Industry news

• A COVID-19 treatment candidate that fuses tiny antibodies from llamas and alpacas shows promise

  14 January 2021 Angus Liu / FiercePharma

  The immune systems of camelids such as llamas and alpacas make tiny “nanobodies” many scientists believe could inspire treatments that offer advantages over traditional antibodies. Now, researchers from the University of Bonn, the Karolinska Institutet and Scripps Research Institute have designed a nanobody-based drug for COVID-19.

• Fierce JPM Week: Will the first COVID-19 vaccines deter future launches? Not at all, experts say

  13 January 2021 Eric Sagonowsky / FirecePharma

  Typically in drug and vaccine development, first-to-market products command a big advantage that can deter follow-up products. Not so with COVID-19 vaccines, experts said Tuesday. There’s still plenty of need for new entrants.

• Look out, pharma. A 'tidal wave' of side effect reports is coming amid COVID-19 vaccine rollouts

  12 January 2021 Eric Sagonowsky / FirecePharma

  With COVID-19 vaccine launches gaining steam—and an unprecedented level of media coverage zeroed in—pharma companies of all stripes should brace not only for a wave of adverse event reports, experts say, but for lawsuits that could follow.

• Despite Pandemic, FDA Ramps Up New Drug Approvals

  12 January 2021 Jill Wechsler / BioPharm International

  The vetting and authorizing of important new therapies remained productive in 2020, despite the need to devote considerable resources to dealing with COVID-19 related approvals and policies.

• NEWS First COVID-19 patient enrolled in acute kidney injury drug trial

  11 January 2021 Hannah Balfour / European Pharmaceutical Review

  The first patients with COVID-19 infection and sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI) have been enrolled in AM-Pharma’s Phase III REVIVAL trial as an additional cohort. This sub-study will assess the safety, tolerability and clinical benefit of recombinant alkaline phosphatase in these patients.

• First Batch of “Sputnik V” Vaccine Arrives in Serbia

  11 January 2021 GMP News

  The first batch of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine “Sputnik V” has been delivered to Serbia, the Tanjug news agency informed on Wednesday.

• EMA to Hold its Second Public Meeting on COVID-19 Vaccines

  31 December 2020 BioPharm International

  The agency is organizing a second public meeting on January 8, 2021 to discuss the assessment, approval, and roll-out of new COVID-19 vaccines.

• Second COVID-19 Vaccine Granted EUA, Ships for Immediate Use

  31 December 2020 BioPharm International

  Moderna’s mRNA vaccine to prevent COVID-19 disease is granted FDA Emergency Use Authorization and CDC recommendation. Initial shipments of the second vaccine to prevent COVID-19 disease rolled out in the United States on Dec. 21, 2020, with frontline healthcare workers and patients and residents in long-term care facilities first in line to receive injections.

• 2021 forecast: Targeted delivery, oral vaccines and mRNA 2.0: The next generation of drugs and prophylactics in the fight against COVID-19

  29 December 2020 Fraiser Kansteiner / FiercePharma

  As the chapter closes on the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, drugmakers are hard at work bolstering the defenses mounted in 2020—and they're looking at new formulations and delivery methods to bring vaccines and therapies to more people around the world. 

• Hungary Receives 6,000 Doses of Russian “Sputnik V” Vaccine

  29 December 2020 GMP News

  Hungary has just received 6,000 doses of the Russian vaccine against the new coronavirus, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced on Monday.