COVID-19

A new survey from Sermo, a physician-first online community and leader in global HCP insights, found that physicians are facing a challenging onslaught of COVID-19 vaccine and treatment misinformation as reported by 3,600+ doctors around the world.

The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused an imminent urge for both antiviral therapeutical drugs and vaccines. While the development of vaccines was accomplished in a remarkably short timeframe, the identification of direct antiviral treatments has progressed comparatively slowly. In the light of the further risk of pandemics in the future, however, there remains need for direct antiviral drugs and treatments. Moreover, emerging immune-evasive, I.e. camouflaged from the immune system, SARS-CoV-2 variants are of concern.

Researchers from Columbia Engineering, Fiocruz’s Center for Technological Development in Health and the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Brazil, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Rockefeller University recently reported that, by combining inhibitors of polymerases and exonucleases enzymes that allow SARS-CoV-2 to reproduce--they were able to reduce SARS-CoV-2 replication 10 times more than when using just the polymerase inhibitors.

Biotechnology company Zymergen is pleased to announce early results from its work on infectious disease, discovering hundreds of potential novel hits against malaria, tuberculosis, and COVID-19 targets. Hits for PfAPP, a critical target in the treatment of malaria, are now being advanced for validation, with hits for an emerging COVID-19 target, PLpro, expected to follow.

Medicago, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Quebec City, and GlaxoSmithKline announced that Health Canada has granted approval for COVIFENZ, COVID-19 vaccine, (plant-based virus-like particles [VLP], recombinant, adjuvanted). This vaccine is indicated for active immunization to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) in individuals 18 to 64 years of age.

Several FDA-approved drugs including for type 2 diabetes, hepatitis C and HIV significantly reduce the ability of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 to replicate in human cells, according to new research led by scientists at Penn State. Specifically, the team found that these drugs inhibit certain viral enzymes, called proteases, that are essential for SARS-CoV-2 replication in infected human cells.

A large number of Indian made medicinal products illegally imported in Switzerland were seized by Swissmedic and the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security. These contained COVID-19 medicines like ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine or antibiotics and erectile stimulants from India.

Swiss government agency along with customs had secured 9,421 packages containing illegally imported medicinal products during 2021. This is a significant increase on the previous year, when there were 6,733 such packages.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, International medical charity called on the European Union, the UK and Switzerland to swiftly adopt the landmark Waiver, which would lift intellectual property monopolies on COVID-19 medical tools, and is currently supported by more than 100 low and middle income countries. MSF also urged the US to show concrete leadership to accelerate the negotiations and to broaden the scope of its support beyond only vaccines to include medicines and diagnostics.

Roche announced that Actemra/RoActemra (tocilizumab) intravenous (IV) has been granted World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification. Prequalification is a confirmation by WHO that Actemra/RoActemra meets the WHO standards for quality, safety and efficacy for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults who are receiving systemic corticosteroids and require supplemental oxygen or mechanical ventilation. It helps procurers in low- and middle-income countries identify priority medicines to improve access to care and support better health.