LONDON – There was a substantial fall in neutralization titers against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the stored sera of people who had received two doses of either Astrazeneca plc’s or Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE’s COVID-19 vaccines, with some samples failing to neutralize the virus at all, according to the latest data from the U.K. Com-Cov study.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Active Biotech, Aeromics, Angion, Beigene, Carrick, Clene, Eucure, Gilead, Immunic, Moderna, Obseva, Roche, Simcere, UCB, Vifor.
Core presentations at the 63rd meeting of the annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) began Saturday morning with the presentation of three studies focused on non-Hodgkin lymphomas and one on multiple myeloma (MM). Each approach used the immune system as a cancer fighter but employed different mechanisms of action. Two of them successfully used CAR T therapies as treatment.
Stereotaxis Corp. reported positive results showing its robotic magnetic navigation (RMN) system significantly reduces the incidence of silent cerebral embolism (SCE) in patients undergoing atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation vs. hand-held catheters. The prospective, multicenter study is believed to be the first to compare AF ablation using RMN with manual control and to highlight the benefit in lowering SCE risk.
Angion Biomedica Corp. CEO Jay Venkatesan said his firm is ransacking phase II data for “a clear and consistent trend” toward benefit with ANG-3777 before going to the next stage of development with the hepatocyte growth factor mimetic for patients undergoing cardiac surgery involving cardiopulmonary bypass who are at risk for developing acute kidney injury. A decision is due early next year.
LONDON – New figures underline the devastating effect the pandemic is having on cancer clinical research, with recruitment to U.K. studies falling by 60%. A total of 27,734 patients were recruited in 2020/21, compared to an average of 67,057 in the three years previously. Over those three years, recruitment had been on the rise, going from 61,810 in 2017/18 to 71,709 in 2019/20, according to figures compiled by the Institute of Cancer Research in London.
TORONTO – Opsens Inc. has successfully treated 20 patients in the first-in-human study employing a new surgical guidewire to improve procedural workflow during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). According to Opsens CEO Louis Laflamme, the Savvywire will be the first guidewire to deliver a valvular prosthesis while allowing continuous hemodynamic pressure measurement during the procedure.
PERTH, Australia – Stem cell therapy company Mesoblast Ltd. provided new subgroup analyses from its phase III advanced chronic heart failure trial showing a greater treatment benefit from rexlemestrocel-L in high-risk patients with chronic heart failure and low ejection fraction (HFrEF) with diabetes or ischemia. The company had reported in December 2020 that the allogeneic mesenchymal cell therapy failed to meet the primary endpoint of a reduction in hospitalizations in its DREAM-HF phase III trial.
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