Tuesday, 17 November
UK / Infection / Over-the-counter mouthwash can kill coronavirus within 30 seconds of exposure, a study has found. Scientists at Cardiff University discovered mouthwash containing at least 0.07 percent cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) showed “promising signs” of reducing transmission of the virus / Al Jazeera
Monday, 16 November
European Union / Vaccine / The European Union has struck a deal with German biotech firm CureVac for up to 405 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine, the Commission’s chief, Ursula von der Leyen has announced / New Europe
Tuesday, 10 November
UK / Consequences / Many COVID-19 survivors are likely to be at greater risk of developing mental illness, psychiatrists said on Monday, after a large study found 20% of those infected with the coronavirus are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days / Reuters
Monday, 9 November
USA, Germany / Vaccine / Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE today announced their mRNA-based vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, against SARS-CoV-2 has demonstrated evidence of efficacy against COVID-19 in participants without prior evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, based on the first interim efficacy analysis conducted on November 8, 2020 by an external, independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) from the Phase 3 clinical study / Pfizer
Tuesday, 27 October
UK / Consequences / A non-peer-reviewed study of more than 84,000 people, led by Adam Hampshire, a doctor at Imperial College London, found that in some severe cases, coronavirus infection is linked to substantial cognitive deficits for months / Reuters
Monday, 26 October
UK / Vaccine / British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Monday said its potential Covid-19 vaccine has produced a similar immune response in older and younger adults. AstraZeneca, which is developing its potential Covid-19 vaccine in collaboration with the University of Oxford, said adverse responses to the vaccine among the elderly were also found to be lower / CNBC
Wednesday, 21 October
Brazil / Vaccine, Trials / Brazilian health authority Anvisa has said that a volunteer in a clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University has died, stating it had received data from an investigation into the matter / Reuters
Tuesday, 20 October
UK / Testing / Passengers flying from London Heathrow to Hong Kong and Italy will be able to have a rapid Covid-19 test at the airport before checking in from Tuesday. The test costs £80 and results will be available within an hour / The Guardian
Thursday, 15 October
UK / Testing / Scientists from Britain’s University of Oxford have developed a rapid COVID-19 test able to identify the coronavirus in less than five minutes, researchers said, adding it could be used in mass testing at airports and businesses / Reuters
Monday, 5 October
France / Testing / EasyCov, a French saliva test for Covid-19, has confirmed that it can be as effective as traditional nasal swabbing, France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) has announced / France24
Thursday, 1 October
France / Drugs / The Pasteur Institute in the northern French city of Lille has confirmed the discovery of a “very promising” drug in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, without naming it / France24
Tuesday, 29 September
USA / Vaccine, Trials / Results from an early safety study of Moderna Inc’s coronavirus vaccine candidate in older adults showed that it produced virus-neutralizing antibodies at levels similar to those seen in younger adults, with side effects roughly on par with high-dose flu shots, researchers have said / Reuters
Monday, 28 September
WHO / Testing / The World Health Organization, along with its global partners in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, has announced that it will provide 120 million rapid-diagnostic antigen tests to people in lower- and middle-income countries over the next six months / Deutsche Welle
Tuesday, 15 August
Germany / Vaccine / Germany awarded $745 million in funding to biotech firms BioNTech and CureVac on Tuesday to speed up work on COVID-19 vaccines and expand German production capacity / Reuters
Saturday, 12 August
UK / Vaccine, Trials / The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Saturday that it had resumed its coronavirus vaccine trial in Britain after suspending it six days ago over potential safety issues but that its trials in the United States and other countries were still on hold / The New York Times
Wednesday, 9 August
UK / Vaccine, Trials / British drugmaker AstraZeneca said it has paused large late-stage trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, because of an unexplained illness in a study participant / New Europe
Monday, 7 August
Hungary / Drugs, Trials / Clinical trials of the Hungarian-developed therapy, which seemingly helps to fight off the human immune system’s excessive reaction and the severe organ damage that follows triggered by the coronavirus, the so-called “cytokine storm”, are likely to start in Hungary / HungaryToday
Sunday, 6 August
India / Vaccine, Trials / Stage is set for phase II trials of Bharat Biotech’s COVID vaccine. The stage is set for phase II clinical trials of Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine from Monday. The Hyderabad-based vaccine maker received the approval from Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation under the Directorate General of Health Services to conduct the phase II trials of indigenous vaccine candidate Covaxin / Times of India
Saturday, 5 August
Russia / Vaccine / Russian scientists have published the first report on their coronavirus vaccine, saying early tests showed signs of an immune response. The report published by medical journal The Lancet said every participant developed antibodies to fight the virus and had no serious side effects / BBC
Thursday, 3 August
USA / Vaccine, Trials / Drug companies GSK and Sanofi have said they are starting clinical trials of their coronavirus vaccine. The two firms said 440 adults would be given the vaccine at 11 sites in the US / BBC
Russia / Vaccine, Trials / Russia has granted approval for a Phase III clinical trial of China-based CanSino Biologics’ Covid-19 vaccine candidate, developed in alliance with the Chinese military’s research arm. The Phase III trial of the Ad5-nCoV vaccine candidate has been launched in Moscow, following health ministry authorisation. CanSino will work with NPO Petrovax Pharm to conduct the trials in Russia / Clinical Trials Arena
Thursday, 27 August
USA / Vaccine / Novavax Inc expects filing for approval of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the United States in December, Chief Executive Stanley Erck said in an interview for Czech daily Hospodarske Noviny, released on Thursday / Reuters
Sunday, 23 July
USA / Treatment / the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for investigational convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients as part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to fight COVID-19 / FDA
Friday, 21 July
Russia / Vaccine, Trials / AstraZeneca has received regulatory approval to conduct part of a Phase III trial of its potential Covid-19 vaccine, AZD1222, in Russia, a filing in the Russian registry of clinical trials showed on Friday / TRT World
Russia / Vaccine, Trials / Russia has announced clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine will get underway next week, involving tens of thousands of volunteers. Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is financing the program, said in a statement that trials of the “the Sputnik V vaccine” will begin in earnest next week, and will comprise more than 40,000 citizens / Deutsche Welle
Wednesday, 19 July
European Union / Vaccine / The European Commission and German biotech firm CureVac said on Thursday they were in advanced talks for the supply of at least 225 million doses of a potential Covid-19 vaccine to EU states / Kathimerini
Cuba / Vaccine, Trials / Cuba kicks off clinical trials next week of a potential coronavirus vaccine called “Soberana 01” (“Sovereign 01”) developed by its state-run Finlay Institute, with results due in February, state-run media said / Reuters
Monday, 17 July
Pakistan / Vaccine, Trials / Pakistani regulators have approved final-phase testing of a Chinese-developed potential vaccine against the coronavirus. The state-run National Institute of Health (NIH) said that the Phase III clinical trial would be the first of its kind in Pakistan / RFE/RL
Friday, 15 July
European Union / Vaccine / The Commission has reached a first agreement with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to purchase a potential vaccine against COVID-19 as well as to donate to lower and middle income countries or re-direct to EEA / European Commission
Wednesday, 12 July
USA / Drugs / California-based Selva Therapeutics has closed a Series A round with $3m raised. The proceeds of the Series A will be used to advance Selva’s lead candidate, SLV213, into clinical trials for Covid-19 / Pharmaceutical Technology
Tuesday, 11 July
Russia / Vaccine / Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute has registered the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine for use, and that one of his daughters has got a shot / New Europe
USA / Drugs / S-based biotechnology company GigaGen has developed a new class of drugs, recombinant hyperimmunes, to potentially treat patients with Covid-19 / Pharmaceutical Technology
Thursday, 6 July
USA / Drugs, Trials / Large, ongoing studies of remdesivir are set to enter a new phase of research, in which doctors will test the impact of combining the drug with a medication already approved to treat multiple sclerosis, the National Institutes of Health has announced. The multiple sclerosis drug, called interferon beta-1a, is sold under the brand name Rebif. It’s been approved for use in the U.S. since 1996 / NBC
Monday, 3 July
India / Vaccine, Trials / India’s drug controller body granted permission to a local firm for conducting clinical human trials of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University, an authority announced on Monday. The Drug Controller General of India approved the apply of Serum Institute of India for the phase two and three trials of vaccine, known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or AZD1222, in India as the “trials have shown promising results” / Anadolu
Friday, 31 July
UK / Vaccine, Trials / AstraZeneca has reported that it has obtained ‘good data so far’ on its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, which was licensed from the University of Oxford and is currently in large-scale clinical studies. The potential vaccine has entered its final trial in Brazil, with studies ongoing in the UK and South Africa / Clinical Trials Arena
Thursday, 30 July
Kazakhstan / Vaccine, Trials / The Research Institute for Biosafety Issues of the Science Committee of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Education and Science has also begun creating a vaccine since mid-March, the ministry said. Immediately after the completion of preclinical vaccines, clinical trials of the vaccine will begin / New Europe
Wednesday, 29 July
European Union / Drugs / The European Commission announced it had signed a €63 million contract with pharmaceutical company Gilead, to secure 30,000 doses, to be made available to member states and the UK as of early August / European Commission
Russia / Vaccine, Trials / Clinical trials of second Covid-19 vaccine candidate in Russia have commenced at the Vector virology institute in Siberia. The trial of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate is expected to scale up to 100 participants aged 18 and 60 years / Clinical Trials Arena
Tuesday, 28 July
Germany, US / Vaccine, Trials / German biotechnology company Biontech and US drugs giant Pfizer announced they would start Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of their BNT162b2 vaccine after getting the go-ahead from regulators / Deutsche Welle
Ireland / Vaccine, Trials / Dublin-listed pharmaceutical company Open Orphan has announced a new contract with Codagenix to conduct a first human trial evaluating safety and immunogenicity of a single-dose Covid-19 vaccine / RTE
UK / Drugs, Trials / Immunic has started enroling participants in a Phase IIb clinical trial of its drug candidate, IMU-838, combined with oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to treat moderate to severe Covid-19 / Clinical Trials Arena
Monday, 27 July
USA / Vaccine, Trials / Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine entered a new and crucial phase of testing on Monday: Its phase 3 clinical trial, which involves 30,000 volunteers at 87 sites across the US / STAT
India / Vaccine, Trials / India’s first indigenously-developed COVID vaccine, Covaxin, is showing ‘encouraging’ results after phase-I of human trials were completed, scientists say. The vaccine candidate is developed by Hyderabad based firm Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology / Deccan Chronicle
India / Vaccine, Trials / Serum Institute of India (SII) has filed an application with the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to study a Covid-19 vaccine candidate, being developed by the UK’s University of Oxford, in Phase II and III clinical trials / Clinical Trials Arena
Friday, 24 July
Israel / Testing / An Israeli company specialising in rapid recognition tests says it is now working on a COVID-19 novel coronavirus test kit that provides results in 30 seconds, which could give people “the confidence to go back and act as normal” / Sputnik International
Russia / Vaccine, Trials / Russian State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector received permission to conduct clinical trials of a vaccine against coronavirus, the first volunteers will receive it on July 27, Russian healthcare watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has said / Sputnik International
India / Drugs / Cipla Ltd has received Indian regulatory approval to sell anti-viral drug favipiravir to treat COVID-19, the drugmaker said on Friday, as coronavirus infections in the world’s third worst-hit nation show no sign of abating / Reuters
South Korea / Vaccine, Trials / Genexine said that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has approved its trials for a jet injector-type Covid-19 vaccine. Genexine plans to enter the phase 2a clinical trial after selecting the most appropriate administration method by comparing and analysing the safety and immunogenicity for two types of injection methods — electroporation and jet injector / Korea Biomedical Review
USA / Treatment / The National Institutes of Health is preparing to launch a “flurry” of large clinical trials to test new approaches to treating Covid-19, according to the agency’s director, hoping to expand what for now remains a limited arsenal of therapies to help people with the disease / STAT
Thursday, 23 July
Singapore / Vaccine / Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc., a leading clinical-stage messenger RNA medicines company focused on the discovery, development and commercialisation of therapeutics for rare diseases and vaccines, and Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore’s flagship research-intensive graduate entry medical school, today announced that the Clinical Trial Application for COVID-19 vaccine candidate LUNAR-COV19 has been approved to proceed by the Singapore Health Sciences Authority / News Medical
Australia / Drugs /A new drug developed by Australian researchers has shown promise as prevention against heart attack and stroke, and may also have the potential to treat COVID-19 triggered blood clotting. The research published in Science Translational Medicine revealed that the drug displayed in animal testing the ability to temporarily prevent platelet-triggered blood clots, which can cause heart attack or stroke / XinhuaNet
Wednesday, 22 July
USA / Vaccine / The U.S. has signed a $1.95-billion deal with Pfizer for delivery in December of the first 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine the pharmaceutical giant is working to develop, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced / Los Angeles Times
China, Brazil / Vaccine, Trials / A vaccine developed by private Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech against the new coronavirus entered the final stage of testing Tuesday in Brazil, where volunteers received the first doses of what officials hope will be a game-changer in the global pandemic / Bangkok Post
Tuesday, 21 July
UK / Vaccine / Oxford University’s potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be rolled out by the end of the year, the lead developer of the project said. The experimental vaccine, which has been licensed by AstraZeneca, produced an immune response in early-stage clinical trials, sparking hopes it could be in use before the year is out / Deutsche Welle
USA / Infection / Combing through the genome, researchers have tied COVID-19 severity and susceptibility to some genes associated with the immune system’s response, as well as a protein that allows the disease-causing SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus into our cells / Scientific American
Monday, 20 July
UK / Vaccine / British officials said they have signed a deal to buy 90 million doses of experimental coronavirus vaccines being developed by the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and others / Daily Sabah
UK / Vaccine, Trials / A coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford appears safe and triggers an immune response. Trials involving 1,077 people showed the injection led to them making antibodies and T-cells that can fight coronavirus / BBC
Wednesday, 15 July
Russia / Vaccine, Trials / Two Russian medical research centers completed the first phase of COVID-19 candidate vaccine trials on Wednesday. Two groups of 18 volunteers were discharged from hospitals after separately taking part in 28-day clinical trials in the First Moscow State Medical University and the Main Military Clinical Burdenko Hospital / Anadolu
Tuesday, 14 July
USA / Drugs, Trials / The US-based biotech company Moderna Inc. said its experimental coronavirus vaccine provoked an immune response without major side effects in an early-stage clinical trial / New Europe
