With scientists yet to discover the specific antigen that confers protection from Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), there are currently no prophylactic vaccines available for the diseases it causes, the most well-known of which is infectious mononucleosis but which evidence suggests might also extend to immune disorders, multiple sclerosis and various cancers. This hasn’t stopped companies from trying, and one such player, EBViously Inc., is hedging its bets with a wider net, using as many proteins as possible to mimic the original viral pathogen and its complexity in a vaccine composed of non-infectious virus-like particles.
30 Technology Ltd. has divested its wound care business, leaving it to focus on pharmaceutical applications of its patented nitric oxide-generating chemistry in the treatment of antibiotic-resistant respiratory infections.
Despite concerns about a limited dataset to study, the urgent need to treat one of the toughest and most deadly infections propelled a U.S. FDA advisory committee to unanimously support the NDA for Entasis Therapeutics Inc.’s sulbactam-durlobactam (Sul-Dur). Sul-Dur, an injectable combination of beta-lactam antibiotic and beta-lactamase inhibitor for treating adults with hospital‐acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator‐associated bacterial pneumonia caused by susceptible strains of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infections, has a May 29 PDUFA date.
With a May 29 PDUFA date nearing, the U.S. FDA’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee meets April 17 to discuss the merits of Entasis Therapeutics Inc.’s hospital-acquired infection therapy.
On Vaccine Day, Moderna Inc. had to tell the world there weren’t enough flu cases to get a good reading in one of its two phase III vaccine studies. The northern hemisphere clinical trial of mRNA-1010, a seasonal quadrivalent vaccine, did not meet the statistical threshold because there were not enough sick participants to test to determine an interim efficacy analysis.
A live-attenuated vaccine targeting SARS-CoV-2 infection, which can be administered through the nose, has shown promise in preclinical animal studies carried out by researchers in Berlin. In an article published April 3, 2023, in Nature Microbiology, the authors reported that the COVID-19 vaccine candidate – sCPD9 – triggered the most robust immune response in a hamster model when compared with Biontech/Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 and Ad2-Spike.
The advance of antifungals – a class long needful of new therapies – continued with Scynexis Inc.’s potential $593 million exclusive license agreement with GSK plc for Brexafemme (ibrexafungerp), first cleared by the U.S. FDA in June 2021 and indicated for vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) as well as for reduction of recurrent VVC.
Concerns voiced during January’s U.S. FDA advisory committee meeting failed to deter Cidara Therapeutics Inc. from winning approval by the agency March 22 for once-weekly Rezzayo (rezafungin for injection) to treat a pair of indications – candidemia as well as invasive candidiasis (IC) – in adults with limited or no alternatives.
Another step forward in the quest for an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) vaccine took the form of Merck & Co. Inc.’s deal with Modex Therapeutics Inc., owned by Opko Health Inc., to advance MDX-2201 worldwide, an arrangement that brings $50 million up front for Opko plus as much as $872.5 million in milestone payments along with royalties.
Immorna Biotechnology Co. Ltd. raised nearly $100 million in series A+ and A++ financing rounds to speed up the clinical development and commercialization of its RNA-based therapeutics. Founded in 2019, Immorna develops therapeutics and vaccines based on its RNA platforms, including conventional, self-replicating and circular RNA.
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