Covid-19 Update

Will efforts to limit all returns on investment drive biopharma companies away from developing much-needed interventions for COVID-19.

The candidates will be used by the Vaccine Research Center, part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

Catalent will use its GPEx cell line development technology to create a cell line expressing the recombinant VLP at its Madison, WI facility.

The agency published guidance to clarify its enforcement of distribution of drug samples for drug marketing during COVID-19.

The agency has added a COVID-19 innovation resource page and an education resources page to its website.

Novavax announces DoD contract to produce 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The European Commission is pledging EUR 300 million (US$339 million) to Gavi for vaccines for infectious diseases, in addition to an earlier pledge of more than EUR 1.5 billion (US$1.7 billion) made on May 4, 2020.

SiO2 Materials Science has received $143 million from the US government to accelerate capacity scale-up of its advanced primary packaging platform.

CordenPharma announces expansion of lipid excipients supply for coronavirus vaccine scale up.

The new vaccine would be made with a Newcastle disease virus vector that expresses the immunogenic spike protein of SARS-CoV-2

The Gavi advance market commitment for COVID-19 vaccines is a new financing instrument aimed at incentivizing vaccine manufacturers to produce sufficient and affordable quantities of COVID-19 vaccines.

The medicine is the first outcome of the collaboration between Lilly and AbCellera to create antibody therapies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

Despite the clear danger of COVID-19 to global health, vaccine opponents have gained ground, as fearful populations lose faith in the capabilities of industry and government to protect public health.

The companies have entered into a manufacturing agreement for the fill finish supply of lenzilumab for the potential treatment of COVID-19.

The acquisition gives Novovax an annual operating capacity of more that one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine antigen.

The company announced that it has been issued a task order under a present contract with BARDA to use its contract development and manufacturing capabilities and knowledge to assist in the US government’s efforts to deliver COVID-19 vaccines.

Achieving herd immunity will require testing, data, a vaccine, and public support.

The UK BioIndustry Association has stated its support of a government led funding initiative, Future Fund, which will support innovative companies in the United Kingdom that will help to ensure the country’s leading position in science, innovation, and technology.

Biopharmaceutical company, Atriva Therapeutics, has announced, in a May 28, 2020 press release, that it will develop ATR-002, an oral small molecule, for treatment of patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 that require hospitalization in a Phase II study.

Merck will acquire Themis Bioscience and collaborate with IAVI and Ridgeback Bio on COVID-19 vaccines and therapies.

Merck will use Themis’s vector platform to develop a vaccine to prevent COVID-19.

The company has received a $288,000 grant from the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to support a clinical study in Sub-Saharan Africa to find a treatment for COVID-19.

CordenPharma and Moderna extended a strategic manufacturing services agreement for the supply of lipid excipients to be used in Moderna’s vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.

The White House looks to bring in credible experts for its Operation Warp Speed initiative to advance therapies and vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

The company announced that participants have enrolled in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, NVX‑CoV2373, a prefusion protein made using Novavax’s proprietary nanoparticle technology.

Funding from the US government could lead to 300 million coronavirus vaccine doses by October 2020.

CanSinoBIO will license-in Precision NanoSystems' proprietary RNA vaccine platform technology while the latter leads the development of the RNA vaccine formulation.

The companies have formed a collaboration to develop a novel human recombinant protein as a therapeutic candidate against COVID-19.