Nanoparticles cloaked with human cell membranes can attract and neutralize SARS-CoV-2, according to a new publication in Nano Letters on June 17. The process of binding to the virus hijacks its ability to replicate, making it a viable medical countermeasure against the virus.  

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University $16 million to test existing drugs that could be repurposed to prevent or treat COVID-19.  

Implementation of optofluidics in cell line development can help advance multiple lead candidate molecules with increased screening capacity. A researcher from GlaxoSmithKline discussed how her team uses an optofluidic system in a June 15 presentation at the BioProcess International Spring Digital Week's 2020 virtual meeting.  

Changes to manufacturing processes have emerged to meet the demand of certain products during the COVID-19 pandemic, including hand sanitizer. The chemical composition of hand sanitizer is carefully regulated, and analytical techniques are now being repurposed to assist in rapid production efforts.  

Ligand Pharmaceuticals subsidiary Vernalis Research has expanded its oncology drug discovery collaboration with French pharmaceutical company Servier.  

The host immune system produces a variety of regulatory molecules, including interferons, during a response to viral infection. Although previously considered beneficial, these proteins may actually cause life-threatening inflammation, according to an article published in Science on June 11.  

Immunomic Therapeutics (ITI) has signed a licensing agreement with Ichor Medical Systems to support the development of its ITI-1001 investigational plasmid DNA vaccine therapy.  

Contract development and manufacturing organization AGC Biologics said it will be manufacturing a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for Swiss biotechnology firm Saiba.  

Genprex has expanded its program to manufacture tumor suppressor candidate 2 (TUSC2) with a new manufacturing agreement with partner Aldevron.  

Atum and Phylex BioSciences will collaborate to advance research toward creating a universal vaccine effective against pathogenic coronaviruses, including the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.  

Synthace and the Tecan Group have partnered to use their shared resources to help customers run flexible, end-to-end multiplexed purification workflows.  

Oblique Therapeutics has used its Abiprot antibody discovery platform to identify an epitope in SARS-CoV-2 that may facilitate the generation of new neutralizing antibodies to treat COVID-19.  

A new consortium has been formed to increase access to cell-based cancer vaccines by using single-use technology to develop and manufacture dendritic cell cancer vaccines.  

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University $16 million to test existing drugs that could be repurposed to prevent or treat COVID-19.  

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 15 revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) for chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate for patients with COVID-19.  

Gilead subsidiary Kite has received approval from the European Medicine Agency for end-to-end manufacturing of individualized cell therapies at its European facility.  

Grifols will start production of anti-SARS-CoV-2 hyperimmune immunoglobulin with specific antibodies using plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19.  

NanoString Technologies has debuted new products that advance COVID-19 research by studying the immune response of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.  

Implementation of optofluidics in cell line development can help advance multiple lead candidate molecules with increased screening capacity. A researcher from GlaxoSmithKline discussed how her team uses an optofluidic system in a June 15 presentation at the BioProcess International Spring Digital Week's 2020 virtual meeting.  

Immunic has enrolled the first COVID-19 patients in a phase II clinical trial of IMU-838, a selective oral dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) inhibitor.  

Nanoparticles cloaked with human cell membranes can attract and neutralize SARS-CoV-2, according to a new publication in Nano Letters on June 17. The process of binding to the virus hijacks its ability to replicate, making it a viable medical countermeasure against the virus.  

Eli Lilly has enrolled patients in a phase III study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of baricitinib in hospitalized adults with COVID-19.  

Integral Molecular is applying its membrane proteome array technology for antibody specificity profiling to accelerate development of SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic antibodies.  

Ideaya Biosciences and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have formed a strategic partnership in the emerging oncology field of synthetic lethality.  

Sexton Biotechnologies is partnering with BioSpherix Medical on the final steps of downstream bioprocessing, fill-finish.  

Sirnaomics announced a spinoff establishing an independent biopharmaceutical company, RNAimmune.  

What makes the SARS-CoV-2 virus so virulent? Researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) analyzed the genomics of the virus -- and compared it to other coronaviruses -- in a June 10 article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  

Yumab has announced that the first financing round of its spinoff Corat Therapeutics will be used to advance the development of COVID-19 antibody drug candidates.  

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has started its first clinical trial investigating an antibody treatment for COVID-19.  

Moderna has finalized phase III clinical study protocols for its mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine candidate in coordination with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and expects the study to begin in July.  

Egle Therapeutics has formed a strategic research alliance with Takeda Pharmaceutical to validate novel regulatory T-cells (Treg) targets, against which Takeda will develop potential therapies.