COVID-19 Update

Par Sterile will produce the vaccine for use in Novavax's Phase III clinical trial in the United States, while also providing fill/finish services for commercial distribution in the US.

GRAM is expanding fill/finish capacity and is working with Janssen on tech transfer in preparation for production of Janssen’s SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate at GRAM’s Grand Rapids, MI facility.

A clinical trial to enroll up to 10,000 volunteers across the UK will assess whether NVX-CoV2373 is effective in the prevention of COVID-19.

UK's Prime Minister visited the site of the country’s VMIC in Oxfordshire, and met the teams working at the forefront of the national COVID-19 response.

A Phase III trial to evaluate safety and efficacy of Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, JNJ-78436735, also known as Ad26.COV2.S, is enrolling participants on three continents.

Thermo Fisher will handle the technical transfer of the lenzilumab bulk drug substance process, with commercial scale production potentially beginning before the end of 2020.

The Korean MFDS has given its approval for Celltrion to initiate a Phase II/III trial of its anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment candidate, CT-P59.

Fears about overly accelerated development programs has heightened demands for wider access to information on study protocols, statistical analysis plans, and early results.

The companies will receive upfront funding from the European Union for the scale-up of manufacturing capabilities at industrial sites in Belgium, Italy, Germany, and France.

The collaboration will expand the manufacturing capacity for lenzilumab, a COVID-19 therapeutic candidate, in advance of a potential Emergency Use Authorization in 2020.

The agreement will Increase global manufacturing capacity for Novavax’s vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, to more than two-billion annualized doses when at full capacity in 2021.

The agreement between the two companies will significantly increase global supply capacity for Lilly's potential COVID-19 treatments.

The agency’s human medicines committee is endorsing the use of dexamethasone in COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen therapy.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund has announced three deals with India, Brazil, and Mexico, for the supply of doses of Sputnik V, a potential COVID-19 vaccine.

The companies aim to scale up production of Eli Lilly’s potential COVID-19 antibody therapies, pending regulatory approval.

BioNTech plans to produce up to 250 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, in the first half of 2021.

Valneva will supply the UK government with an initial 60 million doses of the vaccine in the second half of 2021, if successful, and will provide more doses thereafter.

The funding will help advance the vaccine’s clinical evaluation, potential marketing authorization, development and manufacturing in Germany, and the number of participants in late-stage clinical trials.

In addition to increasing production, Thermo Fisher will create 1000 jobs across its global manufacturing sites to further automation capabilities and optimize warehouse and sterilization capacity.

The temporary guidance discusses the resumption of normal manufacturing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clinical trials for AZD1222 coronavirus vaccine resume in the UK as per guidance by MHRA.

In an opinion article, FDA leaders commit to applying “the best science” to approval decisions.

AMRI will provide AstraZeneca with manufacturing capacity and sterile fill/finish services at its drug product manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, NM.

The clinical trials of the AstraZeneca Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222, have been paused for a safety review as a result of an incident of an unexplained illness in a UK trial patient.

As public confidence in the drug development process waivers, leading vaccine developers promise to adhere to scientific and regulatory principles.

Industry leaders insist they will maintain high standards for clinical trials and regulatory submissions for new vaccines and therapeutics to combat COVID-19.

BIO leaders urge biopharmaceutical companies to apply scientific principles in seeking drug and vaccine approvals.

Rapid scale-up to billions of doses requires collaborative, all-out efforts by innovators, their manufacturing partners, and the entire supply chain.

Risk-based decision-making is impacting all aspects of manufacturing quality from raw material supply to facility inspections.

AstraZeneca has potentially taken poll position in the race to develop a novel coronavirus vaccine, but will AZD1222 be ready in 2020?