A new study report in Science suggests SARS-CoV-2 and its mutated new variants can evade immune responses via the selective deletion of small sections of the virus’s genetic sequence.

A new, highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus first discovered in Britain could become the dominant variant in the United States by March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Genentech and Blueprint Medicines’ Gavreto (pralsetinib) as a treatment for adults and pediatric patients 12 and older who have been diagnosed with rearranged during transfection (RET)-mutant medullary thyroid cancer (MTC).

AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine accurately follows the genetic instructions programmed into AZD1222 by the developers to successfully provoke a strong immune response, according to a detailed analysis carried out by independent UK scientists.

Bay Area-based Graphite Bio launched with $45 million in Series A financing and a goal to use gene editing to correct defective genes through high-efficiency site-specific integration of new genetic sequences.

AstraZeneca resumed the company’s Covid-19 vaccine testing in the United Kingdom following confirmation from the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority (MHRA) that it was safe to do so.

Roche

A therapy jointly developed by Switzerland’s Roche Holding AG and Cambridge, Mass.-based Blueprint Medicines Corp. was approved by the U.S. health regulator for the treatment of patients with a type of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

A Biogen corporate meeting held in Boston in March that was initially connected to about 100 cases of COVID-19 could have led to a significantly higher number of infections.

Bristol Myers Squibb announced that the Phase III IDHENTIFY trial of Idhifa (enasidenib) plus best supportive care compared to conventional care did not meet the primary endpoint of overall survival in relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia with an isocitrate dehydrogenase-2 mutation.

A roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus.