BioSpace reviews some of the more interesting scientific studies recently published, including a Phase II clinical trial out of Hong Kong that found a three drug-antiviral cocktail significantly decreased median time to a negative SARS-CoV-2 test compared to controls.
As the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, biopharma and biotech companies are approaching the fight with various weapons – repurposed drugs, antivirals, vaccines and clinical antibodies. One of the companies deeply involved in clinical antibody development against COVID-19 is San Diego-based Sorrento Therapeutics.
The U.S. government plans to stockpile hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines that are under development to combat the novel coronavirus with the goal of having one or more vaccines ready to deploy by the end of the year, the health secretary said.
Pfizer Inc. said a third patient had to be hospitalized after being treated with the company’s experimental gene therapy for a rare degenerative muscular condition, but said the safety profile still supports launching a larger late-stage trial of the treatment.
Any vaccine to fight the new coronavirus will not be ready for use for at least two years, the chief executive of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis – which no longer makes vaccines itself – told a German newspaper.
COVID-19 is many things. It is creating an economic impact like we have never seen before, it’s a lesson in basic hygiene, a test in societal patience, an enormous challenge, and a rare opportunity. It also demonstrates why many have chosen the pharmaceutical profession.
COVID patients given malaria drug didn’t see significant improvements: studies
Antimalarial, China, Clinical Data, Clinical Trials, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Donald Trump, FDA, Hydroxychloroquine, Medical Journals, National Institutes of Health, Patients, Placebo, Pneumonia, R&D, Studies, The BMJPatients given the malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as a potential treatment for COVID-19 did not improve significantly over those who did not, according to two new studies published in the medical journal BMJ .
Roche company Genentech announced positive results from the Phase II CITYSCAPE clinical trial in PD-L1-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The study was evaluating a new checkpoint inhibitor tiragolumab and the marketed checkpoint inhibitor Tecentriq (atezolizumab) compared to Tecentriq alone.
Merck announced positive data from the Phase III KEYNOTE-355 trial looking at the company’s checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in combination with chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.
Favipiravir, a candidate drug for treating the new coronavirus, has produced promising results in early clinical trials in Russia, according to the Russian Direct Investment Fund.