Virology / vaccines

Japan has suspended the use of around 1.63 million doses of the Moderna vaccine due to contamination, which the health ministry confirmed resulted from “foreign materials” in an unused batch of roughly 560,000 vials, according to BBC reports.   According to the news site, Takeda Pharmaceutical, which sells and distributes the vaccine in Japan, said Moderna had put […]

Moderna has completed the rolling submission process for its Biologics License Application (BLA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the full licensure of the its Covid-19 vaccine for active immunisation to prevent Covid-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older. As part of the completed BLA submission, Moderna has requested Priority Review designation.   “This BLA submission for our Covid-19 vaccine, […]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Biologics License Application for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. It will now be marketed as Comirnaty for the prevention of Covid-19 disease in individuals 16 years of age and older.  It is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be granted approval by the FDA.  The vaccine continues to be available under emergency use authorisation (EUA), including for individuals […]

Researchers at Purdue University and Houston Methodist Research Institute have created a novel strategy for developing an effective vaccine for a widespread form of tuberculosis.  Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a leading cause of death worldwide, leading to over 1.5 million fatalities annually. Approximately one-third of the global population is infected with the latent form of Mtb. […]

Valneva has begun a rolling submission for initial approval of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001, with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK. VLA2001 is a whole virus, inactivated, adjuvanted vaccine candidate and is the only vaccine candidate of this type currently in clinical trials in Europe.  VLA2001 is currently being […]

New data has been published on the durability of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine in generating neutralising antibodies against variants. The manuscript was published in Science.   “We are pleased with these new data showing that people vaccinated with two doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine maintained antibodies through six months, including against variants of concern such as the Delta variant. Along with our partners, we […]

Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies and PhotonPharma have established a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for collaboration to develop Innocell, a novel tumour specific immunotherapy (a therapeutic vaccine) for solid tumours, which can help improve the speed to market for treatment.  To help in the cancer immunotherapy development process, PhotonPharma is using Terumo’s Mirasol (R) Pathogen Reduction Technology (PRT) in the manufacturing process. The […]

An expert’s view by John Yoshi Shyu, Ph.D. Corning Life Sciences. Most vaccines are manufactured using technology devised fifty or more years ago, in manufacturing plants that are sometimes even older. The vaccine production process is continually refreshed by new tools and technologies, and that fast-paced innovation gives researchers numerous opportunities to adjust their processes […]

Moderna has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an update to the emergency use authorisation for the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273) to include a third dose for immunocompromised individuals. The third dose will available to people 18 years of age or older in the United States who have undergone solid […]

Lipids are essential for numerous functions in the human body. They are not only components of cell membranes, extracellular vesicles and hormones, but also store energy, facilitate metabolism, mediate cell signalling pathways, and much more. This incredibly diverse class of molecules encompasses at least 100,000 distinct species in humans.1 Due to their great complexity and […]