LONDON – In the rush to test drugs against COVID-19, clinical trials in other indications are starting to be interrupted by the strains on health care systems and the fact that many potential patients are those most at risk from the effects of the novel coronavirus.
With medical researchers across the globe adjusting to the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19, commercial and academic trialists are taking action to protect essential studies. Regulators, too, are now joining the effort in a more concerted way, with the FDA issuing new guidance for industry, investigators and institutional review boards on conducting clinical trials during the pandemic.
As the world goes to war with COVID-19, the U.S. is ripping open the purse strings to fund mobilization against both the coronavirus and the economic devastation it’s causing.
Randomized trials of the broad-spectrum antiviral favipiravir, marketed as an anti-influenza treatment by Fujifilm Holdings Corp., have shown "obvious efficacy" against COVID-19, according to Zhang Xinmin, head of the China National Center for Biotechnology Development.
BEIJING – One day after the U.S. began the first human trial of an mRNA vaccine candidate for COVID-19 on March 16, China said Tuesday evening that it had approved the first clinical trial of a vaccine candidate developed by domestic researchers.
LONDON – The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic, but is pushing back strongly against countries giving up on stringent control measures.
PERTH, Australia – Mesoblast Ltd. plans to evaluate remestemcel-L in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) in the U.S., Australia, China and Europe.
Undetected cases were a major driver of the early spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China, despite being less infectious on a case-by-case basis, according to a modeling study published in the March 16, 2020, online issue of Science.
Mainz, Germany-based Biontech SE has struck two deals in its Project Lightspeed, one for inside China and one for outside China, to develop and commercialize a COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) prevention vaccine. The agreements caused the stock (NASDAQ:BNTX) to soar 29.3%, or $9.07, to close at $40 on Monday in the midst of a bear market.
The past week has seen a lot of movement in terms of tests to detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. “It is notable that the diagnostics community is coming together in a way we have not seen in our 20 years covering this industry,” wrote William Blair analyst Brian Weinstein in a March 14 note. “Regulators, lab professionals, and manufacturers are all in a frenetic fury to try and get testing up and running, and we generally see a sense of ‘in it together’ playing out.”