Israel, USA / Drugs / Researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York believe that an existing drug, already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), may be able to reduce the severity of COVID-19 to that of a common cold or perhaps eliminate symptoms altogether / Sputnik
Monday, 13 July
Australia / Vaccine, Trial / The University of Queensland in Australia has started dosing healthy adult participants in a Phase I clinical trial of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The first dose of the potential vaccine was given at Nucleus Network’s Brisbane clinic. The trial is intended to assess the safety of the candidate, along with its ability to induce immune response in healthy volunteers / Clinical Trials Arena
USA / Drugs, Trial / Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech SE said two of their experimental coronavirus vaccines received ‘fast track’ designation from the U.S. health agency, speeding up the regulatory review process / Reuters
India / Drugs / Drugmaker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited said it had reduced the price of its coronavirus disease drug Favipiravir from Rs103 to Rs75 per tablet, which could reduce the treatment cost of a 14-day regimen to Rs10,200 from Rs14,000 / Hindustan Times
Thursday, 9 July
USA, UK / Treatment / Insilico Medicine, a biotechnology company developing an end-to-end drug discovery pipeline utilizing next-generation artificial intelligence, announced a technology partnership with Arctoris, the world’s first fully automated drug discovery platform, offering remotely accessible, pre-optimized and fully validated R&D processes for its partners and clients globally. Contributing their strengths to the fight against COVID-19, the two companies utilized their unique state-of-the-art techniques to discover, synthesize, and profile a set of inhibitors for COVID-19 treatment / News Medical
Iran / Drugs, Trial / A combination of antiviral drugs used to cure millions of Hepatitis C patients has shown promising results as a Covid-19 treatment in hospital trials in Iran / Financial Times
Wednesday, 8 July
Germany / Research / Numerous neurological problems such as tremors, seizures, and impaired consciousness have been linked to severe COVID-19, and a small German study may have uncovered a mechanism by which the virus appears to trick the body into attacking the brain / Reuters
European Union / Vaccine / The European Commission has struck deals with drugmakers Roche (ROG.S) and Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) to secure supplies of experimental treatments for COVID-19, a Commission source told Reuters / Reuters
Tuesday, 7 July
USA/ Infection / A popular form of heartburn medication may increase a person’s risk of developing COVID-19, according to a new study, published in pre-print form in the American Journal of Gastroenterology / TIME
India / Drugs / A BBC investigation has found that two life-saving drugs used to treat Covid-19 patients in India – remdesivir and tocilizumab – are in short supply and being sold for excessive rates on a thriving black market. Vikas Pandey reports from the capital Delhi / BBC
Monday, 6 July
European Union / Vaccine / The European Investment Bank (EIB) and German biopharmaceutical company CureVac signed a €75 million loan agreement, for the development of vaccines against infectious diseases, including its vaccine for the novel Coronavirus / New Europe
Britain / Vaccine / Britain is close to a 500 million pound ($624 million) supply deal with Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline for 60 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine / The Jakarta Post
Saturday, 4 July
WHO / Infection / The WHO has resisted mounting evidence that viral particles floating indoors are infectious, some scientists say. The agency maintains the research is still inconclusive / New York Times
WHO / Drugs, Trial / The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was discontinuing its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and combination HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 after they failed to reduce mortality / Voice of America
Friday, 3 July
World / Infection / The variation of COVID-19 currently dominating global cases is more infectious than the original strain that emerged in China, according to a new study published Thursday in the scientific journal Cell. Results of lab-based research published in the journal suggested that the current mutation is more transmissible between people than the previous iteration of the virus, though the finding remains to be proven / Deutsche Welle
Thursday, 2 July
Indonesia / Vaccine / Indonesia will be producing a coronavirus vaccine for itself due to concerns about global distribution of foreign-produced vaccines, the head of Indonesia’s national COVID-19 research team has announced / Voice of America
Wednesday, 1 July
USA / Vaccine / The United States has been allocated almost all of the next few months’ supply of remdesivir, the only drug that’s known to work directly against COVID-19 / CNN
Sweden / Immunity / People testing negative for coronavirus antibodies may still have some immunity, a study has suggested. For every person testing positive for antibodies, two were found to have specific T-cells which identify and destroy infected cells. This was seen even in people who had mild or symptomless cases of Covid-19 / BBC
Belgium / Vaccine / Ghent-based biotech start-up is working on a “universal” coronavirus vaccine through machine-learning and cancer treatment technologies. Ghent start-up MyNEO, which specialises in targetted cancer treatments, said it had identified a “promising” peptide-based therapy capable of creating a targetted immune reaction against Covid-19 and other types of coronavirus, such as the ones that caused the MERS and SARS outbreaks / The Brussels Times
Tuesday, 30 June
India / Vaccine, Trial / Volunteers in India will be immunised with a new locally made coronavirus vaccine in July. An unspecified number of people will have the vaccine, as part of a trial by Hyderabad-based firm Bharat Biotech. Tests in animals suggest the vaccine is safe and triggers an effective immune response / BBC
Sunday, 28 June
China / Vaccine, Trial / The second vaccine developed by Sinopharm has been found to be safe and able to generate high titers of antibodies among participants in phase I and II clinical trials, according to a Weibo posting by Sinopharm Group / Bloomberg
Friday, 26 June
USA, Austria / Vaccine / US-based biotech firm Avalon GloboCare has collaborated with the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna, Austria to develop an S-layer vaccine against Covid-19 for intranasal or oral administration / Pharmaceutical Technology
Thursday, 25 June
European Union / Drugs / European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended on Thursday granting a conditional marketing authorization (CMA) to Gilead’s antiviral drug called remdesivir, for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults and adolescents from 12 years of age with pneumonia who require supplemental oxygen / New Europe
European Union / Drugs, Trials / Experimental drug remdesivir has been endorsed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for treatment of COVID-19, paving the way for its use in the EU. Studies say the drug shortens recovery time / Deutsche Welle
Wednesday, 24 June
UK / Vaccine, Trials / A study conducted by the Pirbright Institute, in alliance with the University of Oxford, has demonstrated that two doses of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) Covid-19 vaccine boost antibody response in pigs, compared to a single dose / Pharmaceutical Technology
South Africa / Vaccine, Trials / South Africa announced it will begin its first clinical trial this week for a vaccine against the novel coronavirus. The South African Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial aims to find a vaccine that will prevent infection / Anadolu
Tuesday, 23 June
UK / Drugs / vaccine against Covid-19 may not work well in older people who are most at risk of becoming seriously ill and dying from the disease, say scientists, which may mean immunising others around them, such as children / The Guardian
Monday, 22 June
USA / Drugs, Trial / Gilead Sciences will begin human trials for an inhaled version of its antiviral drug remdesivir in August, the biotech company said / CNBC
Nigeria / Vaccine / Dr Oladipo Kolawole, a specialist in Medical Virology, Immunology and Bioinformatics, at Adeleke University, Ede in Osun, and leader of the research team, announced during a news conference the discovery of a novel coronavirus vaccine, developed locally in Africa for Africans / Deccan Herald
India / Drugs, Trial / A multi-centre Phase-II drug trial being done by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has shown that its drug can cost lesser by at least 20-30% of the current price / India Today
Friday, 19 June
Norway, Estonia / Drugs / A combination of two existing drugs is highly effective against SARS-CoV-2 in cell cultures, researchers in Norway and Estonia have found. In a separate experiment, the researchers used the same cell cultures to show that convalescent blood plasma may be ineffective if the patient donated it 2 months after receiving a diagnosis of COVID-19 / Medical News Today
European Union / Vaccine / The European Commission is in advanced talks with pharmaceuticals giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) to reserve or make an up-front purchase of its COVID-19 vaccine under development / Reuters
Thursday, 18 June
USA / Drugs / Harvard’s Wyss Institute has signed a one-year agreement worth up to $16 million with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to identify and test FDA-approved drugs that could be repurposed to prevent or treat Covid-19 / Boston Business Journal
India / Drugs, Trial / The CSIR – Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) Lucknow, has got the nod for carrying out clinical trial of antiviral drug Umifenovir for treating coronavirus patients, according to a statement / Hindustan Times
Wednesday, 17 June
Belgium / Vaccine, Trials / Over 400 volunteers in Belgium have already signed up to take part in clinical trials for a potential Covid-19 vaccine, set to begin in July. The vaccine trials by Janssen Pharmaceutica were announced in June, and are set to take place in Belgium and in the US / The Brussels Times
Israel / Vaccine / Israel has signed an agreement with the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech firm Moderna Inc for the future purchase of its potential COVID-19 vaccine, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu / Reuters
Russia / Vaccine, Trials / Clinical trials of a Russian coronavirus vaccine have started Wednesday, the Health Ministry said in a statement.Two forms of the vaccine developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya research institute — liquid and powder for injections — will be tested on two groups of volunteers, 38 people each / The New York Times
European Union / Vaccine / The European Commission presented a European strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing and deployment of vaccines against COVID-19 / European Commission
Germany / Vaccine, Trials / German biotech firm CureVac is to become the second company in Germany to begin human trials of an experimental coronavirus vaccine. The clinical study will include approximately 168 healthy adults, of which 144 are to be given the experimental vaccine. The first vaccinations will begin in June / Deutsche Welle
Japan / Vaccine, Trials / Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui has said that a clinical trial of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus will begin at a hospital in the city on June 30. The vaccine was developed by AnGes Inc., a biopharmaceutical startup related to Osaka University. The clinical trial will take place at Osaka City University Hospital / The Japan Times
Tuesday, 16 June
UK / Drugs / Scientists at the University of Oxford said they have identified what they called the first drug proven to reduce coronavirus-related deaths, after a 6,000-patient trial of the drug in Britain showed that a low-cost steroid called dexamethasone, could reduce deaths significantly for hospitalized patients / The New York Times
UK / Vaccine, Trials / A team of UK scientists hopes to receive approval to begin human trials of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine this week. The scientists, at Imperial College in London, said the new vaccine works by injecting a dose of approximately a thousandth of a thousandth of a gram of genetic material, called RNA, into the body, allowing it to begin multiplying / Arab News
Monday, 15 June
UK / Vaccine / AstraZeneca has followed through on its pledge to provide its COVID-19 vaccine at cost during the pandemic, saying it has agreed to supply 400m doses to the European Inclusive Vaccines Alliance (IVA) / Pharmaphorum
India / Drugs / Researchers at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have identified at least 29 drugs that have the potential of being repurposed to treat Covid-19 patients / The Times of India
Sunday, 14 June
China / Vaccine / Sinovac Biotech announced preliminary study results on Saturday showing its experimental Covid-19 vaccine generated immune responses in patients and was safe — early data that suggest it might protect people against infections with the novel coronavirus / STAT
Friday, 12 June
Denmark / Vaccine, Trials / A vaccine developed by researchers in Denmark against the novel coronavirus has shown promising results in tests on mice, officials have announced. A team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Immunology and Microbiology have “reached an important milestone,” the university said in a statement / Anadolu
Europe / Vaccine / The European Investment Bank (EIB) and BioNTech concluded a €100 million debt financing agreement to support the development of BNT162, the company’s COVID-19 vaccine programme / European Commission
Thursday, 11 June
USA / Drugs, Trials / Regeneron began the first human trials of a medicine that’s designed to treat, and possibly prevent, coronavirus infection.The Tarrytown, New York-based biotech will test its treatment, a cocktail of two engineered antibodies, in two placebo-controlled studies of hospitalized and non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients / BiopharmaDive
China / Vaccine, Trials / One of China’s vaccines in clinical trials, from state-owned Sinopharm, has reported positive results from animal tests. The vaccine candidate, dubbed BBIBP-CorV and made from an inactivated form of the virus, induced high levels of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2—the virus behind COVID-19—in rodents, rabbits and monkeys without triggering any serious adverse events, a team of Chinese researchers reported in the journal Cell / FierceBiotech
USA / Vaccine, Trials / Moderna Inc. said it had selected a dose for a final-stage clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine that should begin in July, as the company moves ahead rapidly with its innovative approach to trying to prevent Covid-19 / Bloomberg
Sweden / Drugs / A drug against rheumatoid arthritis called baricitinib could potentially be repurposed to treat patients with COVID-19, according to a study conducted by an international research team including researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden / Technology Networks
UK / Drugs, Trials / Two drugs used to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer are being tested as potential therapies for patients with COVID-19, the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford / eureporter
Wednesday, 10 June
USA, Ireland / Vaccine / Panacea Biotec is advancing its response to address the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 by collaborating with Refana Inc. USA to make COVID-19 vaccine widely accessible around the world in an equitable manner through a joint venture company to be based in Ireland / Contract Pharma
India, UK / Vaccine / Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, is investing $100 million on a potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed at Oxford University, according to a company official. The Pune-based company has partnered with AstraZeneca, a British biopharma giant, to ensure equitable supply of the AZD1222 vaccine doses to India as well as low-and-middle-income countries / LiveMint
Tuesday, 9 June
UK / Drugs / In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers concluded that hydroxychloroquine, or HCQ, does not prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2 when administered to people soon after exposure to the virus / Forbes
South Korea / Drugs, Trial / South Korea’s Daewoong Pharmaceutical said its anti-parasitic drug niclosamide had eliminated the novel coronavirus from animals’ lungs during testing / Times Now
UK / Vaccine / London’s Imperial College, which is developing a coronavirus vaccine based on self-amplifying RNA technology, has set up a special company to distribute it if they are successful, rather than partnering with a big pharmaceutical company, to ensure access for the world’s poorest / The Indian Express
Monday, 8 June
India / Drugs / Patients with high blood pressure who are not taking medication to control the condition may be at a greater risk of dying from novel coronavirus infection, according to a review of studies published in the European Heart Journal, which says drugs treating the underlying disease may offer protection in some COVID-19 patients / Hindustan Times
UK / Vaccine / Oxford Biomedica has signed a new manufacturing agreement with a group backed by the UK government to help it scale up production of AstraZeneca’s potential COVID-19 vaccine to cater to demand in the United Kingdom and Europe / Reuters
India / Drugs / India’s Health Ministry drafted rules to help COVID-19 patients access new drugs. The quantity of any new drug manufactured or imported on the basis of permission granted shall not exceed one hundred average dosages per patient, the draft rules stated / Financial Express
Sunday, 7 June
UK, Sweden / Therapy / An injection of cloned antibodies that counteract Covid-19 could prove significant for those in the early stages of infection, according to the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca / The Guardian
Saturday, 6 June
