Investigators at the University of Bristol and Biognos AB have identified a structural feature that distinguished the deadly coronavirus strains from harmless, common cold-causing variants. The findings, which were published in the Nov. 23, 2022, issue of Science Advances, could form the basis of universal COVID antivirals, putting an end to the endless race to deal with new variants that has so far been a necessity.
A diverse group of government and academic researchers, marking World AIDS Day 2022, have published details of an investigational vaccine they said safely induced broadly neutralizing antibody-precursors against HIV in nearly all participants in a small phase I trial.
The U.S. FDA has approved its first fecal microbiota treatment. Rebyota (fecal microbiota, live-jslm), from privately held Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc., is now approved to prevent recurring Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) in adults. The Nov. 30 approval came about two months after the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 13-4 to support the microbiome therapy’s effectiveness in reducing recurrent CDI in adults after antibiotic treatment for recurrent CDI.
An in-depth investigation of the underlying causes of pulmonary symptoms that in some cases persist for months following recovery from the acute stage of COVID-19 has found a distinctive proinflammatory signature in the plasma and airways of affected patients.
Atriva Therapeutics GmbH, a small firm founded in 2015 to develop a host-targeted antiviral approach for treating respiratory viral infections, seems to have found itself in thick of it. As the U.S. CDC and other health agencies warn of an uptick in respiratory viral infections – the so-called “tripledemic” of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and COVID-19 – the German company is gearing up to launch a basket trial testing lead candidate zapnometinib in all three indications.
GSK plc has announced it has stopped early two pivotal phase III trials of its urinary tract infection drug, gepotidacin, for efficacy and is preparing regulatory filings for what could be the first new oral antibiotic for the disease in more than 20 years.
CSL Ltd. subsidiary CSL Seqirus signed a licensing and development deal with Arcturus Therapeutics Inc. to in-license Arcturus’ late-stage self-amplifying mRNA vaccine platform technology. Arcturus will receive $200 million up front and is eligible to receive more than $1.3 billion in development milestones and over $3 billion in commercial milestones. In addition, it could capture a 40% net profit share for COVID-19 vaccines and up to double-digit royalties for vaccines against flu, pandemic preparedness and three other respiratory pathogens.
Pfizer Inc.’s bivalent prefusion vaccine for protecting newborns from severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hit one of its two primary endpoints in its phase III study, which was good enough for the company to stop enrollment and plan to submit a BLA to the U.S. FDA by year-end. PF-06928316 is one of six RSV vaccines in active phase III development globally, which includes an Astrazeneca plc-Sanofi SA collaboration plus one from GSK plc. Pfizer’s is the only one developed for infants by way of maternal immunization and for older adults.
The U.K. is launching a coordinated national program of research into the unprecedented outbreak of monkeypox that has spread across Europe and North America – regions where the disease is not endemic – over the past six months. Taking a lead from the SARS-CoV-2 playbook, there will be work to sequence the viral genome and to study how it is evolving, linking this to changes in the transmission and pathology of the virus.
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