Research News

Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have found that T cells from people who have recovered from COVID-19 or received the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are still able to recognize several concerning SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Their new study, published online on July 1, 2021 in Cell Reports Medicine, shows that both CD4+ “helper” T cells and CD8+ “killer” T cells can still recognize mutated forms of the virus. This reactivity is key to the body’s complex immune response to the virus, which allows the body to kill infected cells and stop severe infections.

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at Kings College London, in collaboration with the University of Liverpool and the Karolinska Institute, has shown that many of the symptoms in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) are caused by antibodies that increase the activity of pain-sensing nerves throughout the body. The results show that fibromyalgia is a disease of the immune system, rather than the currently held view that it originates in the brain.

Cipla Limited, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited and Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited announced that the five companies will collaborate for the clinical trial of the investigational oral anti-viral drug Molnupiravir for the treatment of mild COVID-19 in an outpatient setting in India.

Iksuda Therapeutics, the developer of a new generation of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) with raised therapeutic index, today announced that it has expanded its research collaboration and License Agreement with LegoChem Biosciences, Inc.to explore additional ADC programmes which leverage LCB’s proprietary ADC platform technology.

Researchers from the Miami University in Ohio have optimized a new technique that will allow scientists to evaluate how potential inhibitors work on antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This technique, called native state mass spectrometry, provides a quick way for scientists to identify the best candidates for effective clinical drugs, particularly in cases where bacteria can no longer be treated with antibiotics alone. This research will be presented at the American Society for Microbiology World Microbe Forum online conference on June 21, 2021.

Cells contain machinery that duplicates DNA into a new set that goes into a newly formed cell. That same class of machines, called polymerases, also build RNA messages, which are like notes copied from the central DNA repository of recipes, so they can be read more efficiently into proteins. But polymerases were thought to only work in one direction DNA into DNA or RNA. This prevents RNA messages from being rewritten back into the master recipe book of genomic DNA.

Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), and Laxai Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, have been given the regulatory approval by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to undertake a two-arm phase-II clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of the drug Colchicine in the improvement of clinical outcomes during the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Novavax, Inc announced that NVX-CoV2373, its recombinant nanoparticle protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, demonstrated 100% protection against moderate and severe disease, 90.4% efficacy overall, and met the primary endpoint in its PREVENT-19 pivotal Phase 3 trial. The study enrolled 29,960 participants across 119 sites in the U.S. and Mexico to evaluate efficacy, safety and immunogenicity, with an emphasis on recruiting a representative population of communities and demographic groups most impacted by the disease.