USA / Drugs / A widely available and inexpensive drug that is used to ease the symptoms of indigestion may prove a worthy contender for treating COVID-19 infection in those whose disease doesn’t require admission to hospital, say researchers. Famotidine (Pepcid AC) belongs to a class of drugs known as histamine-2 receptor antagonists, which reduce the amount of stomach acid produced / Times Now
Friday, 5 June
UK / Drugs, Trials / A malaria drug that has been tested as a treatment for coronavirus does not save lives, one of the world’s largest trials shows. Due to mounting controversy about the drug, the UK’s drugs regulator last night asked the Oxford researchers to review their data / BBC
UK / Vaccine / Drug company AstraZeneca is to start producing a potential vaccine for coronavirus, its boss has told the BBC. Trials of the drug are under way but Pascal Soriot said the firm must start making doses now so that it can meet demand if the vaccine proves effective / BBC
Thursday, 4 June
World / Drugs / Rheumatic disease patients treated with anti-TNF therapy and who contracted COVID-19, were hospitalised less often than patients treated with glucocorticoids, shows an observational study presented on Wednesday at the European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR) annual meeting / Rheumatology Network
USA, Netherlands / Vaccine / EpiVax, Inc. (Providence, RI, USA) and Intravacc (Bilthoven, Netherlands) have entered into a collaboration agreement to further progress a novel vaccine against COVID-19, based on Intravacc’s proprietary Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMV) technology platform / HospiMedica
Wednesday, 3 June
USA / Drugs / Doctors at the University of Michigan set out to control the haywire immune reaction that pushes some covid-19 patients into a death spiral. To do it, they gave 78 patients on ventilators the drug tocilizumab, which blocks IL-6, a molecule in the body that sets off a reaction to an infection (The drug is sold by Roche under the trade name Acterma) / MIT Technological Review
UK / Drugs, Trials / The team from London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital and King’s College believe the drug, which is an anti-inflammatory as well as a painkiller, could treat breathing difficulties. They hope the low-cost treatment can keep patients off ventilators. In the trial, called Liberate, half of the patients will receive ibuprofen in addition to usual care / BBC
World / Vaccine / Intravacc, one of the world’s leading translational research and development vaccine institutes, with an extensive track record in developing viral and bacterial vaccines, and EpiVax, a biotechnology company based in Providence with expertise in developing vaccines and therapeutics, announce that they have entered into a collaboration agreement to further progress an novel vaccine against COVID-19, based on Intravacc’s proprietary Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMV) technology platform / HIT Consultant
Tuesday, 2 June
Czech Republic / Vaccine / Novavax will purchase Praha Vaccines, a Czech Republic-based vaccine company, in an all cash deal worth €150 million. Starting in 2021, the company stated the cite would allow it to establish an annual capacity of over one billion doses of antigen for NVX-CoV2373, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate / BioPharma-Reporter
UK / Drugs, Trial / A NEW drug is being trialled simultaneously across two hospitals in Manchester as part of the nationwide effort to find new treatments for the coronavirus. One of the drugs being tested on Covid-19 patients at the MRI and Wythenshawe Hospital is Bemcentinib, a tablet used to treat blood disorders, the Manchester University is part of the NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) / EuroWeekly
Monday, 1 June
World / Drugs / Gilead Sciences Inc reported that its antiviral drug remdesivir provided a modest benefit in patients with moderate COVID-19 given a five-day course of the treatment, while those who received the medicine for 10 days in the study did not fare as well / Reuters
USA / Vaccine / The U.S. government on Monday entered into a $628 million contract with drugmaker Emergent BioSolutions (EBS.N) to boost manufacturing capacity for a potential COVID-19 vaccine / Reuters
USA / Drugs / Researchers have begun testing what appears to be the first new medicine developed specifically against Covid-19, in a milestone for drug companies aiming to combat the disease, the medicine’s makers said Monday. The medicine, a human-made antibody against the coronavirus that causes the disease, was discovered by a Vancouver company, AbCellera, and is being developed by Eli Lilly, the Indianapolis-based drug giant / STAT
UK / Drugs, Trials / Five new drugs are to be trialled in 30 hospitals across the country in the race to find a treatment for Covid-19, it has emerged. British scientists are looking to sign up hundreds of patients for trials of medicines they hope will prevent people becoming ill enough to need intensive care or ventilators / The Guardian
Russia / Drugs / Russia has approved an anti-influenza drug to treat Covid-19 and will start delivering courses of the drug, Avifavir, to hospitals in June, according to Russia’s sovereign wealth fund (RDIF) / CNBC
Friday, 29 May
Indonesia, S.Korea / Vaccine, Trial / Publicly listed pharmaceutical company Kalbe Farma has signed an agreement with South Korea-based biotechnology firm Genexine Inc. to start a clinical trial of a COVID-19 candidate vaccine in Indonesia / The Jakarta Post
India / Drugs, Trial / Drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said on Friday it has received Indian regulatory approval to start clinical trials of a pancreatitis drug in COVID-19 patients / Reuters
UK / Drugs, Trial / Drugs used in blood cancer and pancreatic disease treatments will be tested on Covid-19 patients as part of two new clinical trials being launched in the UK. The trial for camostat, which is used in treating inflammation of the pancreas, will start on Friday, while the trial for ruxolitinib, used in certain types of blood cancer treatments, is set to begin next week / Evening Express
World / Drugs / More than 120 researchers and medical professionals from around the world have written an open letter to the editor of the Lancet raising serious concerns about a large and widely publicised global study that prompted the World Health Organisation to halt several Covid-19 clinical trials. The study found Covid-19 patients who received the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine were dying at higher rates and experiencing more heart-related complications than other virus patients / The Guardian
Thursday, 28 May
Japan / Testing / As Japan reopens, Coronavirus testing slowed by bureaucracy and staff shortages. Critics say vested interests and bureaucracy inside Japan’s health ministry caused bottlenecks at overworked public health centres, and officials waited too long to allow private labs to run tests / Reuters
Wednesday, 27 May
Finland / Infection / In a pilot study at the University of Helsinki, dogs trained as medical diagnostic assistants were taught to recognize the previously unknown odor signature of the COVID-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus. After only a few weeks, the first dogs were able to accurately distinguish urine samples from COVID-19 patients from urine samples of healthy individuals / Deutsche Welle
Denmark / Testing / The University of Southern Denmark on Wednesday announced that its researchers have developed the world’s first fully automatic robot capable of carrying out throat swabs for COVID-19. The equipment uses a 3D-printed disposable arm that is automatically swapped after each patient. The robot takes a swab with a specially designed disposable tool that hits the exact part of the throat from which the sample should be taken / Deutsche Welle
Spain / Drugs / The study demonstrates that a human and a veterinary anti-inflammatory drug – Carprofen and Celecoxib – inhibit a key enzyme in the replication and transcription of the virus responsible for COVID-19 / News Medical
France / Drugs / The French government on Wednesday revoked a decree authorising hospitals to prescribe the controversial drug for Covid-19 patients after France’s public health watchdog warned against its use to treat the disease / France24
Korea / Drugs / A research team at Chung-Ang University Hospital said it has discovered that the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors used for hypertension drugs have no relationship to Covid-19 patients’ risk of death in Korea / Korea Biomedical Review
USA / Vaccine / Merck, the vaccine company said it’s partnering with nonprofit research group IAVI on a preclinical vaccine candidate based on the same platform used by Merck’s Ervebo, the wold’s only licensed Ebola shot / FiercePharma
Tuesday, 26 May
UK / Drugs / A drug treatment called remdesivir that appears to shorten recovery time for people with coronavirus is being made available on the NHS / BBC
Japan / Drugs / The Japanese government has decided to postpone approving Fujifilm Holdings Corp.’s Avigan drug for the treatment of COVID-19 until June or later, health minister Katsunobu Kato has said / the japan times
WHO / Drugs, Trials / WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there would be “a temporary pause” on the clinical trial of the anti-malaria drug, after a paper published last week showed that people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems / New Europe
Spain / Drugs / According to Joaquín Dopazo, Director Clinical Bioinformatics Area Fundación Progreso y Salud, in Seville , they are using a “mathematical model of the mechanism of the illness”, which provides a dynamic representation of what COVID-19 patients go through. The machine learning solution has allowed them to identify about 390 potential drugs, that may be able to act on the virus’ therapeutic targets and the infection process / BBVA
Monday, 25 May
USA / Infection / In America, two new studies emerged: an immune response experiment and a DNA vaccine protection study, both evaluating in rhesus macaques. American scientists found that the COVID-19 patients who have recovered and re-acquired Coronavirus would most likely not infect others / The Science Times
Canada / Drugs, Trials / Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc, a clinical stage pharmaceutical development company, announced it has submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. FDA for its planned multinational Phase 2b/3 study of its re-purposed drug NP-120 (Ifenprodil) as a potential therapeutic treatment for patients with COVID-19 / Globe Newswire
South Africa / Vaccine / Any COVID-19 vaccine, if developed in the world, should be made freely and equitably available to citizens of all countries, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said. There is a massive global effort to develop a vaccine, of which South Africa is part, as the country is funding several research projects, including a plan to locally manufacture coronavirus vaccines as soon as candidates are available / Xinhua
Sunday, 24 May
UK / Vaccine, Trials / The University of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine trial has only a 50% chance of success as the coronavirus seems to be fading rapidly in Britain, the professor co-leading the development of the vaccine told Telegraph / The Telegraph
USA / Vaccine / Dr. Ofer Levy and a group of Harvard Medical School researchers are among them, but the vaccine they’re working on is a little different. It’s specifically designed for those most vulnerable to the disease: the elderly / Business Insider
UK / Vaccine / Scientists have warned there could be major delays in producing a Covid-19 vaccine if current UK infection rates remain low and lengthy waiting times are needed to show if candidate products are working. As a result, some researchers insist that Britain should consider deliberately infecting volunteers involved in vaccine-testing projects – in line with World Health Organization proposals to set up such human challenge trials / The Guardian
Saturday, 23 May
UK / Testing / A COVID-19 test that gives results in just over an hour and which requires no laboratory, potentially allowing for swifter testing of much larger numbers of people, is being rolled out at a number of London hospitals after getting regulatory clearance / Reuters
Thailand / Vaccine, Trials / Thailand’s minister of higher education, science, and research and innovation, Suvit Maesincee, said researchers had moved testing of the vaccine to monkeys and hoped to have a “clearer outcome” of its effectiveness by September / Reuters
China / Vaccine / A Chinese-developed COVID-19 adenovirus vector vaccine candidate became the first in the world to disclose complete phase one clinical trial results and declare dual immune response in the recipient, representing a significant milestone in its results and boost in confidence for current and prospective volunteers in clinical trials / Global Times
USA / Drugs / Nanome, Inc., a virtual reality (VR) startup whose signature product is a computational chemistry software platform, has co-authored a paper describing 10 potential small molecule inhibitors targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease that were generated by artificial intelligence (AI) / synbiobeta
Friday, 22 May
USA / Drugs / Antimalaria drugs that U.S. President Donald Trump has touted for treatment of Covid-19 were linked to an increased risk of death and heart aliments in a study / Bloomberg
UK / Vaccine, Trials / The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc have begun recruiting more than 10,000 subjects for advanced human studies of one of the world’s fastest-moving experimental Covid-19 vaccines / Bloomberg
Russia / Immunity / The Russian developers of a coronavirus vaccine have developed immunity to the infection after self-administering it, Interfax reported / The Moscow Times
India / Drugs, Trial / Strides Pharma Science said that it will start its own clinical trial of antiviral drug Favipiravir, which is being touted as a potential treatment of Covid-19, becoming the second Indian drug company after Glenmark to get the nod to do so / The Times of India
Thursday, 21 May
UK / Drugs, Trials / A trial to see whether two anti-malarial drugs could prevent Covid-19 has begun in Brighton and Oxford. Chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine or a placebo will be given to more than 40,000 healthcare workers from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America / BBC
USA / Drugs / The effectiveness of two inhibitor drugs in the treatment of COVID-19 will be tested by a team of researchers in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Renaissance School of Medicine / Stony Brook University
UK / Vaccine / Drugs giant AstraZeneca has announced it is ready to provide a potential new coronavirus vaccine from September. The firm said it had concluded deals to deliver at least 400 million doses of the vaccine, which it is developing with Oxford University / BBC
USA / Vaccine / A top US scientist has said that people should not count on a Covid-19 vaccine being developed any time soon, as global infections passed 5 million after surges in Latin America, including Brazil, which has recorded nearly 20,000 new cases / The Guardian
Wednesday, 20 May
USA / Immunity / Two studies in monkeys published on Wednesday offer some of the first scientific evidence that surviving COVID-19 may result in immunity from reinfection, a positive sign that vaccines under development may succeed, U.S. researchers said / Reuters
UK / Vaccine, Trials / The COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University does not stop the virus in monkeys and may only be partially effective, experts have warned / Arab News
USA / Drugs / Researchers at Ludwig Center at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have reported that prazosin an blood pressure drug if given early enough– may potentially reduce the risk of death from the most serious complication of COVID-19 / Medical Dialogues
EU / Diagnostics / One of the first 18 research and innovation projects funded by the EU to tackle the coronavirus is already delivering results. Researchers involved in the “HG nCoV19 test” project, selected for funding from the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 under the special call launched in January, have obtained approval to put a new rapid point-of-care diagnostic for COVID-19 on the market / European Commission
UK / Drugs, Test / A recovery trial coordinated by the Nuffield Department of Population Health at University of Oxford, aims to study the effectiveness of four different drugs and anti-inflammatory drug tocilizumab for those with worsening clinical symptoms / The Hindu
Tuesday, 19 May
UK / Drugs / Hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug being taken by Donald Trump as an unproven protection against coronavirus, is being bought in bulk by the UK in case it does turn out to be an effective Covid-19 treatment / The Guardian
Canada / Vaccine, Trials / Health Canada okayed a study involving the most advanced candidate, in what is turning into a bunfight between various governments to get first dibs on vaccines for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the pandemic respiratory disease / Pharmaphorum
USA / Drugs / Three drugs that are already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or other international agencies can block the production of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 in human cells, according to computational and pharmaceutical studies performed by UT Southwestern scientists / News Medical
USA / Drugs / The U.S. government signed a $354 million four-year contract with new pharmaceutical company Phlow Corporation to increase American production of medications that may help treat Covid-19 in a bid to avoid potential supply chain shortages, with the potential to extend the contract to $812 million for the next 10 years / Forbes
Monday, 18 May
EU / Drugs / The European Union may give an initial green light in the coming days for sale of the drug remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment, the head of its medicines agency said on Monday, fast-tracking the drug to market amid tight global competition for resources / Reuters
UK / Test / People who experience a loss of smell or taste are being advised to get tested for Covid-19, in a change of guidance from the UK government that experts say is well overdue, warning that thousands of cases have already been missed / The Guardian
