In a peer-reviewed study published May 17 in PLOS Medicine, scientists found that mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines were superior to adenovirus vector-based ones across major variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Rising COVID-19 cases are driving up the use of therapeutics, with Pfizer Inc.’s oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid seeing a 315 percent jump over the past four weeks, U.S. health officials said on May 17.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on May 17 authorized the use of a booster shot of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, making everyone in the United States over the age of 5 eligible for a third shot.
On May 17, the U.S. FDA authorized a booster of Pfizer’s vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11 years. The action comes as major cities are announcing a rise in cases. Additionally, COVID-19 would have claimed over 110,000 more lives in 2021 if not for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a Pfizer-sponsored report on the first year of the U.S. vaccination program.
U.S. health regulators are expected to authorize a booster shot of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 as soon as May 17, the New York Times reported on May 16, citing people familiar with the matter.
The United States will share technologies used to make COVID-19 vaccines through the World Health Organization and is working to expand rapid testing and antiviral treatments for hard-to-reach populations, President Joe Biden said on May 12.
Pfizer Inc. said on May 10 the company will pay $11.6 billion to buy Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co., making a big bet on its ability to boost sales of the top-selling pill in a new class of migraine drugs.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, pulmonologist Joseph Varon offered an opinion that made headlines around the world and went viral on social media. Varon was fighting two wars, he said: one against COVID and one against stupidity.
BioNTech continues to build on the success of the company’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine co-developed with Pfizer, rapidly expanding its investigational pipeline to include additional infectious diseases and oncology with a first-in-class CAR-T program in solid tumors.
BioNTech’s first-quarter 2022 sales and earnings more than tripled due to demand for the COVID-19 vaccine the company developed with Pfizer, but the German biotech firm is still forecasting a full-year decline in vaccine sales.