Dr. Paul Stoffels, who serves as Johnson & Johnson’s chief scientific officer, will end his tenure on December 31. Stoffels, who is also vice-chairman of J&J’s executive committee, was responsible for reinvigorating J&J’s Janssen pharmaceutical pipeline and was instrumental in developing a COVID-19 vaccine. The company’s CEO and executive chairman, Alex Gorsky, is also retiring…
Antivirals could be a vital weapon in the COVID-19 pandemic endgame
Antivirals have several advantages over vaccines. They tend to be broadly effective against viral variants and offer faster-acting protection than vaccines. In addition, antivirals are usually simple to transport and don’t require ultra-cold storage. And oral antivirals would have an advantage in terms of the speed of protection they offer. For SARS-CoV-2, antivirals also could…
Pardes Biosciences launches first-in-human trial for SARS-CoV-2 antiviral
A handful of companies may have a lock on COVID-19 vaccines, but competition is heating up in antivirals targeting the novel coronavirus. One of the latest entrants is Pardes Biosciences (Carlsbad, Calif.), which recently announced a Phase 1 trial for PBI-0451, an oral antiviral targeting SARS-CoV-2. Other companies developing antivirals for COVID-19 include Pfizer as well as…