USA / Vaccine, Trials / Moderna released the first human results from its coronavirus vaccine candidate on Monday. In a small number of healthy volunteers, Moderna’s vaccine helped create immune responses that may help protect people from being infected with the novel coronavirus / Business Insider
Thailand / Drugs / The first clinical trial on a massive scale of two antimalarial drugs controversially repurposed for use with Covid-19 patients launches this week to determine their efficacy as a prevention rather than treatment against coronavirus illness / Asia Times
Israel / Vaccine / The BCG vaccination administered during childhood does not protect against COVID-19 in adulthood, a new study by researchers at Tel Aviv University, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has concluded, according to The Hindu / The Jerusalem Post
Sunday, 17 May
US, UK / Drugs / Ahead of ministers and officials from every nation meeting on Monday for the annual world health assembly, the US and UK lead push against global patent pool for Covid-19 drugs / The Guardian
UK / Drugs / Blood-thinning drugs can help save the lives of patients suffering from COVID-19, British doctors have discovered after finding a clear link between the disease and blood clotting / Arab News
Saturday, 16 May
USA / Drugs, Trials / Gilead Sciences Inc’s two clinical studies of its potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir will wind down by the end of May. The end of these trials effectively closes off a path of patient access to the antiviral medication, according to United States researchers involved in the studies / Al Jazeera
Friday, 15 May
USA / Drugs / Treating Covid-19 patients with the anti-inflammatory drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) had no positive effect and caused other health complications, two new studies showed / France24
China / Drugs / A team of Chinese-based researchers found a new candidate drug against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The so-called protease of the virus — that is, a type of enzyme without which the virus cannot survive — was the starting point of the scientists’ efforts / Medical News Today
UK / Vaccine, Trials / First results of a recent animal trial of the promising coronavirus vaccine from scientists at Oxford University’s Jenner Institute showed that the “ChAdOx1 nCoV-19” vaccine has been effective in preventing damage to the lungs without any signs of immune-enhanced diseases / India Today
Germany / Vaccine / A vaccine against COVID-19 can be ready for final tests before the year’s end, Germany’s regulatory institute for vaccines, namely Paul-Ehrlich-Institut said / Anadolu
Thursday, 14 May
Italy / Infection / Doctors in Italy have reported the first clear evidence of a link between Covid-19 and a rare but serious inflammatory disorder that has required some children to undergo life-saving treatment in intensive care units / The Guardian
India, Pakistan / Drugs / Gilead Sciences Inc. has announced deals with four generic-drug makers in India and one in Pakistan to scale up production of its experimental coronavirus treatment / BBC
Greece / Treatment / Two patients who are critically ill with Covid-19 are being treated with blood plasma from people who have recovered from the disease, Greek health authorities said / Kathimerini
India / Drugs / Two health advocacy groups have written to the Indian government asking it to rescind patents given to Gilead Sciences for the drug remdesivir so it can be distributed more fairly to coronavirus patients around the world, particularly in poorer nations / Reuters
UK / Testing / Roche Holding AG’s coronavirus antibody test was cleared by a U.K. health authority. Roche’s antibody test has demonstrated a specificity of more than 99.8% and a sensitivity of 100%, the company said earlier this month / Bloomberg
UK / Drugs, Trials / A trial which will rapidly test new therapies for patients hospitalised due to COVID-19 is opening in Birmingham this week by CATALYST. It is a team effort, designed by the Inflammation – Advanced and Cell Therapy Trials Team (I-ACT) at the University of Birmingham’s Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit, working in close partnership with University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) and the Birmingham National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR BRC) / Science Business
Israel, Switzerland / Vaccine / Israel-based Tel Aviv University (TAU)’s technology transfer company Ramot has entered a research and licence agreement with Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company Neovii to develop a vaccine against Covid-19 / Pharmaceutical Technology
Wednesday, 13 May
USA / Vaccine / Americans will likely get Sanofi’s Covid-19 vaccine before the rest of the world if the French pharmaceutical giant can successfully deliver one. That’s because the U.S. was first in line to fund Sanofi’s vaccine research, Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson said in an interview with Bloomberg News / Bloomberg
Japan / Drugs / In the global hunt for coronavirus treatments, a Japanese antiviral medicine known as Avigan has won plaudits from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and $128 million in government funding. Camostat, a 35-year old pancreatitis drug made by Osaka-based Ono Pharmaceutical Co, has also captured the interest of scientists in Japan and overseas with little fanfare or state assistance / Reuters
China, Canada / Drugs, Vaccine / China is actively conducting international cooperation with world countries including Canada in drugs and vaccines development against COVID-19, according to a Foreign Ministry spokesperson / China.org.cn
US / Drugs / Researchers are exploring whether the drug Remdesivir, made by Gilead Sciences Inc., can be combined with other antiviral treatments to make a more potent coronavirus-fighting cocktail / The Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, 12 May
India / Drugs, Trials / Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said it it has initiated Phase 3 clinical trials on antiviral drug Favipiravir to check its efficacy on Covid-19 patients in India / The Times of India
USA / Vaccine, Trials / More than 14,000 people in the United States are volunteering for a so-called “human challenge trial”, an ethically controversial way to test vaccines that would deliberately infect people with the coronavirus / New Europe
Hong Kong / Drugs / A phase II clinical trial has found that a combination of three drugs — interferon beta-1b, lopinavir-ritonavir, and ribavirin — plus standard care is successful in treating mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19 / Medical News Today
UK / Drugs, Trials / Drugs that could relieve the symptoms of coronavirus in vulnerable patients and help them avoid admission to hospital are to begin trials in homes across the UK. The experiment, led by a team at Oxford University, seeks to test pre-existing treatments for older people in the community who show signs of the disease / The Independent
World / Vaccine / The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will invest up to $384 million to help develop and produce Novavax Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the company said, sending its shares up 31.2% in extended trading / Reuters
Monday, 11 May
Germany / Vaccine / The German government has agreed a funding program of €750 million on the development and distribution of a coronavirus vaccine. Researchers hope large-scale trials will help speed up the process / Deutsche Welle
Madagascar / Drugs / Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has slammed the World Health Organization for not endorsing its COVID-19 herbal cure. Last month, the Malagasy president officially launched Covid-Organics (CVO), an organic herbal concoction, claiming that it can prevent and cure patients suffering from the novel coronavirus / Anadolu
Japan / Vaccine / Japan is expecting to begin clinical trials for vaccine to treat coronavirus in July, the country’s prime minister Shinzo Abe said. Abe added that his government is aiming to approve the anti-flu drug Avigan to treat COVID-19 by the end of this month / Anadolu
UK / Testing / Quotient Limited, a commercial-stage diagnostics company, headquartered in Eysins, Switzerland, and hVIVO, part of Open Orphan plc announced that the MosaiQ™ by Quotient system and MosaiQ COVID-19 Antibody Microarray will be used by hVIVO to screen for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies testing in the UK / GlobeNewsWire
China / Drugs / Chinese researchers have worked on using existing low molecular weight drugs to treat severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 disease / News Medical
Sunday, 10 May
India, US / Vaccine / India’s Ambassador to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu said that there is close cooperation between the two countries and in particular, among the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Center’s for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over the exchange of information related to the development of vaccines to counter the COVID-19 pandemic / LiveMint
Saturday, 9 May
Hong Kong / Drugs / A combination of three antiviral drugs plus an immune system booster seemed to help patients recover more quickly from coronavirus infections, doctors in Hong Kong / CNN International
Friday, 8 May
China / Drugs / An antiviral almost identical to remdesivir is widely available in China’s underground marketplaces—as a game-changing treatment for a different coronavirus in cats / The Atlantic
WHO / Vaccine / Controversial trials in which volunteers are intentionally infected with Covid-19 could accelerate vaccine development, according to the World Health Organization, which has released new guidance on how the approach could be ethically justified despite the potential dangers for participants / The Guardian
WHO / Coronavirus / The novel coronavirus comes from a group of viruses that originate or spread in bats, and it’s still unclear what animal may have transmitted the disease to humans, said Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO expert in animal diseases that jump to humans/ Bloomberg
China / Drugs / Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is in discussion with regulators in other countries, and the World Health Organization, to launch phase III clinical trials in regions where the novel coronavirus is still spreading rapidly, CEO Yin Weidong said in an interview / Bloomberg
USA / Drugs / An antimalaria drug didn’t appear to help Covid-19 patients any more than patients who didn’t get the treatment at a New York City hospital, according to one of the largest studies so far exploring the coronavirus-fighting potential of the pills / The Wall Street Journal
Thursday, 7 May
USA / Vaccine / Moderna Inc said it expects mid-stage trials for its COVID-19 vaccine to begin shortly while late-stage trials are expected to begin early summer, as the drug developer accelerates its efforts to combat the pandemic / Reuters
USA, Belgium / Treatment / Antibodies from llamas could help tackle coronavirus, scientists say. The quest for an effective COVID-19 treatment has led one research team to find an unlikely partner for their work: a llama named Winter, ScienceDaily cited a study. The team from Austin’s University of Texas, the National Institutes of Health, and Belgium’s Ghent University announced their results in the Cell newspaper on a possible avenue for coronavirus treatment involving lamas / Financial Express
USA / Mutation / A coronavirus study by several researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, claims that a new strain of the novel COVID-19 is more contagious than the original form of the virus. The study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, looked at 14 mutations in the “spike protein,” which mediates the infection of human cells and is therein targeted by most attempted vaccines for the virus. Of those mutations, one stood out, according to the study, for spreading much more aggressively than the original strain of the virus / The Jerusalem Post
Japan / Drugs / Japan has approved Gilead Sciences Inc’s remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19, the health ministry said, making it the country’s first officially authorized drug for the coronavirus disease / Reuters
Israel / Drugs / Medical researchers in the Republic of the Congo have discovered that an Israeli-developed HIV drug apparently can be used to successfully treat critically ill COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, the drug might be available within “weeks to months, but not more” after further clinical trials are carried out / The Jerusalem Post
UK / Drugs / Repurposing existing medicines focused on known drug targets is likely to offer a more rapid hope of tackling COVID-19 than developing and manufacturing a vaccine, argue an international team of scientists in the British Journal of Pharmacology / Medical Xpress
WHO / Vaccine / Deliberately infecting healthy volunteers with the virus that causes Covid-19 may speed studies of vaccines against the deadly pathogen, the World Health Organization said / Bloomberg
China / Vaccine / PiCoVacc, a vaccine made by Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech has been proven effective in monkeys / CGTN
Wednesday, 6 May
Cuba / Antibodies / The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) began a research on the immune status of the population, aimed at determining seroprevalence (presence of antibodies) and prevalence of COVID-19 on the island / On Cuba News
USA / Drugs / Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Tuesday that it was possible its experimental antibody cocktail for COVID-19 may be available for use by September or a few months later as it ramps up efforts to start human trials in June / Al Jazeera
France / Vaccine / French drugmaker Sanofi said it plans to enroll thousands of subjects globally for trials of an experimental vaccine for the coronavirus it is developing with GlaxoSmithKline, and that it has started to discuss advanced purchases with several countries / CNA
Australia / Treatment / The Australian subsidiary of CSL Behring is set to develop a plasma-derived therapeutic for the treatment of serious complications in Covid-19 patients. The company intends to focus on patients whose infection is progressing to the requirement for ventilation. Named Covid-19 Immunoglobulin, the therapeutic will be developed by CSL Behring Australia at its manufacturing facility in Broadmeadows, Victoria / Pharmaceutical Technology
Italy / Vaccine / Scientists at Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Italy have claimed that a vaccine candidate could neutralise coronavirus within human cells / Pharmaceutical Technology
Tuesday, 5 May
World / Vaccine / World leaders, companies and international organisations have pledged €7.4 bn ($8.07 bn) for vaccine, diagnostics and treatment against Covid-19, during an EU-led fundraising event held on May 4 / New Europe
USA / Vaccine / Pfizer Inc. has administered the first US patients with its experimental vaccines to fight the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, part of a bid to shave years off of the typical time it takes to develop a new inoculation / Gulf News
Russia / Drugs / Russian scientists from the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the State Virology and Biotechnology Research Center “Vector” and Belgorod University are already working on the development of SARS-CoV-2-sensitive mice to be used as a murine model in tests of potential COVID-19 vaccines and drugs, reports the Office of the Chief State Sanitary Inspector / News Medical
Israel / Treatment / Israel has isolated a key coronavirus antibody at its main biological research laboratory, the Israeli defence minister said, calling the step a “significant breakthrough” toward a possible treatment for the COVID-19 pandemic / Reuters
Monday, 4 May
Turkey / Treatment / A 71-year-old man diagnosed with coronavirus in Turkey was discharged from the hospital on Monday following successful immune plasma treatment / Anadolu
South Africa / Vaccine / South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday pledged $1.3 million from his country towards global research into a possible vaccine and treatments for COVID-19 / CGTN
World / Vaccine / A global alliance of world leaders is expected to pledge to raise an initial $8.2bn (£6.5bn) at a virtual summit on Monday to research and equitably distribute vaccines and therapeutics to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic / The Guardian
UK / Trials / A new drug developed by UK scientists to treat Covid-19 patients is being trialled at University Hospital Southampton. Developed by UK bio-tech company Synairgen, it uses a protein called interferon beta, which our bodies produce when we get a viral infection / BBC
Canada / Drugs / After penning a deal with Eli Lilly last month with the aim to have an antibody in the clinic within four months, Canadian-based AbCellera has been given a financial boost by its government / Fierce Biotech
USA / Vaccine / US President Donald Trump said he’s ‘very confident’ of Covid-19 vaccine in 2020 and predicts up to 100,000 US deaths / The Guardian
Sunday, 3 May
USA / Drugs / The Food and Drug Administration has cleared for emergency use an antibody test from diagnostics giant Roche Holding AG, the company said / The Wall Street Journal
Saturday, 2 May
USA / Drugs / Common blood pressure medicines do not put people at a higher risk of severe or fatal coronavirus symptoms, three major studies have found / Daily Mail
USA / Drugs / Gilead Science Inc’s antiviral drug remdesivir was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19, clearing the way for broader use of the drug in more hospitals around the United States / Arab News
Friday, 1 May
USA / Drugs / Gilead Sciences (GILD.O), which manufactures remdesivir, is focused on making the experimental coronavirus drug accessible and affordable to as many people as possible once it is approved, Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Day said / Reuters
USA / Ventilators / Industrial conglomerate 3M Co said on Friday it sued five vendors for allegedly attempting to target government officials with fraudulent offers to sell billions of nonexistent N95 respirators / Reuters
