The U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the Prescription Drug User Fee Act date for Merck’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Vaxneuvance, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine intended for preventative use in infants and children.
The European Union and the Gates Foundation will invest over 100 million euros ($113.4 million) during the next five years to help set up an African medicines regulator to boost the continent’s drugs and vaccine production, the EU Commission said on February 15.
The prevailing theory about the Omicron variant is that it is going to rip through the population quickly and possibly burn out, marking the downside of the COVID-19 pandemic. But researchers are expressing concern about a subvariant of Omicron dubbed BA.2 that appears to be tearing through Denmark, just as the first Omicron wave subsided.
U.S. financial contributions to the World Health Organization (WHO) have fallen by 25 percent during the coronavirus pandemic, provisional data show, with Washington’s future support to the United Nations agency under review.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pours investment dollars into disease-fighting efforts, especially for those illnesses that inequitably impact developing nations. The massive non-profit is taking up the cause for a pneumococcal infection with a $90 million investment in Seattle area’s Inventprise.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will make a $35 million equity investment in privately owned Exscientia Ltd. to fund the development of antiviral drugs including for the coronavirus, the Oxford-based drug developer said on Sept. 8.
A “revolution” in technology that helped scientists develop Covid-19 vaccines in under a year must be sped up, so that when the next pandemic arrives a shot can be ready in 100 days, an international coalition said on March 10.
Novartis and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have partnered on a single-dose, in vivo gene therapy for sickle cell disease (SCD).
A roundup of biopharma news and updates includes Merck and Eisai’s Keytruda-Lenvima combo hitting the mark in a Phase III study for advanced endometrial cancer.
ViiV Healthcare announced that an independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) recommended the early unblinding of data from the HIV Prevention Trials Network 084 trial of the investigational, long-acting injectable cabotegravir for HIV prevention in women.
