South Korean biotechnology firm ABL Biotechnologies signed a global licensing and exclusive collaboration agreement with Sanofi to develop and commercialize a new therapy candidate for Parkinson’s disease.
Several Asian nations are quickly ramping up vaccination campaigns from shaky starts to combat growing Covid-19 infections, as supply shipments roll in and people overcome hesitancy in hopes of easing curbs and freeing up travel.
The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is surging through Asia, with record numbers of infections in Australia and South Korea, prompting some countries to tighten curbs and others to hasten vaccination.
Celltrion Inc. on June 14 announced positive results for the company’s experimental antibody Covid-19 treatment that the South Korean drugmaker said was safe and reduced the treatment period by nearly five days in Phase 3 global clinical trials.
Samsung BioLogics Co. Ltd. and Pfizer Inc. on May 12 denied a report that they were working together to produce in South Korea a Covid-19 vaccine developed by the U.S. drugmaker.
Confidence in Covid-19 vaccines is growing, with people’s willingness to have the shots increasing as they are rolled out across the world and concerns about possible side effects are fading, a 14-country survey showed on March 5.
South Korea’s intelligence agency said North Korea attempted to steal information on coronavirus vaccines and treatments by hacking Pfizer Inc., a lawmaker briefed by the agency said.
The United Kingdom, which was the first to grant authorization to the vaccine developed by Pfizer and Moderna, is expected to give the green light to the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University this week.
Countries across the globe shut their borders to Britain on Dec. 21 due to fears about a highly infectious new coronavirus strain, causing travel chaos and raising the prospect of food shortages days before Britain is set to leave the European Union.
The global tally of confirmed coronavirus cases hit 60 million on Nov. 25, with the pace of new infections accelerating and the United States reporting record numbers of hospitalizations, according to a Reuters tally.