Switzerland / Drugs / Moderna Inc MRNA.O and Swiss contract drugmaker Lonza Group AG LONN.S said on Friday they would accelerate the manufacturing of the U.S. drug developer’s potential coronavirus vaccine / Nasdaq
UK / Ventilators / Doctors in the UK have shared their fears over 250 ventilators purchased from China and called for their ‘withdrawal and replacement’. Medical experts from the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust warned that the Shangrila 510 model, made by Chinese firm Beijing Aeonmed Co. Ltd., caused ‘significant patient harm including death’ if used in a hospital environment / Daily Mail
USA, France / Drugs / At least 10 different drug compounds ranging from cancer therapies to antipsychotics and antihistamines may be effective at preventing the new coronavirus from multiplying in the body, according to a multidisciplinary study conducted by a team of scientists in the United States and France / France24
World / Vaccine / Pfizer aims to make 10-20 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine it is developing with Germany’s BioNtech by the end of 2020 for emergency use depending on trial results, according to the US drug manufacturer’s vaccines head / CNA
Thursday, 30 April
World / Vaccine / Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has today agreed to mass-produce a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University scientists. Human trials of the experimental jab – called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 – started last week and the first results are expected in mid-June / Daily Mail
Europe / Vaccine / Avia Solutions Group offered $2M worth flight budget to the World Health Organization with an aim to help combat COVID-19. The support money shall be dedicated to transporting COVID-19 vaccines to highly infected places using the company’s aircraft fleet, Dornier 228, Boeing 747-400F, B737-400F and Airbus A321, said Vygaudas Usackas, Ambassador and Member of the Board of Directors of Avia Solutions Group / Avia Solutions Group
USA / Drug / FDA will reportedly authorize use of remdesivir for Covid-19 after trial shows ‘positive effect’ on recovery time / CNN
Germany / Vaccine / Researchers have begun testing a possible COVID-19 vaccine on human volunteers, a leading German biotechnology company announced. “Twelve study participants were dosed with vaccine candidate BNT162 in Germany since dosing began on April 23,” BioNTech said in a statement / Anadolu
UK / Infection / Children have largely been spared the worst of COVID-19, but there may be a rare complication — an inflammatory syndrome that one doctor described as causing patients to feel like “every blood vessel in the body is on fire” / France24
Wednesday, 29 April
USA / Drugs / The US government’s leading infectious disease fighter said a new drug developed by Gilead Science had a “clear-cut, significant positive effect” in speeding up recovery in coronavirus victims, giving hope scientists may be able to develop a therapy to combat the pandemic / Financial Times
UK / Drugs / An experimental Norwegian cancer drug has become the first of six promising coronavirus treatments to be fast-tracked into human coronavirus trials in the UK. The medication, called bemcentinib, could be tested on 120 hospitalised COVID-19 sufferers at six NHS trusts as early as this week / Daily Mail
Japan / Drugs, Vaccine / Japanese-based Shionogi has partnered with public institutions, academia and other companies to develop potential drugs and vaccine against Covid-19. The company formed a research alliance with the Hokkaido University Research Center for Zoonosis Control to discover new therapeutic candidates / Pharmaceutical Technology
World / Innovation / From robots to a virus-killing snood and a portable isolation capsule, these new prototypes demonstrate what humans are capable of in the face of adversity / Al Jazeera
World / Drugs / The fight against AIDS has shaped how potential Covid-19 drugs will reach patients. Expanded access to experimental drugs is a legacy of the fight against AIDS / Washington Post
UK / Drugs / Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has said it is assessing the use of two of its drugs to combat the effects of Covid-19. The UK-listed firm is evaluating Calquence – a drug used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukaemia – to suppress inflammation in the lungs and other organs in Covid-19 patients. And Farxiga – predominantly used for heart failure and kidney disease – is being assessed to see if it can potentially reduce organ failure / Border Telegraph
Australia / Vaccine / The University of Queensland’s COVID-19 vaccine has passed another important milestone, showing the ability to raise high levels of antibodies that can neutralise the virus in early pre-clinical testing / The University of Queensland
Tuesday, 28 April
USA / Vaccine / The race for a vaccine to combat the new coronavirus is moving faster than researchers and drugmakers expected, with Pfizer Inc. joining several other groups saying that they had accelerated the timetable for testing and that a vaccine could be ready for emergency / The Wall Street Journal
World / Drugs / Novartis said it planned to study Ilaris (canakinumab) in a phase 3 trial to see if the drug can reverse severe immune overreactions in patients with COVID-19.The drug’s approved to treat several inflammatory diseases, including juvenile idiopathic arthritis / FiercePharma
India / Vaccine / Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of Serum Institute of India — the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by volume — has said his biotechnology firm, in partnership with an Oxford University-led consortium, will roll out a coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine before the end of this year / Business Standard
World / Drugs / Home health agencies and lawmakers are calling for a policy change to certain Medicare benefits to let more patients who need lifesaving IV drugs get those medications at home during the coronavirus outbreak. Enabling more at-home drug infusions would protect people at high risk for severe complications, such as the elderly or immuno-compromised, and help hospitals around the country clear space for Covid-19 patients / Bloomberg Law
Australia / Drugs / Australian hydroxychloroquine trials continue despite studies from the US and China showing no benefit to patients infected with Coronavirus. Clinical findings of the antimalarial drug have been inconsistent, with one study showing a higher mortality rate when it was administered alone / The Guardian
UK / Vaccine / Six monkeys given a vaccine developed the University of Oxford are said to be coronavirus-free 28 days after sustained exposure to the virus. The result is a promising early sign for the vaccine, which is also undergoing human trials. A working human version, however, remains months away even in the best-case scenario / Business Insider
World / Vaccine / When a COVID-19 vaccine is eventually formulated, it could find support among people who are normally hesitant about immunization, says professor of epidemiology Dr. Natasha Crowcroft / CBC
Monday, 27 April
World / Drugs / Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Sanofi SA said on Monday that their arthritis drug Kevzara may only help the sickest patients with COVID-19, dampening hopes that the therapy could potentially reach a larger pool of patients with the disease / Reuters
Canada / Vaccine / Canadian researchers from the University of Saskatchewan are now part of global effort to develop COVID-19 vaccine. A recent $28-million funding boost from the federal and provincial government to enhance its COVID-19 research capacity to test antivirals, drugs, and therapeutics has been helping fast-track that research even more / CBC
World / Drugs / An arthritis drug that was seen as a promising treatment for some Covid-19 patients delivered disappointing results in clinical studies, its makers, the drug firms Regeneron and Sanofi, said on Monday / STAT
Turkey / Ventilators / Turkey has launched mass production of mechanical ventilators to treat Coronavirus respiratory problems, and is expected to produce 5,000 devices till end of May / Anadolu
China, Iraq / Diagnosis / A team of Chinese medical experts completed the installation of a CT scanner at a quarantine center in Iraqi capital Baghdad, as part of China’s efforts to help Iraq cope with the spread of COVID-19. The installation of the CT scanner in the quarantine center was aimed at helping the medical staff diagnose patients / Xinhua
USA / Drugs / Hospitals in New York are giving Covid-19 patients heartburn medicine to see if it helps fight the virus, according to the doctor who initiated the trial. Preliminary results of the clinical trial of famotidine, the active ingredient in Pepcid, could come out in the next few weeks, said Dr. Kevin Tracey, president of Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health, which runs 23 hospitals in the New York City area / CNN
India / Vaccine / Pune-based Serum Institute, credited with affordable and innovative therapies like pneumonia and and dengue monoclonal vaccines, plans to price the proposed Covid vaccine at around Rs 1,000 per dose in India / The Times of India
India / Vaccine / Half a dozen Indian firms are developing vaccines against the virus that causes Covid-19. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last fortnight that India and the US were working together to develop vaccines against the coronavirus / BBC
Sunday, 26 April
India / Vaccine / The Mycobacterium w (Mw) vaccine, used to treat leprosy patients, is not a vaccine for Covid-19 and will be used only as an adjunct, said experts at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh / India Today
China / Infection / Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic in China, now has no coronavirus patients in its hospitals, a government official said on Sunday / The New York Times
Pakistan / Vaccine / Pakistan clarified that no vaccine was being prepared after reports emerged that the country was on the verge of developing it with the help of China even as the coronavirus cases climbed to 12,644 / LiveMint
Saturday, 25 April
WHO / Testing / The World Health Organization warned against using antibody tests as a basis for issuing “immunity passports” to allow people to travel or return to work / The New York Times
UK / Vaccine / The UK’s Chief Medical Officer, Christopher Whitty, told a Parliamentary committee on Friday that there was “concerning” evidence suggesting that it may not be possible to stimulate immunity to the virus / Business Insider
World / Infection / Coronavirus has been detected on particles of air pollution by scientists investigating whether this could enable it to be carried over longer distances and increase the number of people infected / The Guardian
Friday, 24 April
China / Vaccine / A novel coronavirus vaccine has for the first time “largely protected” monkeys from infection during an animal trial, data from a Chinese pharmaceutical giant showed / CNA
USA / Drug / The White House is pitching “emerging” research on the benefits of sunlight, humidity and bleach in diminishing the threat of the coronavirus as President Donald Trump encourages states to move to reopen their economies. At one point during his latest coronavirus briefing, Trump suggested the possibility of an “injection” of disinfectant into a person infected with the coronavirus / Haaretz
USA / Virus / The coronavirus appears to weaken more quickly when exposed to sunlight, heat and humidity, a US official said, in a potential sign that the pandemic could become less contagious in summer months / Kathimerini
Israel / Testing / Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital began carrying out coronavirus tests on Wednesday that provide results within an hour and a half, the medical center announced / The Times of Israel
USA / Testing / Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, says “we are not in a situation where we can say we are exactly where we want to be with regard to testing” capacity for COVID-19 in the U.S / TIME
China / Drugs / Drugs widely used to treat high blood pressure do not appear to make COVID-19 dangerously worse. Two new studies from China offer the first observational evidence that the drugs do not increase the risk that hospitalized patients with COVID-19 will develop severe complications or die / Science News
Thursday, 23 April
USA / Drugs / Scientists are urgently investigating whether life-saving blood-pressure drugs may be a crucial factor behind many of those who die from the coronavirus / New York Post
China / Vaccine / For the first time, one of the many COVID-19 vaccines in development has protected an animal, rhesus macaques, from infection by the new coronavirus, scientists report. The vaccine, an old-fashioned formulation consisting of a chemically inactivated version of the virus, produced no obvious side effects in the monkeys, and human trials began on 16 April / Science Mag
Canada / Vaccine / Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government will spend more than $1 billion to help develop, test and manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine, as well as to determine how widely the virus has spread through Canada / Global News
Europe / Drugs / The European Union’s drug regulator warned again on Thursday (Apr 23) against using two older malaria drugs to treat COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, outside trials or national emergency use programmes, citing potentially lethal side-effects / CNA
World / Drugs / Researchers agree that the life-saving drugs affect the same pathways that the novel coronavirus takes to enter the lungs and heart. They differ on whether those drugs open the door to the virus or protect against it. Resolving that question has taken on new urgency after an April 8 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 72% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients 65 or older had hypertension / Reuters
USA / Drugs / Senior US government doctor who worked on the search for a coronavirus vaccine said he was fired after opposing president Donald Trump’s push to use the hydroxychloroquine drug as a treatment, US media reported / New Europe
World / General / The novel coronavirus appears to be causing sudden strokes in adults in their 30s and 40s who are not otherwise terribly ill, doctors reported. “The virus seems to be causing increased clotting in the large arteries, leading to severe stroke,” said Dr. Thomas Oxley, a neurosurgeon at Mount Sinai Health System in New York / CNN
Germany, UK / Vaccine / In Britain, volunteers in a trial at the University of Oxford are set to be given on Thursday the first dose of a potential vaccine based on a virus found in chimpanzees. Meanwhile on Wednesday, German regulatory body PEI green-lighted the country’s first trials on human volunteers for a vaccine developed by German firm Biontech and US giant Pfizer / France24
Wednesday, 22 April
Israel / Test / Israel’s defence minister has cancelled an initiative taken by army for coronavirus testing on samples coming from the blockaded Gaza Strip, an Israeli daily said. The Israeli army had recently announced an initiative to perform 50 coronavirus testing per day on samples from the Gaza Strip / Anadolu
France / Infection / French researchers are planning to test nicotine patches on coronavirus patients and frontline health workers after a study suggested smokers may be much less at risk of contracting the virus / The Guardian
Germany / Vaccine / Pfizer has been granted approval in partner BioNTech’s native country Germany to kick-start a phase 2 test of their experimental mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 / FierceBiotech
UK / Vaccine / An urgent appeal has been issued for volunteers to take part in human trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine – with those who take part offered up to £625 / Sky News
Germany / Vaccine / Germany’s first human trials of a coronavirus vaccine have been given the green light. It’s only the fourth vaccine of its kind in the world to get approval for clinical testing / Deutsche Welle
USA / Drugs / The anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine had no benefit and was linked to higher rates of death for Veterans Affairs patients hospitalized with the coronavirus, a United States study found / New Europe
Scotland / Drugs / Two drugs already being trialled for treating cancer and rheumatoid arthritis could be used to treat COVID-19 if tests at a University of Edinburgh project prove successful. Dundee-based pharmaceutical company Cyclacel have announced two of their drugs, fadraciclib and seliciclib, will be tested as potential coronavirus treatments as part of the ongoing STOPCOVID project / Edinburgh News
UK / Vaccine / The work, led by Professor Robin Shattock in the Department of Infectious Disease, was one of two coronavirus vaccines to receive new financial support, with Oxford University receiving an additional £20 million / Imperial College London
USA / Drugs / A panel of experts said there was insufficient evidence about many drugs that have been considered as possible remedies for coronavirus patients, including some President Trump has advocated / New York Times
Israel / Vaccine / Crowdfunding platform OurCrowd is putting $12 million into an Israeli startup that’s affiliated with the Migal Galilee Research Institute, called MigVax, to help the team accelerate its efforts to develop an oral vaccine / Tech Crunch
Tuesday, 21 April
USA / Drugs / The FDA approved a new clinical trial to test hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, on hospitalized patients with COVID-19.The Phase III clinical trial will include 440 patients, according to an announcement by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis / Web MD
USA / Treatment / A panel of U.S. physicians, statisticians, and other experts has developed treatment guidelines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) / National Institutes of Health
USA / Vaccine / Biotech Vaxart (VXRT) has announced positive pre-clinical results for its oral COVID-19 vaccine candidates, with several of the vaccine candidates generating immune responses in all tested animals after a single dose / Yahoo Finance
World / Drugs / More than 70 vaccine candidates are also in development around the world, with at least five in preliminary testing in people. Here are some of the drugs, vaccines and other therapies in development / World Economic Forum
