The World Health Organization spokesperson Fadéla Chaib acknowledged undisclosed issues had delayed its emergency use authorization of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. Chaib added that the WHO was working through the issues while Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko recently said Russian officials were completing the final paperwork needed for the filing. Meanwhile, European Union officials…
AstraZeneca seeks EUA for COVID-19 prophylaxis
AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) has filed paperwork with the FDA for an emergency use authorization (EUA) for AZD7442, a long-acting antibody (LAAB) cocktail, as a COVID-19 prophylaxis. The paperwork filed for the EUA request includes data from the PROVENT and STORM CHASER Phase 3 trials. A Phase 3 trial of AZD7442 showed statistically significant protection against COVID-19 infection. Compared…
Sweden and Denmark pause Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for younger age groups
Sweden and Denmark announced they would recommend younger individuals avoid obtaining Moderna’s (NSDQ:MRNA) vaccine until further notice. The two countries cited the potential risk of myocarditis and pericarditis. Sweden recommended halting the use of the vaccine in individuals born in 1991 or later. Meanwhile, the Danish Health Agency advised that the vaccine should not be…
Johnson & Johnson asks FDA to authorize COVID-19 booster
Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen division (NYSE:JNJ) has requested that FDA expand the emergency use authorization (EUA) for its Ad26.COV2.S COVID-19 vaccine to include boosters for people 18 and older. The previous EUA covered a single dose of the vaccine. On October 14 and 15, FDA will convene meetings of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products…
India’s Gennova developing mRNA COVID-19 vaccine
India is vying to create domestic mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, with Gennova Bio (Maharashtra) emerging as a frontrunner. The company’s investigational HGCO19 vaccine will be the focus of a Phase 2/3 study. The vaccine, developed in collaboration with privately-held Seattle-based HDT Bio, has received funding from India’s Department of Biotechnology and Ministry of Science and Technology.…
FDA could support 50-µg booster dose of Moderna vaccine
The FDA could authorize the use of Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) COVID-19 vaccine boosters at a half-dose level, according to a report from Bloomberg. Each primary series dose of the Moderna vaccine contains 100 µg of mRNA. By contrast, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine uses a 30-µg dose level for the primary series and boosters. Earlier this month, Moderna CEO…
CDC analysis finds COVID-19 boosters generally elicit mild-to-moderate side effects
Most third doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines elicit side effects in line with that of the second dose, according to a CDC report. The study analyzed immunocompromised recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine recipients eligible for a third dose. It pulled data from 22,191 V-safe registrations. V-safe is a CDC-created smartphone-based system for tracking…
Pfizer and BioNTech submit initial data to FDA on its COVID-19 vaccine and younger children
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ: BNTX) plan to formally seek FDA emergency authorization in the coming weeks for the use of their Comirnaty (BNT162b2) vaccine in children 5 to 11. The news came today as the companies announced the submission of initial Phase 2/3 trial data to FDA. The companies last week announced that the…
Moderna CEO predicts the pandemic will be over in a year
In an interview with the German-language Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Moderna leader Stéphane Bancel shared his predictions about the course of the pandemic. When asked when the pandemic phase would end, Bancel replied: “As of today, I assume in one year.” Seniors will need yearly COVID-19 boosters, Bancel said, while the rest of the public will benefit…
Novel COVID-19 vaccine could offer broad immune responses across SARS-CoV-2 variants
The emerging biotech Gritstone Bio (NSDQ:GRTS) has dosed the first patient with its second-generation COVID-19 vaccine known as GRT-R910. The University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust are jointly overseeing the U.K.-based Phase 1 study. The GRT-R910 vaccine uses self-amplifying mRNA (SAM), which could optimize antigen expression at lower doses relative to conventional…
COVID-19 vaccines remain a cash cow for now
A handful of companies are making billions of dollars in revenues from COVID-19 vaccines. Especially well-positioned is Pfizer, which could earn $33.5 billion in COVID-19 vaccine sales this year, as it announced in its Q2 earnings statement. By contrast, J&J has forecasted $2.5 billion in COVID-19 vaccine sales this year, while AstraZeneca has seen sales of…
CDC study finds waning immunity in Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine recipients after four months
CDC today released comparative effectiveness data for the three COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. in individuals without immunocompromising conditions. The study also found that protection from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine dipped four months after vaccination to 77%. The effectiveness of the Moderna vaccine at that interval was 92%. The CDC also concluded that, from March 11…
FDA advisory panel recommends boosters only for older and high-risk individuals
The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) unanimously supported emergency use authorization to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine as a booster to those 65 years of age and older, and individuals at high risk of developing severe COVID-19. The panel, however, resoundingly rejected a plan to administer the vaccine as a booster to…
