Infectious disease
Investment in the development of new antimicrobials is falling rapidly, even as the global public health threat of antimicrobial resistance is growing increasingly severe worldwide.
GSK on Wednesday restructured its contract with CureVac to gain access to the biotech’s influenza and COVID-19 programs for $430 million upfront and up to $1.13 billion in future payments.
In a potential challenge to Pfizer’s Prevnar 20, Merck’s Capvaxive has been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Protection for use in preventing invasive pneumococcal disease in adults.
New recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call for the use of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines in adults aged 75 and older, but limited its use in 60- to 74-year-olds.
Moderna said Thursday it plans to talk to regulators about the next steps after showing its next-generation candidate is more efficacious in adults than the biotech’s existing Spikevax COVID-19 shot.
Moderna’s combination vaccine candidate for COVID-19 and influenza outperformed licensed vaccines in older adults, according to late-stage results reported on Monday.
While a prolonged, 15-day regimen of Paxlovid is safe, it appears to be ineffective at lowering the symptoms of long COVID, according to results of a Phase II trial funded by Pfizer and conducted by Stanford Medicine.
The FDA on Friday approved GSK’s application to use Arexvy to vaccinate adults aged 50 to 59 years who are at increased risk of developing severe respiratory syncytial virus.
As BioNTech struggles to establish its footing in a post-pandemic world, the biotech has secured $145 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to expand its mRNA operations in Rwanda.
In the next two weeks, the FDA is scheduled to decide on four drug applications and hold two highly anticipated advisory committee meetings.
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