The European Union’s drug regulator on November 19 advised that an experimental Covid-19 pill from Merck should be given within five days of first symptoms to treat adults who do not need oxygen support and are at risk of their disease worsening.

Europe’s drug regulator on November 11 recommended adding a rare type of spinal inflammation called transverse myelitis as a side effect of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine.

Valneva’s share price jumped more than 20 percent on November 10 after the French vaccines company won European Commission approval for a deal under which it would supply up to 60 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate VLA2001 over two years.

AstraZeneca and the European Commission reached a settlement on the delivery of 200 million pending Covid-19 vaccine doses by the drugmaker, ending a row about shortages that had weighed on the company and the region’s vaccination campaign.

The European Commission said on Aug. 31 that 70 percent of the European Union’s adult population was fully vaccinated against Covid-19, hitting a target the EC set at the beginning of 2021.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi announced that the European Commission approved the PD-1 inhibitor Libtayo (cemiplimab) for the first-line treatment of adults with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumor cells have ≥50% PD-L1 expression and no EGFR, ALK or ROS1 aberrations. The EC also approved Libtayo in advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC).

German biotech CureVac NV said the company’s Covid-19 vaccine was only 47 percent effective in a late-stage trial, missing the study’s main goal and throwing in doubt the potential delivery of hundreds of millions of doses to the European Union.

A deal on an intellectual property waiver for Covid-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization (WTO) was no closer to acceptance on May 31 despite Washington’s backing, due to expected scepticism about a new draft, sources close to the talks told Reuters.

AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca’s top-selling Tagrisso drug was approved for use in the European Union to treat patients with a type of early-stage lung cancer, the company said on May 28.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave an emergency use authorization to the antibody treatment developed by Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline for treating mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in people aged 12 years and older.