USA / Test / Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings gained U.S. authorization for the first home-testing kit for Covid-19. Patients will collect samples from their noses and send them to LapCorp for testing, the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement Tuesday / Bloomberg
China / Drugs / Researchers have found that lopinavir/ritonavir or Arbidol–antivirals do not benefit patients of mild to moderate Covid 19 v patients. An exploratory randomized, controlled study on the safety and efficacy of either lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) or Arbidol–antivirals that are used in some countries against HIV-1 and to treat influenza, respectively–as treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, suggests that neither drug improves the clinical outcome of patients hospitalized with mild-to-moderate cases of the disease over supportive care / Medical Dialogues
Russia / Drugs / A black market has emerged in Russia for an antiviral HIV drug called Kaletra, and being tested around the world as a possible treatment for COVID-19, according to a report / New York Post
Russia / Test / Russian tech giant Yandex said Monday that it will offer free coronavirus tests to everyone in Moscow as the city grapples with a rapid rise in infections. Its offer is part of a wide-ranging assistance program, with support from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), that provides medical and social services during the outbreak. Yandex said it will finance the testing from its own funds and donations, but did not specify its cost / The Moscow Times
Indonesia / Drugs / The Indonesian Food and Drugs Supervisory Agency (BPOM) announced it will shorten the importation process for raw materials for drugs to treat Covid-19, from one business day to only two hours. BPOM also plans to employ a fast-track procedure for the certification of manufacturing facilities producing drugs to treat Covid-19, cutting the Good Manufacturing Practice (“GMP”) certification process from 10 to five business days / Lexology
USA / Vaccine / A Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by a research team at the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Veterinary Medicine has shown promise in test models. The vaccine consists of engineered strains of the parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5), responsible for kennel cough in dogs. These engineered viruses can also generate the spike proteins found in MERS and SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 / Pharmaceutical Technology
Monday, 20 April
USA / Drugs / Widely used medications for patients with HIV and AIDS may be potential treatments for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) should the drugs demonstrate safety and efficacy in clinical trials, according to experts. David Hardy, adjunct professor of medicine for the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said that if early promising results from clinical trials hold for remdesivir, and emtricitabine and tenofovir combination therapy (Truvada, Gilead Sciences) could be shown to be effective since the 2 drugs are in the same family of medications / Pharmacy Times
India / Vaccine / The Department of Biotechnology has so far short-listed three companies for funding the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, besides 13 other proposals it received for diagnostics, therapeutics and other interventions to fight coronavirus, a statement said. The three companies are Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Bharat Biotech International Ltd and Serum Institute of India Private Limited / Financial Express
World, USA / Drugs / For about two months, Alexion has been exploring whether its Soliris—used to treat several rare diseases—might hold promise in treating patients with severe COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. But on Monday, the company said it was starting a phase 3 trial of Ultomiris, a similar medicine it launched last year / FiercePharma
Greece / Vaccine / “Based on the treatment algorithm, it is possible to administer, under the strict supervision of a doctor, azithromycin (antibiotic) drugs together with chloroquine (an approved drug for malaria and some autoimmune diseases) or hydroxychloroquine and, in some cases, colchicine,” said the head of the specialists who drafted the Covid-19 treatment algorithm in Greece, Panagiotis Gargalianos-Kakolyris / Kathimerini
Israel / Vaccine / An Israeli scientist from Tel Aviv University has found a way to target the family of coronaviruses that could potentially lead to a vaccine against COVID-19. Prof. Jonathan Gershoni and his team of researchers have designed a vaccine that attacks the most vulnerable part of COVID-19’s protein structure – the Receptor Binding Motif (RBM) – which allows the virus to bind to cells within the body / CBN News
UK / Vaccine / Trials of a vaccine that could protect against Covid-19 are to begin in the UK. Work on the vaccine, developed by clinical teams at the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group, began in January. It is called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) from chimpanzees that has been genetically changed so it is impossible for it to grow in humans. This has been combined with genes that make proteins from the Covid-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) called spike glycoprotein, which play an essential role in the infection pathway of the SARS-CoV-2 virus / RTE
USA / Drugs, Vaccine / The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is set to launch a public-private partnership, which will bring together health agencies and pharmaceutical companies to accelerate Covid-19 drugs and vaccines / Pharmaceutical Technology
World / Drugs / The drug giant Novartis said Monday it would conduct a 450-person study to determine if hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug touted by many pundits and President Trump, can effectively treat Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus / STAT
Sunday, 19 April
World / Infection / As the ranks of Covid-19 survivors swell, scientists are racing to understand how well they resist reinfection—and just how long that hard-won immunity might last / Wall Street Journal
UK / Drugs / The UK is overseeing the world’s largest coordinated drugs trial in a bid to find viable treatments for COVID-19. More than 5,000 patients across 165 National Health Service (NHS) hospitals — around 10 percent of all COVID-19 hospital patients in the UK — have volunteered in the past month for tests as part of the trial titled “Recovery” / Arab News
Israel / Vaccine / Prof. Jonathan Gershoni from Tel Aviv University’s (TAU) School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology claimed on Sunday that work his laboratory is doing on the corona family of viruses is “two-thirds of the way” through the process of developing a vaccine for COVID-19. Even so, a vaccine would still take more than a year to develop, he said / The Jerusalem Post
India / Vaccine / The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Sunday said that a potential vaccine called ChAdOX1 a” being developed by researchers at University of Oxford — is the frontrunner in the race to take on the deadly Covid-19 pandemic which has infected over 2.3 million people globally and claimed over 160,000 lives / Business Standard
Saturday, 18 April
World / Infection / In South Korea, the proportion of cases that retest positive is low — of the 7,829 people who have recovered from coronavirus there, 2.1% retested positive, the KCDC said Friday. It is not clear how many of the people who have recovered have been tested again.But patients retesting positive is still a concern around the world, including in countries like South Korea where authorities appear to have brought the outbreak under control / CNN
UK / Vaccine / Scientists at the University of Oxford say they should have at least a million doses of a coronavirus vaccine by September this year. The first patients are expected to take part in the Oxford trials next week / BBC
USA / Infection / A new study in California has found the number of people infected with coronavirus may be tens of times higher than previously thought. The study from Stanford University, which was released Friday and has yet to be peer reviewed, tested samples from 3,330 people in Santa Clara county and found the virus was 50 to 85 times more common than official figures indicated / The Guardian
Friday, 17 April
Japan / Drugs / The Japanese government is actively promoting Avigan to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic, even though some of its own advisers are cautioning that more clinical tests are needed to ensure that this anti-influenza drug is completely safe / Deutsche Welle
India / Drugs / Drug regulator asks traders to stock 55 ICU drugs for Covid-19 treatment. These drugs are in addition to the requirement to hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin for patients, healthcare workers and household contacts of positive cases / Business Standard
USA / Vaccine / US shares rise after leaked report enthused about benefits of remdesivir in 125 Covid-19 patients. Remdesivir emerged from a collaboration to find antiviral drugs during the west African Ebola epidemic of 2013-16 that involved Gilead, the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It works by jamming the molecular machinery that some viruses use to build their genes as they replicate / Financial Times
USA / Test / Swiss pharmaceuticals heavyweight Roche is launching an antibody test for coronavirus that it hopes will be available next month — potentially enabling health professionals to check whether millions have already had the virus or not / Financial Times
UK / Vaccine / A coronavirus vaccine trial by University of Oxford researchers aims to get efficacy results by September, and manufacturing is already underway. A team led by Sarah Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology, has recruited 500 volunteers from the ages of 18 to 55 for the early- and mid-stage randomized controlled trial. It will be extended to older adults and then to a final stage trial of 5,000 people / Bloomberg
USA / Drugs / Covid-19 patients who are getting an experimental drug called remdesivir have been recovering quickly, with most going home in days, STAT News reported after it obtained a video of a conversation about the trial.The patients taking part in a clinical trial of the drug have all had severe respiratory symptoms and fever, but were able to leave the hospital after less than a week of treatment, STAT quoted the doctor leading the trial as saying / CNN
Canada / Vaccine / University of Waterloo researchers in Canada are developing a DNA-based vaccine candidate that can be given via nasal route to protect from Covid-19 infection. The vaccine will use bacteriophage-based approach, which will allow it to replicate within bacteria already present in the body, formulated to act on tissues in the nasal cavity and lower respiratory tract. The aim is to deliver the vaccine to cells in targeted tissues and trigger the production of a virus-like particle (VLP) that will induce an immune response / Pharmaceutical Technology
Italy / Protective Gear / Luxury carmaker Ferrari (RACE.MI) has begun making parts to convert snorkel masks into respirators for treating patients with coronavirus and protecting medical workers / Reuters
Thursday, 16 April
Australia, US / Vaccine / Nucleus Network said it will jointly hold trials with Novavax, a bio-tech company based in the U.S., with the first phase of the trials expected to begin in mid-May with results in July / Anadolu
Bulgaria / Tests / Bulgaria’s health minister Kiril Ananiev said that the country will start large-scale testing for coronavirus infections after tackling a shortage of test kits. Sofia has secured about 20,000 polymerase chair reaction (PCR) test kits and was awaiting deliveries from South Korea as well as from other local and foreign donors / New Europe
Australia / Drugs / A head lice-killing drug called ivermectin was added to the list of medicines that researchers are testing as a possible treatment for COVID-19 patients. In a petri dish, the medication eradicates SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes the disease — in two days, an Australian virologist recently found. But whether it can work safely and effectively in infected humans is not yet known and will take further studies to determine / Chicago Tribune
UK / Treatment / The University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff hopes to offer the treatment as part of a study within a month. Blood will be extracted from people who have recovered from Covid-19 and the plasma will be given to patients. It is hoped antibodies in the plasma of the blood could help others struggling to fight the infection / BBC
France / Drugs / Emmanuel Macron called for clinical trials of a controversial coronavirus “cure” as he hailed the French infection specialist, Didier Raoult who promoted it as a great scientist. The treatment is a combination of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin / The Guardian
World / Drugs / Novo Nordisk will now provide a free 90-day supply of insulin through its Diabetes Patient Assistance Program to eligible patients with diabetes who have lost their healthcare access due to COVID-19, the drugmaker said / FiercePharma
World / Vaccine / Moderna Inc, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc and CanSino Biological Inc./ Beijing Institute of Biotechnology are those that have moved out of the crowd, even as the rest are either testing vaccines in labs, in vitro, or in animals in the preclinical stage / Yahoo Finance
India / Vaccine / Six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for COVID-19, joining global efforts to find a quick preventive for the deadly infection spreading rapidly across the world. Zydus Cadila is working on two vaccines, Serum Institute, Biological E, Bharat Biotech, Indian Immunologicals, and Mynvax are developing one vaccine each,” Gagandeep Kang, executive director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad said / LiveMint
Wednesday, 15 April
Israel / Treatment / Israeli-based Pluristem has treated its first American patient suffering from COVID-19 complications under the country’s compassionate use program. The news comes days after a report by the company showed that six critically ill coronavirus patients in Israel who are considered high-risk for mortality were treated with Pluristem’s placenta-based cell-therapy product and survived / The Jerusalem Post
USA / Vaccine / The United States may need to endure social distancing measures adopted during the coronavirus outbreak until 2022, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health / France24
USA / Treatment / A Phoenix man is the first in Arizona to survive COVID-19 through a rare form of treatment called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy / USA Today
France / Vaccine / Virologist Frédéric Tangy’s team is modifying a standard measles vaccine to include a single SARS-CoV-2 protein. They’re hoping it will trigger an immune response equivalent to the current MMR vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, and rubella / Science Alert
UK / Drugs / AstraZeneca, the British pharma will start testing Calquence to examine its effects on the potentially lethal immune overreaction storm associated with COVID-19 infection. The drug is currently approved in the U.S. for mantle cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia / FiercePharma
Australia / Drugs / The singer Rita Wilson has claimed to have suffered “extreme side effects” after being treated with the experimental Covid-19 drug chloroquine in an Australian hospital / The Guardian
World / Vaccine / The world will need more than one COVID-19 vaccine so drug companies must partner in the race to develop the weapons to fight the novel coronavirus, GlaxoSmithKline Chief Executive Officer Emma Walmsley said / The Economic Times
UK / Drugs / BenevolentAI, a startup which has raised $292 million to apply AI to create drugs faster, today says it has uncovered an already approved drug as a potential treatment for COVID-19, after it applied its AI platform and team to the problem / Tech Crunch
China / Vaccines / China has approved clinical trials for two more experimental vaccines to combat the novel coronavirus, which use inactivated coronavirus pathogens, and the approvals pave the way for early-stage human trials, Wu Yuanbin, an official from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology / Asia Times
Tuesday, 14 April
USA / Infection / An unexpectedly high presence of the novel coronavirus has been detected in a Massachusetts sewage treatment facility, providing a potential new way to determine community case numbers without widespread testing / IFL Science
USA / Treatment / Doctors are finding that placing the sickest coronavirus patients on their stomachs, called prone positioning, helps increase the amount of oxygen that’s getting to their lungs / CNN
Netherlands, USA / Ventilators / The Dutch health tech company Philips said it will produce 15,000 ventilators per week by the end of April, in a bid to ease a supply shortage in the United States caused by the coronavirus pandemic / New Europe
World / Drugs / There have been early indications that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine may be effective in treating or preventing Covid-19, but the medications haven’t endured the due diligence of extensive clinical trials and there have been growing concerns about the impact chloroquine and the closely related hydroxychloroquine can have specifically on the heart / CNN
China / Vaccine / China has approved early-stage human tests for two experimental coronavirus vaccines as it battles to contain imported cases and prevent a second wave of COVID-19. The experimental vaccines are being developed by a Beijing-based unit of Sinovac Biotech and by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, an affiliate of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group / Al Jazeera
World / Vaccine / COVID-19 isolation threatens life-saving vaccinations for millions of children globally, stressed WHO and UNICEF, adding that “delivering all immunization services, including measles vaccines, is essential to saving lives that would otherwise be lost to vaccine preventable diseases” / UN News