FDA grants expanded EUA to Lilly’s COVID-19 antibody cocktail
FDA has expanded the emergency use authorization for Lilly’s (NYSE:LLY) bamlanivimab and etesevimab combo to include post-exposure prophylaxis. Earlier in the year, federal authorities had counseled against the use of the monoclonal antibody cocktail in several states given the rise of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the U.S., including Gamma (P.1) and Beta (B.1.351). Meanwhile, demand for…
COVID-19 vaccine booster tensions mount between White House, CDC and FDA
Facing the second-biggest wave of COVID-19 infections and waning popularity, President Biden has promised to launch an initiative to begin providing vaccine boosters starting September 20. But the plan hinges upon FDA and CDC support, and some officials at the agencies remain unconvinced that boosters are immediately necessary. Two departing senior FDA vaccine officials recently co-wrote…
Why the pandemic is a crucible for clinical trial innovation
The rapid pace of development of COVID-19 vaccines and antibodies has redefined expectations for clinical trials. As SARS-CoV-2 variants such as Delta continue to fuel the epidemic, the industry must continue to ensure testing and clinical trials stay ahead of mutations. To get a clearer sense of what the ramifications of this accelerated development will…
FDA could soon greenlight COVID-19 vaccine boosters
While President Biden initially announced that COVID-19 boosters would be available by September 20, media reports suggested that the announcement caught FDA off guard. White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci recently suggested in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the U.S. government is scaling back its booster plan for the broader…
FDA advisory panel to discuss potential Pfizer vaccine boosters in mid-September
The FDA has scheduled a virtual meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee to discuss Pfizer’s supplemental application for a COVID-19 vaccine booster. While President Biden has embraced the concept of boosters as early as five months post-second dose, other experts within the government have recommended a more cautious approach. In addition, WHO has…
Moderna submits initial data to FDA for COVID-19 vaccine booster
Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) announced that it initiated its submission to the FDA for a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine. Cambridge, Massachusetts–based Moderna expects to submit data to the European Medicines Agency and other regulatory authorities around the world in addition to the FDA in the coming days for the booster shot at a 50 µg…
Could COVID-19 vaccines guard against dementia?
COVID-19 vaccines could potentially guard against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, according to an op-ed in WSJ. COVID-19 infection itself can lead to long-term cognitive decline in some individuals and can accelerate Alzheimer’s symptoms, concluded an Alzheimer’s Association study. An Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy echoed those findings. Pointing to data suggesting that vaccinations against tetanus and flu lead to reduced…
Study finds Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine drives a stronger antibody response than Pfizer’s
Research published in JAMA found the Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine drove an antibody response that was more than two times greater than that of Pfizer’s. Specifically, the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine generated post-second-dose antibody levels of 2,881 units per milliliter. Those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine had antibody levels measuring 1,108 units per milliliter. The study involved 1,647…
Third dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine boosts protection in people over 60
Israeli researchers report that an additional dose of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech’s (NISDQ:BNTX) COVID-19 vaccine leads to notable improvements in immunity in people 60 and older. The protection against infection increased fourfold 10 days after administration of the third dose, according to scientists at the Gertner Institute (Ramat Gan, Israel) and KI Institute (Kfar Malal, Israel).…
NIH to study third dose of COVID-19 vaccine in people with autoimmune disease
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a study to gauge the antibody response of a third dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in patients with autoimmune disease. Participants in the study had an insufficient immune response to the primary series of vaccination. The Phase 2 study will also test the impact of pausing immunosuppressive…
Pfizer seeks FDA blessing for COVID-19 vaccine booster
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and its partner BioNTech SE (NSDQ:BNTX) aim to expand the recent FDA approval of their COVID-19 vaccine to include booster doses for individuals 16 and older. The companies have submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application to the FDA, including Phase 3 data drawn from participants aged 15 to 55. The latest data indicate…
Janssen COVID-19 booster leads to nine-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has announced that a booster of its viral-vector COVID-19 vaccine led to considerable increases in coronavirus spike-binding antibodies, according to interim data from two Phase 1/2 trials known as VAC31518COV1001 and VAC31518COV2001. In particular, the boosters led to a nine-fold increase in antibodies relative to levels 28 days after administering the prime…