Biopharma News

A UK BioIndustry Association industry-led vaccine manufacturing group has welcomed a recent announcement by the government of the UK, that it will receive £14 million (US$17.3 million) in investment to rapidly scale up the development of vaccines for COVID-19.

The approval was based off of positive results from a Phase III study that showed patients 70 years or younger treated with the BTK inhibitor lived longer without disease progression.

US government and industry partners will coordinate to bring the most promising COVID-19 vaccine and treatment candidates to clinical trials.

The companies will collaborate on the discovery and development of next-generation drug and engineered cell therapies focused on natural killer cells.

The phase-II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial will study the efficacy and safety of the live biotherapeutic in 90 individuals with COVID-19 symptoms.

This milestone achievement will allow the companies to move forward with developing a GMP-compliant manufacturing process for clinical testing.

Biopharmaceutical company, TScan Therapeutics, has entered into a collaboration agreement with Novartis that is aimed at the discovery and development of novel T-cell receptor (TCR) therapies for solid tumors.

Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have revealed that they are joining forces to develop an adjuvanted vaccine using their respective technologies that can be used to fight COVID-19.

ISPE’s Facility of the Year Awards for 2020 go to bio/pharma companies in eight award categories, including two winners in the new Social Impact category.

With the acquisition, Orgenesis will combine TamirBio’s ranpirnase antiviral platform with its Bioxome technology.

The company is advancing its lung-selective nebulized Janus kinase inhibitor into clinical development to determine its ability to prevent acute lung injury in patients with COVID-19.

The partners have formed a joint venture to produce muscle-derived mesenchymal stem cells as a source of exosomes and other cellular products to develop related therapies and advance clinical trials.

Horizon Discovery has announced that it has expanded its cell-based clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) screening services to include primary human B cells, which complements the T cell screening service.

Belgian biopharmaceutical company, UCB, has successfully completed its acquisition of Ra Pharmaceuticals, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.

The partnership, led by Takeda and CSL Behring, will focus on developing a hyperimmune immunoglobulin against COVID-19.

The companies will collaborate on research and development solutions for coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The companies are entering into a partnership to develop fully human neutralizing antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 to prevent or treat COVID-19.

The patent includes the use of fibroblast cells and adjuvants such as peptides and hydroxychloroquine, which fuels the assembly of natural interferon to overpower the virus.

The company is currently seeking interest from companies who have the skill and means to rapidly advance BOLD-100 for the treatment of COVID-19.

Johnson & Johnson announces clinical trial plans for COVID-19 vaccine candidate, as well as plans to produce 1 billion vaccine doses.

ProBioGen will facilitate the development of Immunogenesis’ monoclonal antibody candidate and will be responsible for manufacturing the drug at its new facility in Berlin, Germany.

The companies will use CytomX’s Probody therapeutic technology platform and its proprietary bispecific formats and CD3 modules.

The company is developing the first humanized antibody that can control the inflammatory response and prevent uncontrolled inflammation connected to the virus.

Grifols has entered into a formal collaboration with US Federal public health agencies, including the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to produce a treatment that specifically targets COVID-19.

AstraZeneca has revealed that it will collaborate with Silence Therapeutics on the discovery, development, and commercialization of small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, and respiratory diseases.

Prior to the global market downturn, data from the United Kingdom BioIndustry Association (BIA) and Informa Pharma Intelligence have revealed that biotech companies in the UK had raised £309 million (US$379 million).

The transgenic mouse R&D platform will support the discovery of fully-human monoclonal antibodies.

The company announced the status of new and ongoing clinical trial activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Novartis will donate up to 130 million doses of generic hydroxychloroquine to support the global COVID-19 pandemic response.

Emergent BioSolutions will help develop and manufacture an oral vaccine candidate and will develop plasma-based antibody therapeutics.