Medicago and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have reported positive interim Phase II clinical trial safety and immunogenicity data for Medicago’s plant-derived Covid-19 vaccine candidate, which has been tested in combination with GSK’s pandemic adjuvant. These results are part of the ongoing Phase II/III study and reiterate the promising profile observed during Phase… Read More
The Sanofi and GSK adjuvanted recombinant Covid-19 vaccine candidate achieved strong rates of neutralising antibody responses, in line with those measured in people who have recovered from Covid-19, in all adult age groups in a Phase II study with 722 volunteers. The Phase II interim results showed 95% to 100%… Read More
CureVac, in collaboration with GSK, has announced that its second-generation Covid-19 vaccine candidate, CV2CoV, induces high levels of antigen production as well as strong and dose-dependent immune responses in vaccinated animals. CV2CoV is a co-development between CureVac and GSK and is based on a new mRNA backbone, which differs from… Read More
There’s no escaping it, the past year has definitely been the year of the vaccine, says DDW Editor Lu Rahman. And it looks like it may continue for some time yet. Of course immunisation is nothing new - some reports say that Buddhist monks were drinking snake venom back in… Read More
Mount Sinai researchers have found that a widely available and inexpensive drug targeting inflammatory gene has reduced morbidity and mortality in mice infected with SARS-CoV-2. In a study published in Cell, the team reported that the drug, topotecan (TPT), inhibited the expression of inflammatory genes in the lungs of mice… Read More
The largest ever study of Covid-19 vaccine messaging shows that emphasising the personal benefits rather than collective of vaccination may be the most effective way to persuade people who are sceptical. Researchers from the University of Oxford, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre… Read More
Listen to this article on the DDW Podcast: In the wake of Covid-19 interest in repurposing a drug for a different indication to the one it was developed for has been high. Madison Knapp, Marketing Communications Specialist, and Dr. Brian Ogilvie, Vice President of Scientific Consulting, SEKISUI XenoTech offer insight into… Read More
Moderna has announced an agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to supply up to 500 million doses of the Covid-19 Vaccine Moderna, including an initial 34 million doses to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021. Through this agreement, on behalf of the COVAX Facility, Gavi also retains… Read More
Taconic Biosciences, providers of animal model solutions for drug discovery, has launched a new Covid-19 mouse model. This human ACE2 (hACE2) transgenic mouse expands Taconic’s Covid-19 research toolkit. In October 2020, Taconic launched its first hACE2 model. The AC70 mouse experiences a lethal response to infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus… Read More
By Erik Steinfelder, Biobanking Market Development Director at Thermo Fisher Scientific From hidden repositories, secreted deep in the basements of universities and hospitals, to the emergence of collaborative powerhouses driving ground-breaking therapies, biobanks have come a long way in the past 30 years. Biobanks were originally created as vast repositories… Read More
Oxford Immunotec’s T-SPOT Discovery SARS-CoV-2 kit will be used for T cell testing in a study being carried out in collaboration with researchers at the University of Leicester. The DIRECT study (Determining the Immune Response in Ethnic minority healthcare workers to Covid-19 infecTion) is recruiting healthcare workers in Leicester for… Read More
Sophie Lutter, OXGENE, looks at the important role antibody therapeutics have to play and how, as the world has looked for Covid-19 treatments in the last year, their significance has been noted. As the world continues to adjust and respond to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the race to… Read More
A study has found that a single dose of vaccine boosts protection against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus variants, but only in those with previous Covid-19. In those who have not previously been infected and have so far only received one dose of vaccine, the immune response to variants of concern… Read More
Chemical specialist Evonik is helping to accelerate the production of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech by suppling an essential component. Evonik is delivering first batches of urgently needed lipids for the mRNA-based vaccine to BioNTech months earlier than anticipated. Specialists at Evonik’s Hanau site set up the lipid production in… Read More
Lisa Osborne, CEO at RANA Healthcare Solutions interviews Daniel Kavanagh, PhD, Senior Scientific Advisor, Gene Therapy at WCG. The Covid-19 pandemic has put vaccine development centre-stage. Never have citizens around the world been so focused on the length of time it takes to develop, test, approve, manufacture and distribute new… Read More
Novavax has announced its participation in a newly expanded investigator-initiated Phase II clinical trial called Comparing Covid-19 Vaccine Schedule Combinations – Stage 2 (Com-COV2), to be conducted by the University of Oxford and supported by the UK Vaccines Taskforce. Novavax’ recombinant protein vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, is one of four Covid-19… Read More
