Please check out the biopharma industry coronavirus (COVID-19) stories that are trending for March 30, 2021.
News information is not all-inclusive and updates are published once a week on Tuesdays.
Here’s a look at some of the top COVID-19 news over the past week.
A new readout from a Phase IIb/III trial showed intravenous RLF-100 (aviptadil) met the primary endpoint of improving survival and recovery at 60 days post-treatment for respiratory failure in critically ill patients with COVID-19, bolstering the case for sponsors NeuroRx and Relief Therapeutics to reapply for emergency use authorization (EUA).
A draft report by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that the source of COVID-19 is most likely from wild animals, probably bats. The report was based primarily on a visit by a WHO team of international experts to Wuhan, China from mid-January to mid-February.
A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded international team found that SARS-CoV-2 can infect cells in the mouth. It is well documented that the primary sites of SARS-CoV-2 infection are the upper airways and lung, and there are hints it can infect other parts of the body, including the digestive system, blood vessels, and kidneys.
Last week, AstraZeneca reported that the U.S. Phase III trial of the vaccine, AZD1222, demonstrated an efficacy of 79% at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and 100% efficacy at preventing severe disease and hospitalization. The announcement was on interim analysis based on 32,449 participants in the trial reporting 141 symptomatic cases of COVID-19. Efficacy was consistent across all ethnicities and ages, and in participants 65 years of age and older, efficacy was 80%.
Meissa Vaccines’ intranasal live attenuated chimeric virus-based vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 (and its variants) recently was cleared for Phase I trials, which will start at the end of March. Unlike other live attenuated virus vaccines, it employs codon deoptimization to evoke a stronger-than-usual immune response.
Pfizer announced they are launching a single ascending dose-ranging Phase I study in healthy adults, testing its investigational, novel oral antiviral against SARS-CoV-2. The trial will be run in the U.S. The drug, PF-07321332, is a SARS-CoV2-3CL protease inhibitor and has shown potent antiviral activity in laboratory assays against SARS-CoV-2, as well as against other coronaviruses.
Kaleido Biosciences, headquartered in Lexington, Mass., reported positive data from a non-IND study of KB109 in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19. The analysis showed a decrease in overall COVID-19 related healthcare utilization, which they defined as hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and urgent care visits. The trial also demonstrated a significant decrease in recovery time for patients 45 years of age and older or with one or more comorbidities who received KB109 and self-supportive care compared to patients with self-supportive care alone.
Although Moderna already has a very effective COVID-19 vaccine, and it is projecting 2021 sales of more than $18 billion, the company is continuing to work on improvements. They have recently dosed the first participants in a Phase I study of their next-generation COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine is dubbed mRNA-1283.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have initiated a clinical trial to determine if certain types of mushrooms can help treat early-stage COVID-19. It’s not such an odd idea—the first antibiotic, penicillin, was derived from a mushroom. There are approximately 12,000 known species of mushrooms and the research project will focus on turkey tail and agarikon, both native to old growth North American forests—neither have hallucinogenic properties.
Sometimes it takes a pandemic to resurrect a company fallen from grace. Humanigen, the biotech briefly run by “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli under the name KaloBios up until his arrest, is back in the game with an antibody that is keeping COVID-19 patients off of ventilators and improving survival. In Humanigen’s Phase III Trial, patients treated with lenzilumab had a 54% greater likelihood of survival without the need for mechanical ventilation compared to those receiving a placebo and other treatments.