Switzerland / Drugs / Drugs being repurposed in hopes they will help against COVID-19 cost relatively little to make but may prove challenging to produce in quantities needed for a pandemic, a drug pricing expert has said / The Japan Times
World / Vaccine / Currently there are 70 SARS-CoV-2 ‘vaccine candidates’ in the work, with 3 of them being the ‘leading candidate vaccines’. Platforms being tested include nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) and virus-like particles / Gulf news
WHO / Vaccine / Under WHO’s coordination, a group of experts, namely scientists, physicians, funders and manufacturers, is working towards the development of vaccines against COVID-19 / WHO
Canada / Drugs / Early testing of an antiviral medication originally intended for Ebola treatment, namely Remdesivir, is showing hopeful signs in the fight against COVID-19, but experts believe more research is needed before it can be widely used. 61 critically ill COVID-19 patients were given a 10-day course of the drug under “compassionate use” provisions and of the 53 patients whose data proved usable, 68 per cent had improved and 53 per cent had been taking off their ventilators. Thirteen per cent of the patients died / CTV News
Brazil / Drugs / A Brazilian study testing the antimalarial drug chloroquine for COVID-19 had to be stopped early in one group of patients taking a high dose of the drug, after some patients in this group developed dangerous heart rhythm problems / Live Science
Monday, 13 April
Turkey / Treatment / Patients in Turkey receiving convalescent plasma therapy have been responding positively to COVID-19 treatment, according to a top Red Crescent official / Anadolu
USA / Masks / As states and hospitals scramble to secure the masks and gowns needed to protect health workers on the front lines of the battle against Covid-19, individuals and companies from Apple to Salesforce are bringing their money, contacts and supply chain expertise to the fight. But a lack of co-ordination is driving up prices, compounding the supply crisis / Financial Times
USA / Drugs / A mix of legacy drugmakers and small startups have stepped forward with plans to develop vaccines or treatments that target the infection caused by the novel coronavirus. Those include: AMGN, ADPT, CalciMedica Inc., BNTX, PFE, CYDY, DVAX, GILD, GSK, HTBX, INO, JNJ, MRNA, NVAX, REGN, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi, ROG, SNY, TAK, VXRT, VIR & EBS / Market Watch
USA / Drugs / Death penalty states in the US are stockpiling medicines for lethal injections that could save the lives of hundreds of coronavirus patients were they released for medical use. A group of prominent medical practitioners and experts has issued an appeal to capital punishment states to release their stocks of essential sedatives and paralytics that they hoard for executions / The Guardian
USA / Drugs / Scientists have pointed to major flaws in original studies on hydroxychloroquine and say there is a lack of reliable data on the drugs. Experts warn about the dangerous consequences of over-promoting a drug with unknown efficacy. Shortages of hydroxychloroquine have already occurred, depriving lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients of access to it / Washington Post
UK / Vaccine / A vaccine against the novel coronavirus may be ready as soon as September, according to a British vaccinologist from Oxford University who is leading one of the most advanced efforts for immunisation / The times of Israel
Sunday, 12 April
USA / Test / Blood tests for the coronavirus could play a key role in deciding whether millions of Americans can safely return to work and school. But public health officials warn that the current “Wild West” of unregulated tests is creating confusion that could ultimately slow the path to recovery / The Times of Israel
UAE/ Test / His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, said the National Program for Home Screening for People of Determination was launched as part of the nation’s precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. People of determination will now be able to get screened for coronavirus COVID-19 straight from their homes / Gulf news
USA / Vaccine / Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett’s team began first-stage clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine, the first of its kind in the world and the fastest progress ever towards a possible vaccine for a novel pathogen. If Corbett’s team is successful, a working vaccine could be ready for use in doctor’s offices by early to mid 2021 / NBC News
UAE / Treatment / The UAE is carrying out clinical trials of plasma therapy to treat COVID-19 patients. The treatment takes antibody-rich plasma from recovered coronavirus patients and injected into people who have severe cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus / Arab News
UK / Vaccine / Biotech company Gilead Sciences published an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine, tracking the responses of 53 patients with severe cases of Covid-19 to remdesivir therapy given out on a compassionate-use basis, finding that 36 out of 53 patients showed clinical improvement / Vox
UK / Vaccine / A team of British scientists thinks it can have a vaccine for the COVID-19 coronavirus ready by this fall — as soon as September, according to the team’s lead researcher / BGR
UK / Drugs / Liverpool University’s Andrew Hill and others argue in a new paper that current market prices for an array of potential treatments for Covid-19 are much higher than costs of production, particularly in the US, citing that Existing drugs with the potential to treat coronavirus could be produced and sold at a profit by pharmaceutical companies for $1 a day or less / Financial Times
Saturday, 11 April
India / Drugs / India has cleared its first list of 13 countries, including the US for a supply of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), a few days after lifting a ban on its export, according to sources in Indian External Affairs Ministry. The country has also released 13.5 million tablets of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API). The 13 countries are the US, Spain, Germany, Bahrain, Brazil, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, the Seychelles, Mauritius and the Dominican Republic / Sputnik International
USA / Drugs / More than two-thirds of severely ill COVID-19 patients saw their condition improve after treatment with remdesivir, an experimental drug being developed by Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD.O), according to new data based on patient observation / Reuters
USA / Drugs / A Phase II/III trial to study Kevzara (sarilumab) as a method to reduce the inflammatory response in the lungs of COVID-19 patients has begun outside of the US / European Pharmaceutical Review
France / Drugs / The highly politicized debate about the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, two antimalarial drugs, to treat COVID-19 has reached an extreme in France, where two small trials purporting to show potential benefit were done. French physicians have come under enormous pressure from desperate patients to prescribe hydroxychloroquine, despite scant evidence that it works / Science Mag
Friday, 10 April
South Korea / Infection / In an unexpected turn of events in South Korea, 91 people who were thought to have recovered from coronavirus tested positive for the second time / Anadolu
USA / Drugs / Researchers are exploring a potential new treatment for COVID-19 known as leronlimab and have administered the drug for the first time to coronavirus patients in the past few days. Leronlimab is also being investigated for its usefulness against triple-negative breast cancer / Newsweek
Turkey / Treatment /Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine in Antalya provinces said that blood plasma from a recovered patient could be crucial in strengthening the immune systems of other patients under critical care / Anadolu
China / Drugs / Chinese doctors at the primary hospital treating severe coronavirus patients in the city of Wuhan said they have been using the HIV drug Kaletra since January and believe it is beneficial, despite a previous study that it was ineffective. They have been prescribing Kaletra, an off-patent version of lopinavir/ritonavir produced by AbbVie, as well as a second drug, bismuth potassium citrate, said Zhang Dingyu, the president of the Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, where the disease originated late last year / Reuters
World / Drugs / Perhaps no new drug against the novel coronavirus SARS CoV-2 needs to be found, as it is possible that existing active substances could help against the COVID-19 pathogen. Currently, three groups of drugs are being tested for their efficacy against the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 / Deutsche Welle
Thursday, 9 April
World / Treatment / An international team of researchers has tested more than 10,000 compounds to identify six drug candidates that may help treat Covid-19. The research tested the efficacy of approved drugs, drug candidates in clinical trials and other compounds. The project targeted the main COVID-19 virus enzyme, known as the main protease or Mpro, which plays a pivotal role in mediating viral replication / Science Daily
World / Vaccine / The Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, which was first developed to fight off tuberculosis, is being studied in clinical trials around the world as a way to fight the novel coronavirus. The BCG vaccine might help people build immune responses to things other than TB, causing “off-target effects,” according to Dr. Denise Faustman, director of immunobiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School / CNN
Kosovo / Ventilators / Arianit Zabergja, co-founder of Formon, told BIRN that over the last 10 days the company had redirected all its resources towards developing a low-cost open-source ventilator prototype, using 3D printers from its own stock. Called VentCore, more than half of its parts are 3D printable parts / Balkan Insight
China, UK / Test kits / Chinese coronavirus test kit manufacturer Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co said on Tuesday that it has not yet received feedback from the UK health department about its products but its exports comply with China and EU approvals, in response to UK media the Daily Mail’s report on the quality of the test kits / Sputnik
Wednesday, 8 April
China / Lockdown, Vaccine / Countries wanting to end the lockdown and allow people to move about and work again will have to monitor closely for new infections and adjust the controls they have in place until there is a vaccine against Covid-19, according to a new study based on the Chinese experience / The Guardian
USA / Ventilators / General Motors and Ventec Life Systems are set to deliver 30,000 ventilators to the US national stockpile by August under a new for $489 million contract between the US Department of Health and Human Services and GM / Financial Times
Australia / Vaccine / A potential COVID-19 vaccine has been developed by researchers using AI and cloud computing to prevent the Spike protein from binding to the ACE2 receptor on human cells / Drug Target Review
UK / Vaccine / Vaccine hopes boosted as scientists find virus has ‘low shielding’, meaning that there are “fewer obstacles for the immune system to neutralise the virus with antibodies / Sky News
Kosovo / Disinfection / As a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Kosovo town of South Mitrovica has built a sanitising gate, for citizens to walk – or ride – through, while spraying them with disinfectants / Balkan Insight
Slovakia / Test / A team of Slovak scientists has developed a new test for COVID-19, based on the so-called RT-PCR testing method, seen as a reliable way to look for the RNA of the virus in samples. Funded by Slovak tech company ESET, the project is on track to produce the first coronavirus tests in about three weeks / Balkan Insight
Greece / Tests / In an effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Greek government is launching 500 mobile sampling and testing units, with the latter expected to visit homes where there are suspected cases of infection, under the guidance of the National Public Health Organization (EODY) / Kathimerini
Iran / Tests, Equipment / Iranian President Hassan Rouhani referred to scientific and medical achievements in fighting coronavirus, saying Iran will soon become self-sufficient in producing face-masks and also the artificial ventilation units for Covid-19 / IRNA
UK / Ventilators / While the national lockdown appears to be slowing the spread of Covid-19, the NHS may need as many as 8,000 more of the devices, according to Health Secretary Matt Hancock. It can take months for the U.K. Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to sign off on sensitive medical machinery, as newcomers to the business need their designs to be fully tested and approved / Bloomberg
USA / Drugs / “Making the drugs available in a more widespread way might actually interfere with the ability to get the data that we need,” Margaret Hamburg, former FDA commissioner said on the emergency authorisation of malaria drugs for coronavirus / Science Mag
Tuesday, 7 April
World / Drug / Without robust clinical trials to verify its potential, the treatment of Covid-19 with hydroxychloroquine could do more harm than the disease itself. The gold standard for figuring out cause and effect is a double-blind randomised controlled trial / Vox
World / Vaccine / Scientists hope they can use the largely harmless virus – known as parainfluenza virus 5 or PIV5 – to deliver vaccines for other coronavirus diseases, after the a latest research showed that mice were successfully protected after being given a lethal doe of MERS, a very close relative of the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19 / Independent
USA / Drug / Scientists are hopeful that a new drug called EIDD-2801, could change the way doctors treat COVID-19. The drug shows promise in reducing lung damage, has finished testing in mice and will soon move to human clinical trials / EurekAlert
World / Drug / A widely available anti-parasite drug called “Ivermectin” (Stromectol) usually prescribed for pinworm and nematode infections, and sometimes head lice, is getting a fresh look after a study published Friday shows it may be useful against COVID-19 / Medicine Net
USA, India / Drug / US President Donald Trump has said the US could “retaliate” if India does not release stocks of hydroxychloroquine, a drug he has called a “game-changer” in the fight against Covid-19 / BBC
USA / Drug / Doctors and pharmacists from more than half a dozen large healthcare systems in New York, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Washington and California told Reuters they are routinely using hydroxychloroquine on patients hospitalized with COVID-19. At the same time, several said they have seen no evidence that the drug, used for years to treat malaria and autoimmune disorders, has any effect on the virus / Reuters
Monday, 6 April
USA / Masks / Apple will be shipping over 1 million face shields each week for health workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, the company’s CEO Tim Cook said / New Europe
Turkey / Immunisation / Inonu University in Turkey has begun using blood plasma for the passive immunisation of novel coronavirus patients / Anadolu
India / Drugs / India has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s claim that hydroxychloroquine is a “game changer” in the fight against COVID-19, saying that there is not adequate proof for treatment” / Sputnik International
World / Drugs / A study published in a French medical journal provides new evidence that the antimalarial drug of hydroxychloroquine does not appear to help the immune system clear the coronavirus from the body / Science Alert
UK / Ventilators / Defence firm Babcock has said it will be manufacturing 10,000 ventilators to help deal with the coronavirus crisis / BBC
Slovakia, Russia, Uzbekistan / Ventilators / Uzbekistan will produce ventilators with partners from Slovakia and Russia, the Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Innovative Development said on April 6, noting that the project will cost $9 million and create 130 new jobs / New Europe
Sunday, 5 April
Turkey / Vaccine / “Our university’s Biotechnology Institute Director Prof. Dr. Aykut Ozkul succeeded in isolating the SARS-COV-2 virus, which is the first step of producing serum, vaccine, and medication against the coronavirus!” Ankara University said in a Twitter post Anadolu
India / Drugs / India banned all exports of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug that President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted as a “game changer” in the fight against Covid-19 / Bloomberg
Saturday, 4 April
Japan / Drug / Japan is considering increasing the stockpile of Fujifilm Holding Corp’s Avigan anti-flu drug during this fiscal year so it can be used to treat 2 million people, according to a planning document seen by Reuters / Reuters
UK, China / Ventilators / Britain took delivery of 300 ventilators from China on Saturday and more will start being produced soon by a consortium of aerospace, engineering and Formula One teams, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said / Reuters
Friday, 3 April
Europe, Africa / Vaccine / Two French doctors have been accused of racism for suggesting that a BCG tuberculosis vaccine should first be tested on people in Africa, to see if it could also work for Covid-19 / Al Jazeera
USA / Vaccine / The Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates told “The Daily Show” that his foundation was funding the construction of factories for seven coronavirus vaccine candidates / Business Insider
China / Vaccine / First volunteers to receive potential coronavirus vaccine ‘are in good health’ as they complete two weeks of medical observation in China / Daily Mail
UK / Drug / The University of British Columbia announced that an international team led by Dr. Josef Penninger has found a potential drug that helps block infection from the virus that causes COVID-19. Penninger’s study focuses on a protein on the surface of human cells which is a key receptor for the spikes of glycoprotein characteristic in the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 / CBC
Russia / Test / Russia has registered a new test system for detecting the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) produced by the Russian company DNA Technology, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade reported / Tass
