LONDON – Clinical care guidelines recommending the use of the HIV/AIDS combination lopinavir-ritonavir for the treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 must now be updated, say the authors of a paper reporting the full results of a randomized U.K. study showing the antiviral is not effective in this context, published in The Lancet on Oct. 5.
The COVID-19 pandemic has done little to encourage bipartisan comity in Washington, and the Oct. 2 hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis reflected that partisan tension. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar noted, however, that the department is doing its best to cooperate with oversight of the vaccine program by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), but that the nearly three dozen GAO requests for oversight have come at a difficult time.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Dascena, Labcorp, OralDNA Labs.
Keeping you up to date on recent developments in diagnostics, including: Brain imaging reveals signs of childhood trauma; Buyer beware for SARS-CoV-2 antibody detection; Tumor-associated cell cluster signal cancer alert.
With phase III vaccine trials nearly enrolled and data expected soon, a half-year of expedited development efforts, plus massive government funding may soon provide the ammunition needed to effectively stop the SARS-CoV-2 scourge of 2020.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Becton Dickinson, Genetron, Ka Imaging, Perkinelmer, Sentiar, Vexos.
CAJICA, Colombia – Privately held Inosan Biopharma SA De Cv, of Mexico City, is racing to develop a biological treatment to cure COVID-19 patients. Inosan has mastered the technique of using horses to produce antibodies to heal patients bitten by poisonous creatures, such as snakes, spiders and scorpions.