicron variants of Covid could be protective against serious influenza infection, a leading testing expert says. The milder variants have now made Covid-19 less dangerous than the flu, though there is still the risk of developing long Covid. Dr Quinton Fivelman PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at London Medical… Read More
A proof of concept (POC) study has shown the clinical benefit of zapnometinib in patients with severe Covid-19 and supports further evaluation in severe viral diseases. Atriva Therapeutics and investigators will continue to evaluate the RESPIRE data and will provide an update on the full dataset in due course. The POC… Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to improvements in clinical trial processes and a more technology-driven approach, a new report from Medidata has revealed. The report ‘European Industry Research Report: The Future of Clinical Trials’ includes insights from 400 clinical trial executives across the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Switzerland. The… Read More
A recent study by the University of Colorado School of Medicine shows that diabetes drug metformin is effective for preventing severe illness from Covid-19. The CU School of Medicine was part of a multi-site clinical trial into the effectiveness of metformin, ivermectin and fluvoxamine in non-hospitalised adults with Covid-19. … Read More
The amount of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the blood of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 could be used to predict illness severity and other clinical outcomes. A new study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, shows that higher levels of viral antigen in the blood, which… Read More
Biotechnology company Moderna has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pfizer and BioNTech in relation to the use of its messenger RNA (mRNA) technology and Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 Comirnaty vaccine. The lawsuits, which were made in the United States and Germany, state that Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine Comirnaty… Read More
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved an updated version of Moderna’s Covid-19 booster vaccine that targets two coronavirus variants. Moderna’s ‘Spikevax’ booster dose targets the original coronavirus strain as well as the Omicron variant. Known as a bivalent vaccine, Spikevax was approved following… Read More
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is investing $30 million in the pharmaceutical company Laboratorios Siegfried to help provide lower-income populations across the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) regions with better access to high-quality and affordable healthcare products. The investment falls under IFC’s Global Health Platform (GHP) and will support… Read More
Two doses of Covid-19 vaccines were sufficient in providing protection against severe cases of the infectious disease, according to new research. A study1 led by researchers at the University of Bristol found that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines provided protection against Covid-19 infections six months… Read More
Pharmaceutical company Novavax is attempting to expand the use of its Covid-19 vaccine Nuvaxovid into adolescents aged 12-17 year and as a booster dose for adults. The company has submitted a request to Swissmedic to expand the conditional marketing authorisation (CMA) of Nuvaxovid. The request is based… Read More
GSK and Sanofi have reported positive efficacy data from a co-developed vaccine targeting the Omicron variant of Covid-19. The report makes GSK and Sanofi the first companies to have a vaccine candidate for the Omicron variant which has demonstrated efficacy. Specifically, the companies’ B.1.351… Read More
A collaboration between two biotech companies hopes to pave the way for the development of the first-ever African-owned Covid-19 vaccine. Afrigen Biologics and the Univercells Group have announced a collaboration to focus on the development of a new mRNA vaccine. The collaboration is being supported by mRNA specialist, eTheRNA, and… Read More
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is investing $577 million to establish nine Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Centers for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern, the organisation has announced. The AViDD centers will conduct multidisciplinary research to develop candidate Covid-19 antivirals and others targeting specific viral… Read More
A partnership between life sciences companies PrecisionLife and Sano Genetics aims to drive insights into the genetics of long Covid and potentially identify new treatments. The companies will analyse Sano Genetics’ data of 3,000 adults suffering from long Covid symptoms using PrecisionLife’s combinatorial analytics platform… Read More
Bachem, a Swiss technology company active in the fields of chemistry, biochemistry and pharmaceuticals, as well as the development and production of peptides and oligonucleotides, analyses the findings from scientific research about the relationship between ACE2 and SARS-CoV-2. Covid-19 has impacted almost everyone’s lives, whether through personal experience of infection… Read More
Following the launch of Protas, an organisation which was launched on January 24, 2022, DDW Editorial Assistant Megan Thomas interviews Protas Chief Executive, Professor Sir Martin Landray, an epidemiologist and physician who has over 20 years’ experience of leading large, randomised clinical trials and has most recently been leading the… Read More