Iran / Masks / Deputy Minister of Industries, Mines and Trade for commercial affairs Hossein Modares Khiabani said over 15 millions of coronavirus protection face-masks have been produced so far by Iranian production units. In the country, there are 90 laboratories working with Iranian Health Ministry which are able to increase 10,000 tests per day to 20,000 tests / IRNA
Philippines, Japan / New misinformation circulates online in Asia about creation of vaccine named Avigan, and drug for COVID-19 made by scientists in Japan and the Philippines respectively, according to AFP / AFP
Germany / Vaccine / BioNTech and CureVac urge regulators to ease rules for virus, saying flexibility and funding are needed to get inoculations to market this year / Financial Times
USA / Ventilators / U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to aid companies building ventilators for coronavirus patients to receive the supply of materials they need. Ventilator materials will be supplied to six companies – General Electric Co (GE.N), Hill-Rom Holdings Inc (HRC.N), Medtronic Plc (MDT.N), Resmed Inc (RMD.N), Royal Philips N.V. and Vyaire Medical Inc / Reuters
Thursday, 2 April
USA / Vaccine / Promising research by a University of Pittsburgh researcher looking into the SARS coronavirus nearly 20 years ago, and the MERS coronavirus six years ago, has led to a potential COVID-19 vaccine, PittCoVacc, that has shown early promise in tests on mice / Pittsburg Post Gazette
Senegal / Drug / An anti-malaria drug is being given to patients with COVID-19 in Senegal, despite the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) warnings against the use of Chloroquine, as some Senegalese doctors say it is a cheaper solution / Al Jazeera
India / Ventilator / Originally created by a robot scientist and a neurosurgeon to help India’s poor, a toaster-sized ventilator is offering hope in the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, and demand for it is booming. Priced at approximately $2,000, the AgVa ventilator is a fraction of the price of conventional ventilators, which go for more than $10,000 / Al Jazeera
China / Treatment / China has approved the use of bear bile to treat coronavirus patients, angering activists and raising fears it could undermine efforts to stop the illegal animal trade which is blamed for the emergence of the new disease sweeping the globe / France24
World / Vaccine / Dolly Parton has donated $1m (£800,000) to research into a coronavirus vaccine by Vanderbilt, as she begins a new storytelling series for children in lockdown / The Guardian
UK, US / Drugs / Exscientia has announced a joint initiative with Diamond Light Source, both UK, and Calibr, a division of Scripps Research, US, to utilise its artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery platform to identify compounds that could become viable drugs for the treatment of the COVID-19 coronavirus / Drug Target Review
Australia / Vaccine / Scientists in Australia have begun testing two potential coronavirus vaccines in “milestone” lab trials. The vaccines, made by Oxford University and US company Inovio Pharmaceutical, have been cleared for animal testing by the World Health Organization / BBC
UK / Drugs / London researchers are testing a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, namely hydroxychloroquine, in a bid to prevent COVID-19 spread in long-term care homes, hydroxychloroquine, hoping to also serve as a preventative medication and treatment for the virus / CTV News
USA / Vaccine / The first human trial testing a potential vaccine developed by bio tech company ‘Moderna’ to prevent COVID-19, is “on track” with public distribution still projected in 12 to 18 months, which would be the “ultimate game changer” in the fight against the pandemic, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said / CNBC
Ventilators / Explained / Why ventilators are so crucial in treating COVID-19 patients: The ventilators inserted through a tube, known as invasive ventilators, are crucial in preventing infection built up in the patient’s air passage / CTV News
Wednesday, 1 April
World / Ventilators / American electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla announced that it will deliver ventilators free of charge to hospitals across the world, much-needed equipment amid the coronavirus pandemic, under the condition that the vents are needed immediately for patients and not stored in a warehouse / Anadolu
UK / Ventilators / Coronavirus patients with a poor prognosis could be taken off a ventilator even if they are stable or improving to make it available for someone else deemed more likely to survive, under guidelines drawn up by UK doctors / The Guardian
China / Medicine / The malaria drug hydroxychloroquine helped to speed the recovery of a small number of patients who were mildly ill from the coronavirus, doctors in China reported this week, but more research is needed. New York Times
China / Treatment / A team of Chinese scientists has isolated several antibodies that it says are “extremely effective” at blocking the ability of the new coronavirus to enter cells, which eventually could be helpful in treating or preventing COVID-19 / Reuters
Greece / Transmission / A new Greek study conducted by the Pulmonary Clinic of the University of Thessaly in collaboration with the Metsovo Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the National Technical University of Athens and the Department of Business Administration of the University of Patras, appears to indicate that transmission of the virus in countries with high temperatures is lower / Kathimerini
Iceland / Test / The founder of DeCODE, a subsidiary of US biotech company Amgen, Dr. Kári Stefánsson said that 9,000 people had been tested and fewer than 1% of the tests came back positive for the virus. Around 50% of those who tested positive said they were asymptomatic, confirming multiple studies that show that asymptomatic, or mildly symptomatic, people have played an important role in spreading the virus / CNN
Test / Explained / There are tests for the virus itself, but also blood tests showing immunity or antibodies. A new rapid test offers results in minutes rather than hours or days, but deployment is yet to be defined / World Economic Forum (blog)
Auto industry / Ventilators / French car companies PSA and Renault, Formula 1 engineers, as well as American auto makers General Motors and Ford, are offering their expertise and manpower to the hospital sector as it gears up to build ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic / New Europe
US, UK / Vaccine / BAT’s US bio-tech subsidiary, Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP), is developing a potential vaccine for COVID-19 and is now in pre-clinical testing. If testing is successful, BAT is expecting that between 1 and 3 million doses of the vaccine could be manufactured per week, beginning in June / BAT
North Macedonia / Medical Equipment / Responding to an acute shortage of protective medical equipment, a group of tech enthusiasts, innovators and health workers joined the fight against the spread of COVID-19 in North Macedonia last week armed with dozens of 3D printers. Via Facebook, in a matter of days, they produced more than 500 medical visors that were distributed for free to hospitals and clinics around the country / Balkan Insight
India / Medicine / Scientists in India are questioning the role of the country’s traditional medicine, such as ‘normal’ herbal immunity-boosters and immuno-modulators in the fight against Covid-19 / The Wire
US / Test / Two US companies, BD, a large medical technology company, and BioMedomics, a North Carolina-based clinical diagnostics company, announced a new rapid antibody test that can detect evidence of past or present exposure to Coronavirus in as little as 15 minutes / Financial Times
India / Ventilators / In the western Indian city of Pune, young engineers at the Nocca robotics start-up are developing a $662 invasive ventilator that could save thousands of lives if the coronavirus pandemic overwhelms the country’s hospitals / BBC
Tuesday, 31 March
Canada / Equipment / A group of volunteers in Toronto launched a COVID-19 intubation box, namely a polycarbonate box that can be flat-packed for easy shipping, and assembled quickly on the receiving end for use in healthcare facilities while medical personnel intubate a patient / Tech Crunch
Ireland / Test / Critically ill patients with Covid-19 in Ireland will be asked to take part in a clinical trial on how to treat the disease. The trial will test the effects of different interventions for Covid 19 patients, who are being treated in intensive care units, and interventions will include antiviral drugs and immunomodulatory drugs / RTE
University of Nebraska Medical Center / Transmission / In a joint study by the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), the National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska, and others, researchers found genetic material from the virus that causes COVID-19, in air samples from both in and outside of confirmed coronavirus patients’ rooms, expressing fears that it is possible for Coronavirus to transmit through the air / medRxiv.org
UK / Drugs / An Oxford-based firm that uses artificial intelligence to develop new medicines has teamed up with a UK national science facility to screen more than 15,000 drugs for their effectiveness as a treatment for Covid-19 / The Guardian
Israel / Test / Israel has begun testing a COVID-19 vaccine prototype on rodents at its bio-chemical defence laboratory, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), in rural Ness Ziona, to join the fight against the coronavirus pandemic / CNA
Greece / Masks / Members of Thessaly University’s TED3D research team created protective masks with 3D printing technology at a laboratory in Volos, central Greece, to be distributed to hospitals, police forces and ambulances / Kathimerini
UK / Ventilators / F1 Red Bull teams are working with the UK government to try to develop new and existing ventilators, with their latest high-end prototype being a ventilator for patients struggling with severe lung infections brought on by the coronavirus / Screen Rant
China / Vaccine / China, which is developing a vaccine for Covid-19, plans to conduct additional trials in other countries seriously hit by the pandemic, if the ongoing trial in the country’s virus epicentre Wuhan proves it is safe and effective / Economic Times
USA / Test / The startup Nurx.Inc, known for selling birth control online, launched an $181 home test for Covid-19, asking patients to collect a throat swab themselves and mail it to a lab. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it hadn’t authorised any self-test at home and Nurx.Inc pulled tests from the market / Bloomberg
World / Vaccine / Scientists urge for ‘reality check’, asking for more time to test vaccines before the latter hit the market / Bloomberg
India / Ventilators / A team of IIT-Hyderabad professors has pitched for adopting bag valve masks as alternatives to ventilators, as they are easy to produce and used for resuscitation in emergency situations / India Today
Immunity / Test / A serological test can show who carries antibodies, even if the virus is no longer present, in patients who have recovered from Covid-19 or may have carried the virus without realizing it / Vox
WHO / Drugs / The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that preliminary data from studies indicated that some drugs and ‘drug cocktails’ may have an impact on fighting Covid-19, but so far, there is no proven effective therapeutic or drug for Coronavirus / IBT
MIT / Ventilators / A volunteer team of engineers, phycisians, computer scientists (MIT E-Vent team) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), are working on an open-source, low-cost ventilator design, to be published online for people to copy and manufacture / World Economic Forum (blog)
WHO / Masks / The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggested that people refrain from wearing a mask unless they are sick or taking care of someone who is sick, as it could lead to shortages and health risks, if worn improperly / CNN
USA / Ventilators / Virgin Orbit, the rocket company of Richard Branson together with researchers of the universities of Irvine, California and Austin, Texas developed a very simple and robust ventilator device. Virgin Orbit is ready for mass production and says it will get it to hospitals, as soon as possible, upon US FDA approval. / CNBC
Monday, 30 March
Australia / Vaccine / The bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine that’s been used to prevent tuberculosis is being given to health-care workers in Melbourne to see if it will protect them against the coronavirus / Bloomberg
USA / Masks / The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a process that would clean much-needed N95 protective face masks and allow them to be reused / The Verge
Foundations / Drugs Trial / The Wellcome Trust, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Mastercard, are giving $20m to clinical trials designed to accelerate the development of drugs to stall the coronavirus pandemic / Financial Times
Hong-Kong / Disinfection / Researchers from the University of Hong Kong have found that Covid-19 becomes harmless in five minutes at 70° C / Sputnik France
USA / Vaccine / US Company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) made a $1bn deal with the US government to create enough manufacturing capacity for more than 1 billion doses of a vaccine for COVID-19, to start human testing in September / Al Jazeera
Germany / Immunity / Gerard Krause, epidemiologist in the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig said researchers want to send out hundreds of thousands of antibody tests over the opcoming weeks to see whether people have developed antibodies to COVID-19. People testing positive could leave the lockdown and could be given a type of vaccination card that would allow them to be exempted from several restrictions / Business Insider
Iran / Medicine / Herbal medicines made with a plant-derived flavonoid are being tested to treat patients infected with the coronavirus at the Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences of Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran. Five coronavirus carriers reacted positively to this drug, with preliminary results showing that the drug is effective in the treatment of COVID-19 / Trend
Vaccine / Measures / With the Covid-19 vaccines expected to enter the market in 12-18 months according to scientists’ view, people already hope that confinement measures won’t last more than 2 months since announced / Kathimerini
Masks / Industry / The question of mask reuse during a pandemic and the associated risks, as using a N95 mask more than once may still fall within the manufacturer’s guidelines for that given mask / Forbes
Horizon 2020 / Vaccine / The OPENCORONA project has been granted a €3m funding by Horizon 2020 to support emergency research and development of a DNA vaccine, which will be delivered to patient muscle to generate a viral antigen on which the immune system then reacts / Health Europa
Tunisia / Masks, Industry / 150 workers in Tunisia have isolated themselves at the Consomed factory for a month, to keep making protective medical gear for Covid-19. The employees are also producing 50,000 face masks per day / BBC
Russia / Medicine / The Russian Academy of Science announced that it developed three antivirus medicines that can be used for the treatment of the Pandemic Virus. Triazavirin, a drug in inhalant format exclusively treating virus infections of the respiratory system, was created by the Institute of Organic Synthesis at the Urals and is now being tested in China to treat the Pandemic Virus / Sputnik News Agency.
Israel / Medicine / Israel’s Magen David Adom medical rescue service will collect blood plasma donations from recovered Israeli Coronavirus patients, to produce an antibody treatment for Covid-19 patients in serious condition, as the use of antibodies in plasma is commonly used to treat viruses / Haaretz
Sunday, 29 March
France / Medicine / French expert says second study shows malaria drug helps fight coronavirus / RTL Today/AFP
Vaccine / Trial / Fighting COVID-19: Kaiser Permanente Launches First Vaccine Trial / GVWire
Test / China / Medical technology company in Hainan introduces forehead thermometer production lines /Xinhua
Test / UK / The two tests that will help to predict spread of Covid-19 / The Guardian
Test / Greece / University labs to help with coronavirus tests / Kathimerini
Saturday, 28 March
Medicines / Shortage / Lupus patients having trouble getting drug named as possible treatment for COVID-19 / FPS Health
Test / USA / Abbott Launches 5-Minute Virus Test for Use Almost Anywhere / Bloomberg
USA / Vaccine / USC Working on Coronavirus Vaccine / NBC LA
Vaccine / Analysis / Why a Covid-19 vaccination won’t end the pandemic / Ladders
Vaccine / Trial / Oxford university begins enrolling over 500 volunteers for coronavirus vaccine trial / Economic Times
Vaccine / Research / ‘The more vaccine projects we have, the better our chances’ / Guardian
Turkey / Vaccine / Turkish scientists working on COVID-19 vaccine / HURRIYET
Medicine / Dangers / Doctors and experts warn of the risks of using malaria drugs to treat COVID-19 / LA TIMES
Russia / Medicine / Russia Creates Anti-Covid-19 Drug / SPUTNIK
Vaccine / Timeline / Coronavirus vaccine: when will it be ready? / GUARDIAN
Vaccine / Technology / AI Can Help Scientists Find a Covid-19 Vaccine / WIRED
Friday, 27 March
India / Medicine / Hydroxychloroquine, Trump’s prescription for Covid-19, gets tougher to buy in India / ThePrint
Vaccine / Industry / Developing a vaccine takes 10 years. Sanofi seeks to do so within 18 months / CNBC
Vaccine / Mutation / Is the coronavirus mutating? / LiveScience
Thursday, 26 March
Australia / Vaccine / Australia enters 4,000 healthcare workers in trial for coronavirus vaccine / Reuters
UN / Vaccine / Life-saving vaccinations must not ‘fall victim’ to COVID-19 pandemic – UNICEF chief / UN News
Tuesday, 24 March
UK / Vaccine / U.K. gov backs push to start COVID-19 vaccine trial in April / Fierce Biotech
Monday, 23 March
USA / Vaccine / The first study of a potential coronavirus vaccine will soon start recruiting healthy volunteers in Georgia at Emory University / Business Insider