Biotech - Today Stories

On-shore manufacturing facility based in Melbourne, Australia, expected to produce up to 100 million mRNA respiratory vaccine doses annually CAMBRIDGE, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 23, 2022 / Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced the finalization of a strategic partnership with the Australian Federal Government to establish a state-of-the-art, domestic mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Australia. This finalizes the agreement in principle with the Australian Federal Government announced in December 2021. "We are delighted to reach this milestone with the Australian Government and finalize our first on-shore manufacturing agreement," said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. "The Austral…

mRNA-1230 is a combination respiratory vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 virus, influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) mRNA-1287 is a vaccine candidate against the four endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV-229E, -NL63, -OC43 and -HKU1) CAMBRIDGE, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 22, 2022 / Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced that it is expanding its mRNA pipeline with two new development programs. This announcement reflects the Company's commitment to expanding its portfolio by building on Moderna's experience with Spikevax®, its COVID-19 vaccine. The development programs include a combination respiratory vaccine candidate and a new program against all four of the endemic human coronaviruses…

BioNTech and Regeneron plan to jointly conduct clinical trials evaluating FixVac candidate BNT116 in combination with Libtayo for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) The development costs for the trials will be equally shared between the parties The companies advance clinical development of FixVac and Libtayo combination to third tumor type building on their existing agreements in melanoma and prostate cancer by combining their complementary immunotherapies to pave the way for new treatment options in high medical need indications MAINZ, Germany, March 8, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX, “BioNTech” or “the Company”) today announced the expansion of its strategic collaboration with Regeneron to advance the Company’s FixVac candidate BNT116 in co…

Moderna announces commitment to advance vaccines targeting 15 pathogens identified as biggest public health risk by WHO and CEPI into clinical studies by 2025 Moderna launches mRNA Access, a new collaborative enabling researchers around the world to utilize Moderna's mRNA technology platform to pursue research in their own labs on emerging and neglected infectious diseases Moderna expands commitment to never enforce COVID-19 patents in the Gavi COVAX AMC for 92 low- and middle-income countries Moderna has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Republic of Kenya to establish its first mRNA manufacturing facility on the continent of Africa CAMBRIDGE, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 7, 2022 / Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RN…

Agreement to leverage dedicated commercial fill-finish manufacturing capacity in the US for mRNA vaccines and therapies CAMBRIDGE, Mass., and WALTHAM, Mass., February 23, 2022 – Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO), the world leader in serving science, today announced a 15-year strategic collaboration agreement to enable dedicated large-scale manufacturing in the U.S. of Spikevax®, Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, and other investigational mRNA medicines in its pipeline. “Thermo Fisher continues to be a trusted partner, bringing a full range of products and services that have enabled us to deliver innovative medicines at an unprecedented speed and scale,” said Jua…

Long-term agreement includes a series of investments to acquire new equipment and adapt the present ROVI drug product fill-finish facilities and production lines in Spain CAMBRIDGE, MA and MADRID, SPAIN / ACCESSWIRE / February 16, 2022 / Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, and Laboratorios Farmacéuticos Rovi, S.A. (BME: ROVI), a pan-European pharmaceutical company specializing and engaging in the research, development, contract manufacturing and marketing of small molecules and biological specialties, today announced a long-term collaboration to increase capacities for the compounding, aseptic filling, inspection, labeling, and packaging of ROVI's facilities, located in Madrid, San Sebastián de los Reyes and Alcalá…

Agreement brings complementary capabilities in clinical, regulatory and scientific affairs for clients in key markets Frankfurt, Germany – 8 January 2022: PharmaLex Group, a leading provider of specialized services for the pharma, biotech and medtech industries worldwide, has announced a merger agreement with Ascent Development Services, a Japan-based leader in enabling the integration of  Asia into global pharmaceutical product development. Founded in 2017, Ascent’s team of experts work with emerging biopharma companies to understand and overcome differences in medical practice, culture and language in order to achieve the optimal strategic and operational integration of Asia into global drug development.  Headquartered in Tokyo, Ascent employs staff across Asia, including China, Korea, M…

Company testing three existing COVID-19 vaccine booster candidates against the Omicron variant Company announcing a new variant-specific vaccine candidate against Omicron (mRNA-1273.529) CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Nov. 26, 2021-- Moderna, Inc., (Nasdaq: MRNA) a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced updates to its strategy to address SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, given the emergence of the B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant. The recently described Omicron variant includes mutations seen in the Delta variant that are believed to increase transmissibility and mutations seen in the Beta and Delta variants that are believed to promote immune escape. The combination of mutations represents a significant potential risk to accelerate the waning of nat…

Initiative to support a new generation of leaders in mRNA therapeutics and vaccine research CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Oct. 6, 2021-- Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced the launch of the Moderna Fellowship Program. The goal of the program is to support the next generation of scientists and healthcare professionals as they innovate in the field of mRNA research towards improving patient care and population health. Prospective fellows may be clinicians and scientists who are interested in advancing mRNA research and innovation and the program underpins Moderna’s commitment to supporting independent research. The fellowship program will select approximately 50 global fellows in the first year with a focus on…

Gale E. Smith, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, promoted to Senior Vice President Troy Morgan, J.D., appointed Chief Compliance Officer Greg Covino to step down as Chief Financial Officer, remain with company as executive adviser Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX), a biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, today announced the promotion of Gale E. Smith, Ph.D., to Senior Vice President, Discovery and Pre-Clinical Research and Chief Scientist, and the appointment of Troy Morgan as Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer. The company also announced that Greg Covino will be stepping down as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and will take on a new role as executive adviser to the company. Recognized as a pioneer in vaccine research, Dr. Smith is the sen…

