PERTH, Australia – The University of Queensland (UQ) and CSL Ltd. are abandoning their trials of an Australian COVID-19 vaccine after recipients generated HIV antibodies during phase I trials. The response means the antibodies produced by the vaccine can interfere with HIV diagnostic tests. However, there was no possibility the vaccine caused infection, and routine follow-up tests confirmed no HIV virus was present, the partners said.
In what U.S. FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn billed as “a major milestone” in testing for the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA has granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Ellume Ltd., of East Brisbane, Australia, for the company’s COVID-19 home test. The rapid lateral-flow test for antigen detection can be obtained without prescription and will return results to the at-home user in 20 minutes, according to the FDA’s Dec. 15 statement.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Abbott, Anitoa, Binx Health, Ellume, Exero Medical, Genetesis, Horiba, Roche, Seaspine, Switch Health.
A new FDA assessment of the data behind an emergency use authorization filing for Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, issued in advance of a Dec. 17 meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, affirmed efficacy claims for the product and identified "no specific safety concerns that would preclude issuance of an EUA."
DUBLIN – Bowing to public and political pressure, the EMA has brought forward its review of BNT-162b2, the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer Inc. and Biontech SE, to Dec. 21, more than a week ahead of its originally scheduled date of Dec. 29.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Algo, Athenex, Astrazeneca, Can-Fite, Cyxone, Fortress, Genentech, IO Biotech, Nascent, Prometheus, Rafael, Takeda, Xentria.