COVID-19

Moderna, Inc a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced that it has submitted a request for emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273) in children 6 months to under 2 years and 2 years to under 6 years of age to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and that similar requests are underway with international regulatory authorities. The requests are based on a 25 μg two-dose primary series of mRNA-1273.

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of a 10-µg booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for children 5 through 11 years of age (also referred to as children ages 5 through <12).

WHO made a strong recommendation for nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, sold under the name Paxlovid, for mild and moderate COVID-19 patients at highest risk of hospital admission, calling it the best therapeutic choice for high-risk patients to date. However, availability, lack of price transparency in bilateral deals made by the producer, and the need for prompt and accurate testing before administering it, are turning this life-saving medicine into a major challenge for low- and middle-income countries.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for older people and certain immunocompromised individuals. The FDA previously authorized a single booster dose for certain immunocompromised individuals following completion of a three-dose primary vaccination series. This action will now make a second booster dose of these vaccines available to other populations at higher risk for severe disease, hospitalization and death.

Children previously infected with COVID-19 develop natural circulating antibodies that last for at least seven months, according to a new study led by researchers at UTHealth Houston.

The study was published today in Pediatrics.
Researchers examined data from 218 children across the state of Texas between the ages of 5 and 19 who were enrolled in the Texas CARES survey, which began in October of 2020 with the goal of assessing COVID-19 antibody status over time among a population of adults and children in Texas.

Granules India ltd has received a license from Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to manufacture and market generic versions of Pfizer’s oral treatment nirmatrelvir which will be copackaged with ritonavir for treatment of COVID-19. The licenses are applicable for both active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and finished products, in tablet form, of nirmatrelvir; ritonavir.

A new survey from Sermo, a physician-first online community and leader in global HCP insights, found that physicians are facing a challenging onslaught of COVID-19 vaccine and treatment misinformation as reported by 3,600+ doctors around the world.

The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused an imminent urge for both antiviral therapeutical drugs and vaccines. While the development of vaccines was accomplished in a remarkably short timeframe, the identification of direct antiviral treatments has progressed comparatively slowly. In the light of the further risk of pandemics in the future, however, there remains need for direct antiviral drugs and treatments. Moreover, emerging immune-evasive, I.e. camouflaged from the immune system, SARS-CoV-2 variants are of concern.

Researchers from Columbia Engineering, Fiocruz’s Center for Technological Development in Health and the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Brazil, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Rockefeller University recently reported that, by combining inhibitors of polymerases and exonucleases enzymes that allow SARS-CoV-2 to reproduce--they were able to reduce SARS-CoV-2 replication 10 times more than when using just the polymerase inhibitors.