Pfizer and BioNTech have announced positive safety, tolerability and immunogenicity data for two Omicron-adapted COVID-19 mRNA candidate vaccines – but for an earlier strain of Omicron than those that are currently globally dominant.  The two Omicron-adapted vaccine candidates were given to 1,234 participants aged 56 years and older as boosters, and “elicited substantially higher neutralizing […] Continue reading ->
A World Health Organization emergency committee met Thursday to determine if the monkeypox outbreak spreading in non-endemic countries constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The closed door meeting, including 16 committee members and eight advisors, will make a recommendation to WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who will decide whether to designate […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has once more raised the red flag over the lack of new antibacterial treatments being developed to address the mounting threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In its annual  ‘pipeline report’, which assesses those antibacterial drugs in preclinical and clinical development, WHO describes the pipeline as “stagnant” and “far from meeting […] Continue reading ->
A new $100 million initiative to identify and reach zero-dose children – those who have not received a single routine vaccine shot – has been launched today by Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance in partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and World Vision (WV).  The Zero-Dose Immunization Programme (ZIP) will be led by the International […] Continue reading ->
A new sublicense agreement for a COVID-19 antibody test has been announced Thursday by the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) on behalf of the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and South African company Biotech Africa.  The new agreement builds on the first non-exclusive licensing agreement announced by WHO and MPP last year with […] Continue reading ->