The UK government’s Covid-19 Vaccine Taskforce and the contract research company Open Orphan announced a $13 million (£10 million) plan to test investigational vaccines in volunteers who are then intentionally exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

The U.S. health regulator’s criteria for allowing emergency use of a Covid-19 vaccine and plans to monitor its safety after a regulatory go-ahead are among the topics to be discussed at a closely watched meeting.

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced the start in Japan of combined Phase I and Phase II clinical trials of their mRNA vaccine candidate against the novel coronavirus.

Moderna

Moderna Inc. Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel expects interim results from the company’s Covid-19 vaccine trial in November and that the U.S government could give an emergency use nod in December, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine identified a protein – known as factor D – that appears essential to the inflammatory process of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Roche’s Venclexta (venetoclax) full approval in combination with azacytidine, or decitabine, or low-dose cytarabine for newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia in adults 75 years or older.

Beckman Coulter will be using a grant from BARDA (the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a division of the Dept. of Health and Human Services) to validate the ability of the company’s Monocyte Distribution Width (MDW) hematology biomarker to aid in the rapid detection of a rare but serious complication of Covid-19 affecting children. 

More than half of Covid-19 patients discharged from hospitals still experienced symptoms of breathlessness, fatigue, anxiety and depression for two to three months after their initial infection, according to the findings of a small UK study.

Many experts are convinced that Covid-19 can trigger the onset of diabetes – even in some adults and children who do not have the traditional risk factors.

German biotech company Evotec said on Monday the company had received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help identify and develop potential monoclonal antibody (mAbS) drugs for the prevention of severe Covid-19.