UK researchers have highlighted the importance of continued surveillance of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants and vaccine performance as the virus continues to evolve. The Francis Crick Institute and the National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre at University College Hospitals London (UCLH) published their… Read More
Recent SARS-CoV-2 variants such as BA.4 and BA.5 developed abilities missing from the first Omicron variants that allowed them to overcome humans’ innate immunity, according to research from University College London (UCL). The study examined viral evolution in eight Omicron variants to better understand how the… Read More
Biotech company ExeVir Bio has revealed new data demonstrating that its antibodies are effective in neutralising currently circulating Covid-19 Omicron variants. The company says that all authorised SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic antibodies that have been used in the clinic show severe to complete loss of virus neutralisation potency… Read More
New preclinical authentic ‘live’ virus data from Washington University School of Medicine demonstrated that Evusheld (tixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab) retains potent neutralising activity against the emerging and highly transmissible Omicron SARS-CoV-2 BA.2 subvariant.1 The data also showed that Evusheld retains activity against Omicron BA.1 and BA.1.1.1. The findings were… Read More
Moderna has dosed the first participant in a Phase II study of the company’s Omicron-specific booster candidate (mRNA-1273.529). Additionally, Moderna announced the publication of neutralising antibody data against the Omicron variant six months following a booster dose in The New England Journal of Medicine. The mRNA-1273.529 trial This extension… Read More
A third ‘booster’ dose of Covid-19 vaccine successfully raises antibody levels that neutralise the Omicron variant, according to laboratory findings from the Francis Crick Institute and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, published as a Research letter in The Lancet. The results Researchers found that antibodies generated in people… Read More
Revelar Biotherapeutics and Twist Bioscience have announced that RBT-0813 binds to and neutralises the Omicron and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2 in live virus studies. What is RBT-0813? RBT-0813 is a bispecific antibody discovered by Twist Biopharma and licensed to Revelar Biotherapeutics that targets epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Revelar has continued… Read More
Marinomed Biotech, an Austrian biotech company, has announced results of the antiviral efficacy of iota-carrageenan (Carragelose) against the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and variants of concern (VOC), including the Delta variant. This has been published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Collaboration The peer-reviewed study is… Read More
According to new results published as a correspondence in Cancer Cell, nearly 100% of cancer patients with solid tumours have antibodies effective against the Delta variant after a third dose of Covid-19 vaccine. What does this mean? The new findings highlight a proportion of patients with blood… Read More
New research from Qatar, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, has found that the natural immunity from prior infection of Covid-19 has a 92% efficacy against reinfection of the Beta variant, and a 98% efficacy against reinfection of the Alpha variant. The study … Read More
Researchers from the University of Oxford have analysed the impact of the Omicron Covid-19 variant of concern on one of the immune responses generated by vaccination. The study Using blood samples from individuals who had previously received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines as part… Read More
PerkinElmer has announced the research use only (RUO) launch of the NEXTFLEX Variant-Seq SARS-CoV-2 Kit v2 to accelerate the detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants, which will allow laboratories to increase sequencing throughput and make reliable variant identifications. What is NEXTFLEX? Using positive SARS-CoV-2 samples, the NEXTFLEX… Read More