St. Andrews, Scotland – Pneumagen Ltd, a biotech company developing a universal pan-viral intranasal drug for protection against respiratory tract infections (RTIs), today announced a further milestone in the development of Neumifil™ for the treatment of COVID-19. Utilizing a hamster model of COVID-19 infection, researchers showed Neumifil was efficacious, significantly reducing clinical signs and weight loss in animals infected with SARS-CoV-2.   Pneumagen scientists located at the University of St. Andrews confirmed that Neumifil binds with equally high affinity to SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins from the Wuhan (Wuhan-Hu-1), UK (B.1.1.7) and South Africa (B.1.351) variants.  In further experiments, Pneumagen also demonstrated high affinity Neumifil binding to the ACE2 receptor, which is used b…

Destiny Pharma Plc (AIM: DEST) a clinical stage innovative biotechnology company focused on the development of novel medicines that can prevent life threatening infections, today announces the appointment of Professor Mark Wilcox to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Professor Wilcox is a consultant microbiologist and Head of R&D in Microbiology at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals and is Lead on Clostridium difficile infection for Public Health England (PHE). He also has advisory roles to UK SAGE (COVID-19), NHS England’s Infection Prevention & Control national team and PHE’s Rapid Review Panel (reviewing the utility of infection prevention and control products for the NHS), and is a member of the UK NHS Antimicrobial Resistance Programme Board. Dr Bill Love, Chief Scientific Officer…

LifeArc announces Seed Fund investment of £2 million in DJS Antibodies, a biotech start-up company pioneering the development of novel antibody therapeutics for inflammatory disease.  LifeArc is co-leading the c.£6 million funding with Sedgwick Yard, with new investment from Amgen Ventures and follow-on investment from Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI). DJS Antibodies has developed HEPTAD, a novel platform for antibody discovery which was built to overcome the challenges associated with discovering therapeutic quality antibodies to intractable G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) targets.  This funding round will support the development of two candidate antibody therapeutics including an antibody therapeutic for chronic kidney disease (CKD), a long-term condition that leads to the irreversible…

COMIRNATY® (also known as BNT162b2) receives conditional marketing authorization from the European Commission; this milestone represents a global joint effort to advance the first authorized mRNA vaccine Pfizer and BioNTech are ready to immediately ship initial doses to the 27 EU member states Pfizer and BioNTech previously announced an agreement with the European Commission to supply 200 million vaccine doses to EU member states; the EU also has an option to purchase an additional 100 million doses in 2021 The vaccine has now been granted a conditional marketing authorization, emergency use authorization, or temporary authorization in more than 40 countries worldwide, including all 27 EU member states NEW YORK & MAINZ, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech…

AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ) (FN STO: ALZCUR), a pharmaceutical company that develops a broad portfolio of drug candidates for diseases affecting the central nervous system, with projects in both Alzheimer’s disease and pain, today announced that the company has begun a preclinical development phase with the company's drug candidate ACD857. ACD857 is being developed within AlzeCure's NeuroRestore platform, with the aim of developing symptom-relieving drugs for the treatment of diseases with cognitive disorders. The preclinical development program with ACD857 includes preclinical safety and tolerability studies but also formulation work and stability testing. ACD857 may play a significant role in the treatment of indications in which cognitive functions are impaired, such as Alzheimer's diseas…

Start-up from Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute brings together 15 years of world-leading research on N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) and breakthrough discoveries related to its inhibition in cancer Initial financing of £4.5M from venture capital syndicate of experienced life sciences investors, Sofinnova Partners and Brandon Capital Partners Led by a team of world-class scientists and drug developers with a track record of big pharma/biotech and academic successes Stevenage, UK, November 16, 2020 - Myricx Pharma (‘Myricx’), a drug discovery company focused on developing small molecule inhibitors that selectively target the human N-myristoyltransferases (NMT) in cancer, today unveiled an initial £4.5 million in seed financing from experienced venture investors, Sofinno…

World Antibiotic Awareness Week aims to increase awareness of global antibiotic resistance and to encourage best practices among the general public, health workers and policy makers to avoid the further emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance.A global action plan to tackle the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines was endorsed at the Sixty-eighth World Health Assembly in May 2015. One of the key objectives of the plan is to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication, education and training.

(Reuters) - Pfizer Inc PFE.N on Monday said its experimental vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on initial data from a large study, a major victory in the fight against a pandemic that has killed over 1 million people, roiled the world's economy and upended daily life. Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE BNTX.O are the first drugmakers to show successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine. The companies said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek U.S. emergency use authorization later this month. If authorized, the number of vaccine doses will initially be limited. Many questions also remain including how long the vaccine will provide protection. However the news provides hope that other vaccines in…

Anti-viral Alphabodies act by inhibiting viral cell fusion New class of Alphabodies with prophylactic and therapeutic potential Hasselt, Belgium, September 7, 2020 – Complix, a biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of transformative Alphabody therapeutics announces that it has been awarded a €1.2 million grant (approximately USD$1.4 million) from the Flanders government through the Flemish Agency for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO). This grant will allow Complix to accelerate the discovery and development of a novel and differentiating class of Alphabody based therapeutics against coronavirus infections.  Alphabodies represent an ideal scaffold to target the viral cell fusion mechanism based on their exceptional biophysical and structural properties. The cell fusion mec…