With cases of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 soaring in Europe and around the world, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommends everyone 60 and older get a second COVID-19 booster shot. EMA’s recommendation came shortly before WHO reconvened its COVID Emergency Committee on Friday to reconsider its global recommendations for the pandemic – and if the […] Continue reading ->
Children infected with COVID-19 maintained strong immunity against the virus for at least 18 months, according to a preprint study that was released on Wednesday. The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, was conducted by Kahn-Sagol-Maccabi (KSM), the research and innovation center of Maccabi Healthcare Services in Israel, and was released on the preprint server […] Continue reading ->
One year since the establishment of the mRNA Vaccine Technology Transfer Hub, a collaboration between two leading biotech companies – Afrigen Biologics and the Univercells group – was announced on Tuesday, paving the way for the development of the first-ever African-owned COVID-19 vaccine through open-access intellectual property.  Using intellectual property from partners, the collaboration between […] Continue reading ->
Limited IP waiver text says WTO members “will decide” on inclusion of COVID-19 tests and treatments within six months.  The World Trade Organization’s first ministerial conference in four and a half years reached agreement early Friday morning on what officials described as “an unprecedented outcome” of six agreements, including a deal to curb some fishing […] 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 ->