Infectious disease
Days after Pfizer and BioNTech announced their mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 demonstrated 90% efficacy at an interim analysis, Russia is claiming the vaccine it authorized in the fight against the novel coronavirus is 92% effective following an interim analysis of its ongoing Phase III study.
San Francisco-based Vir Biotechnology and its chief executive officer, George Scangos, believe it has a terrific antibody therapy against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But is it too late to the game?
It isn’t often that a contestant pulls ahead in a major contest and their competitor wins too, but Moderna – along with other COVID-19 vaccine contenders – will take it.
Several states have pledged to review COVID-19 vaccines themselves, after FDA emergency use authorizations, to ensure safety and efficacy. A robust review, however, is unlikely.
The interim analysis demonstrated that two doses of the vaccine ranging from 2 micrograms to 12 micrograms per dose, given 28 days apart, were safe, with no vaccine-related serious adverse events.
Bamlanivimab, an intravenous treatment, should be administered as soon as possible after a positive COVID-19 test and within 10 days of symptom onset.
Please check out the biopharma industry coronavirus (COVID-19) stories that are trending for November 10, 2020.
Data from this study is expected to support U.S. authorization and approval for their vaccine.
President-elect Joe Biden hit the ground running this morning with the announcement of his transition team’s COVID-19 advisory board.
They caution that as more data is accumulated and analyzed, the efficacy percentage may shift. Nonetheless, it’s extremely promising and there were no serious safety signals.
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