Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Feb. 4 reported fourth-quarter 2021 revenue that beat analysts’ estimates, boosted by demand for the blockbuster drugs Dupixent and Eylea, coupled with higher sales of the company’s COVID-19 therapy.
A record number of people – totaling more than 3.6 million – were unable to work due to illness during the week in January that officials gathered data for the benchmark U.S. monthly employment report, which coincided with the peak in infections from COVID-19.
New COVID-19 cases in Tokyo exceeded 20,000 for the first time on Feb. 2, dimming hopes that a wave of infections fueled by the Omicron variant is peaking in Japan.
Aside from vaccines, the advent of several effective COVID-19 antiviral therapies, including Pfizer’s Paxlovid, provides hope for ending the pandemic. Details about the U.S. government’s contract with Pfizer for 10 million doses of Paxlovid are emerging, with some unusual elements.
Many countries have not reached their peak in cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus and measures imposed to curb its spread should be eased slowly, the World Health Organization’s technical lead on COVID-19 said on Feb. 1.
The emerging BA.2 form of the Omicron coronavirus variant does not seem to be any more severe than the original BA.1 form, an official of the World Health Organization said on Feb. 1.
Novavax Inc. filed for emergency use authorization of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine for U.S. adults, a long-awaited step following months of struggles with development and manufacturing problems.
The BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which has quickly taken over in Denmark, is more transmissible than the more common BA.1 and more able to infect vaccinated people, a Danish study found.
The highly transmissible Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – the most common form of which is known as BA.1 – now accounts for nearly all of the coronavirus infections globally, although dramatic surges in COVID cases have already peaked in some countries.
Daily COVID-19 infections among athletes and team officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics jumped to 19 on Jan. 28 from two a day earlier, as Games organizers warned of more cases in coming days.
