Covid-19

Researchers have developed a human cell ‘membrane on a chip’ that allows continuous monitoring of how drugs and infectious agents interact with our cells. It may soon be used to test potential drug candidates for COVID-19. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, Cornell University and Stanford University, say their device could mimic any cell […]

The first patient has been treated in Abivax’s Phase IIa/III study of ABX464 in COVID-19 patients at the University Hospital Centre in Nice, France. The randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled miR-AGE study investigates the effect of early treatment (at point of diagnosis) in 1,034 COVID-19 elderly or high-risk patients. The main goal of the trial is to […]

Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals have announced that the US Phase III trial of rheumatoid arthritis drug Kevzara (sarilumab) in COVID-19 patients requiring mechanical ventilation did not meet its main goals. Minor positive trends were observed in the primary pre-specified analysis group (critical patients on Kevzara 400mg who were mechanically ventilated at baseline) that did not […]

Clinician scientists at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland, have begun a clinical trial of a promising therapy for critically ill COVID-19 patients in intensive care. In a paper published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the team, led by RCSI Professors Gerry McElvaney and Ger Curley, describe changes in […]

Image: CDC A group of Lithuanian and Kurdish scientists have raised a hypothesis that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine could protect children from COVID-19. The hypothesis is based on the discovered sequence similarity of the 30 amino acid residues between glycoproteins of SARS-CoV-2, measles and rubella viruses. An experimental analysis is required in […]

Computational modeling yields a protein fragment that could bind to coronavirus spike proteins and destroy them by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office The research described in this article has been published on a preprint server but has not yet been peer-reviewed by scientific or medical experts. Using computational models of protein interactions, researchers at the MIT Media […]

With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting millions around the globe, researchers are racing to develop a vaccine or drug treatment. In an effort to better understand the cellular responses to COVID-19, the digital biology company Recursion has publicly released the world’s largest imaging dataset portraying therapeutic compound effects from over 1,600 approved and referenced molecules on SARS-CoV-2-infected human cells. The […]

Scientists from AI precision medicine company, PrecisionLife, have found 68 genes associated with risk of developing severe COVID-19 by using its proprietary AI-enabled precision medicine platform to analyse the genomes of 929 patients from the UK Biobank who had a severe response to SARS-CoV-2. Prior to an effective and widely available vaccine, PrecisionLife’s insights may […]

Avacta Group has announced that the first Affimer-based rapid test strips to detect SARS-COV-2 spike protein have been developed and evaluated by partners at Cytiva (formerly GE Healthcare Life Sciences) and show positive initial performance data. In mid-May Avacta provided Affimer reagents that are specific to the SARS-COV-2 spike protein to Cytiva which has now […]

Taconic Biosciences has announced an exclusive agreement with the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) to distribute humanised ACE2 mice for coronavirus research. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, uses the ACE2 receptor to enter cells, causing infection. Due to differences between the mouse and human ACE2 receptors, normal laboratory mice cannot be […]