COVID-19

Nuvaxovid, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax, has today been given regulatory approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).  Nuvaxovid becomes the fifth COVID-19 vaccine authorised by the UK’s independent medicines regulator.

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE announced that following a request from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the companies have initiated a rolling submission seeking to amend the Emergency Use Authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to include children 6 months through 4 years of age 6 months to <5 years of age, in response to the urgent public health need in this population. The companies expect to complete the EUA submission in the coming days.

The clinical and imaging characteristics of COVID-19 breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated patients tend to be milder than those of partially vaccinated or unvaccinated patients, according to a new multicenter study published in the journal Radiology.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide now exceeds 270 million with an overall mortality rate of approximately 2%.

Zydus announced that the company has started the supplies of its COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D, to the Government of India against their order from its newly commissioned state-of-the-art, Zydus Vaccine Technology Excellence Centre at the Zydus Biotech Park in Changodar, Ahmedabad. The group is also planning to make the vaccine available in the private market. ZyCoV-D is a three dose vaccine administered intradermally using the painless PharmaJet® needle free system, Tropis®, on day 0, day 28 and day 56.

Patients under immunosuppressive therapy, who do not respond to primary COVID-19 vaccination, have an increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease courses. Until now, it was not clear whether those patients at risk can benefit from an additional booster vaccination. Recent research findings from MedUni Vienna show that a third vaccination is safe and effective in those patients who were initially unable to produce antibodies after vaccination. The study was recently published in the acclaimed journal "Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases".

Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have found that four COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, J&J/Janssen, and Novavax) prompt the body to make effective, long-lasting T cells against SARS-CoV-2. These T cells can recognize SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern, including Delta and Omicron.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, and The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, have identified Phytochemicals in the petals of a Himalayan plant that could potentially be used to treat COVID-19 infections.

The findings of the research team have been recently published in the journal Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics.

Health Canada has authorized the combination of two antiviral drugs, nirmatrelvir and ritonavir (brand name PAXLOVIDTM), to treat adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of progressing to serious disease, including hospitalization or death. The active ingredient nirmatrelvir in PAXLOVIDTM works by stopping the virus from replicating.

Pfizer Inc shared results from multiple studies demonstrating that the in vitro efficacy of nirmatrelvir, the active main protease (Mpro) inhibitor of PAXLOVID (nirmatrelvir [PF-07321332] tablets and ritonavir tablets), is maintained against the SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron. Taken together, these in vitro studies suggest that PAXLOVID has the potential to maintain plasma concentrations many-fold times higher than the amount required to prevent Omicron from replicating in cells.