Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Check-Cap, Fujifilm, Olympus Medical, Pelican Diagnostics.
While World Trade Organization members continue to debate a proposal to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, Biolyse Pharma Corp. is threatening to apply for a compulsory license of Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine through the Canadian Access to Medicines Regime.
After working 24/7 to develop a COVID-19 vaccine in a historic timeframe and scale up manufacturing at an unprecedented rate, some vaccine manufacturers are now facing what appears to be a concerted Russian misinformation campaign akin to those used in the last two U.S. presidential campaigns, as well as in Great Britain and possibly in France.
Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd. said its androgen receptor (AR) antagonist, proxalutamide, reduced mortality risk by 92% and shortened median hospital length stay by nine days vs. standard of care, based on a preliminary analysis of phase III data from 590 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Brazil. The company expects to have final data ready by the end of this month or early April, Chief Financial Officer Lucy Lu told BioWorld. Following the positive results, Kintor is seeking conditional approval in Brazil and will start another trial in critically ill patients in intensive care, she said.
According to the latest annual overview published by trade association France Biotech, French med-tech, biotech, and e-health companies have adapted rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many French health care companies have faced real difficulties in all areas of procurement, R&D, and sales. As of February, a quarter of these French companies were redirecting their research activity towards the coronavirus.
Most of the med-tech companies doing business during the COVID-19 pandemic are experienced and already have their FDA compliance systems in place. However, Dennis Gucciardo, a partner at the D.C. office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, told BioWorld that while the FDA will give industry sufficient time to transition their emergency use authorizations (EUAs) to conventional premarket filings, the cost of setting up a quality management system may be greater than some current EUA holders are willing to bear.