Infectious disease
With the ongoing global pandemic, BioNTech and Pfizer announced that they will be boosting their manufacturing capacity of the COVID-19 vaccine to 2.5 billion for 2021.
Vaccine passports are an interim step that can speed the return of some semblance of normality by allowing the rapidly growing numbers of vaccinated people to travel more easily and to attend typically crowded sporting events, concerts and religious services.
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.
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.
The report listed four scenarios in order of likelihood, with the top being from bats through another animal.
What has been learned about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in only about 15 months, is truly a historical scientific achievement. And new information continues to come in.
Every week there are numerous scientific studies published. Here’s a look at some of the more interesting ones.
AstraZeneca released primary analysis that the vaccine demonstrated 76% efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19, 100% efficacy against severe or critical disease and hospitalizations and 85% efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 in people 65 years and older.
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.
With the rise of mutant strains of SARS-CoV-2 and the unlikelihood of 100% compliance in getting vaccines out, investigators are focusing on developing even better vaccines and new drugs that might be able to knock back the disease. Here’s a look.
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