The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has announced a Phase 1 clinical study of HIV vaccines using mRNA sequences. The study will test the safety and immunogenicity of three investigational HIV mRNA vaccines known as BG505 MD39.3 mRNA, BG505 MD39.3 gp151 mRNA and BG505 MD39.3 gp151 CD4KO mRNA. Get the full story […]
Pfizer donates Russian profits to Ukraine
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) announced that it would redirect all profits from its Russian subsidiary to relief efforts in Ukraine. Concluding that pausing shipments of medicines to Russia would be counter to its principles, Pfizer had already decided to offer humanitarian efforts to Ukraine. Pfizer also announced that it would refrain from launching new clinical trials […]
Sanofi details €2B plan to make France an mRNA leader
French drugmaker Sanofi (Nasdaq:SNY) said it would spend €935 million (about $1.1 billion) between 2022 and 2026 to produce mRNA-based vaccines. That funding is part of a larger €2 billion (about $2.4 billion) initiative to accelerate its mRNA development capability, Sanofi explained on its French-language website. The company plans to use the funds to ramp […]
Pfizer plans to share data on fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine with FDA
COVID-19 vaccine heavyweight Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) will soon provide data related to the fourth dose of its COVID-19 vaccine, according to Bloomberg. The company and its partner BioNTech (Nasdaq:BNTX) are also developing an omicron-specific version of the vaccine. Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said that the data to be shared with FDA involve the fourth dose of […]
President Biden vows to make aggressive use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral
President Biden said in his State of the Union address that the U.S. aims to ramp up the use of Pfizer‘s (NYSE:PFE) Plaxovid. The treatment has been in short supply since it won emergency use authorization late last year. Last year, when Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) and Pfizer were close to winning regulatory authorization for […]
Johnson & Johnson pauses COVID-19 vaccine production in Dutch plant
The plant will resume production of its COVID-19 vaccine in a matter of months, the paper reported. The company is also working to enlist other facilities to help produce the vaccine, but they are either currently not operational or haven’t received regulatory approval. While the J&J vaccine has failed to find widespread use in wealthy […]
President Biden reboots Cancer Moonshot project
In 2016, then-Vice President Joe Biden announced a Cancer Moonshot initiative to speed the development of new therapies to treat cancer. Biden is now launching a new initiative committed to improving the cancer survival rate by at least 50% by 2047. The plan also aims to improve the quality of life for patients with cancer. […]
Study bolsters case that vaccines protect against long-COVID
It may be too soon to know how often the omicron variant is associated with so-called long-COVID, but research from the Leavitt Partners’ COVID-19 Patient Recovery Alliance confirms that vaccination protects against the condition. Those who received at least one authorized COVID-19 vaccine dose before diagnosis were between seven and 10 times less likely to […]
WHO concludes that updated COVID-19 vaccines may be needed
When confronting an onslaught of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, COVID-19 vaccine makers such as Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) have tested tweaked versions of their vaccines but ultimately decided that they were unnecessary. Signs are growing that vaccines developed based on the original strain of the novel coronavirus will struggle to offer durable protection against the omicron […]
7 potential applications of mRNA-based therapeutics
Scientists have experimented with mRNA for decades, but the pandemic foisted the platform into the limelight. The Pfizer-BioNTech (NYSE:PFE/NSDQ:BNTX) and Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) COVID-19 vaccines have since emerged as two of the best-selling pharmaceutical products in recent memory. Researchers are now exploring dozens of new possibilities for the mRNA platform. Here, we summarize several areas where […]
FDA advisory committee votes in favor of COVID-19 pill molnupiravir
FDA’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee narrowly concluded that the benefits of Merck’s (NYSE:MRK) COVID-19 pill molnupiravir outweigh the risks. A total of 13 members of the panel voted in favor of the drug candidate, while 10 voted against it. There were no abstentions. Get the full story form our sister site, Drug Discovery & Development.