Novartis won the go-ahead from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct a randomized trial of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19 disease to see if the medicine helps patients.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Exelixis are eying potential approval of a combination therapy for renal cell carcinoma following results from a late-stage study that showed a combination of Opdivo and Cabometyx met the primary endpoint of progression-free survival.

Although not official and largely anecdotal, there are early signs that Gilead Sciences’ experimental antiviral drug remdesivir is effective in treating COVID-19.

A recent study published in JAMA Oncology found that although about a third of cancer clinical trials failed to meet their primary endpoints, at oncology meetings they tend to be spun in a positive light.

Swiss pharma giant Roche joined the race to develop a test for COVID-19 antibodies in people who have been exposed to the disease.

A million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed by British scientists are already being manufactured and will be available by September 2020, even before trials prove whether the shot is effective, the team said.

Gilead Sciences Inc.’s shares surged 16 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday following a media report detailing encouraging partial data from trials of the U.S. company’s experimental drug remdesivir in severe COVID-19 patients.

Moderna Inc. announced an agreement for a commitment of up to $483 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to accelerate development of the company’s mRNA vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, against the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).

Ligandal is reportedly the only company developing a prospective “antidote” and vaccine in a single platform for COVID-19, with an approach that could actually help eliminate the virus from an already-infected host, while also bolstering the immune response.

In a controlled laboratory test, Eagle Pharmaceuticals’ malignant hyperthermia treatment Ryanodex (dantrolene sodium) inhibited the growth of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. The company hopes to launch a clinical trial testing the efficacy of the drug in patients.