Like many other med-tech companies, Medtronic plc, of Dublin, saw COVID-19 affect its financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020, as procedures were deferred in the wake of the pandemic. Quarterly worldwide revenue came in at $5.998 billion, representing a decrease of 26% as reported and 25% on an organic basis.
Mammoth Biosciences Inc., of South San Francisco, and London-based Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) have joined forces to develop a point-of-care test to detect active COVID-19 infections using Mammoth’s CRISPR-based DETECTR platform. The two companies hope to submit an application to the U.S. FDA for emergency use of the test before the end of the year.
HONG KONG – A researcher at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has developed a test that identifies those carrying the COVID-19 virus in less than a minute. And it is both affordable and works with greater than 90% accuracy to boot.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Biomérieux.
BEIJING – Besides advancing its recombinant adenovirus type-5 vector (Ad5) vaccine for COVID-19, Cansino Biologics Inc. is making a new attempt to develop an mRNA lipid nanoparticle (mRNA-LNP) vaccine together with Canadian company Precision Nanosystems Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia.
LONDON – Astrazeneca plc is to get up to $1.2 billion from the new U.S. COVID-19 vaccines program, Operation Warp Speed, to support further development and manufacturing of a vaccine developed at Oxford University’s Jenner Institute. The company said it will begin to ship the product in September 2020, with the U.K. and U.S. first in line for deliveries.