Can antibodies to seasonal coronaviruses protect against SARS-CoV-2? COVID-19 is not the world's first exposure to a coronavirus. With at least six previous exposures to various types of coronaviruses, researchers are exploring if antibodies created during earlier infection with coronaviruses can help to fight off SARS-CoV-2 infection. The findings of the study were published in Cell Reports Medicine on January 19. Discuss
Akron, Octapharma ink deal to make human AB serum Akron Biotech and Octapharma have signed an exclusive agreement to produce virally inactivated human AB serum to bring it to the cell therapy market.
MIT researchers use natural language processing to analyze viral evolution In a breakthrough that could guide the development of targeted vaccines, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers used natural language processing methods lifted from the field of computational linguistics to analyze the viral protein sequence data of influenza A, HIV, and SARS-CoV-2 to identify regions within the genomes of those viruses that are most vulnerable to mutation. The results were published in a new study in Science on January 15. Discuss
ImmunityBio licenses oral vaccine tech from IosBio ImmunityBio has signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement for IosBio's OraPro vaccine platform technology that is currently being investigated in trials of ImmunityBio's second-generation human adenovirus 5 (hAd5) COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Codagenix starts phase I trial for COVID-19 vaccine in U.K. The first patient has been dosed in a phase I clinical trial being conducted by Codagenix and the Serum Institute of India of COVI-VAC, a single-dose, intranasal vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
How can biopharma innovation be maintained after COVID-19? Will the speed of biotech innovation seen during the COVID-19 pandemic be maintained going forward, or will the market revert to the status quo? A panel of speakers discussed these questions during a January 7 advance session of the Biotech Showcase, a virtual event to be held January 11-15. Discuss