COVID-19

 After helping several Indian companies in the development of vaccines for COVID-19 including clinical trials, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT)’s Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) has entered into a research collaboration with Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, a Vietnamese pharmaceutical company which is in the process of developing a vaccine for the disease.

The research team assembled an unprecedented dataset on mortality from 29 countries, spanning most of Europe, the US and Chile – countries for which official death registrations for 2020 had been published. They found that 27 of the 29 countries saw reductions in life expectancy in 2020, and at a scale which wiped out years of progress on mortality, according to the paper published today in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, a research-led, global integrated pharmaceutical company, today announced the successful completion of its Post Marketing Surveillance (PMS) study on Favipiravir (FabiFlu®) in India. The PMS study commenced in July 2020 to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Favipiravir in mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. A total of 1083 patients were enrolled in the prospective, open label, multicentre, single arm study.

The Institute for Stem Cell Science & Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore is an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. inStem’s mandate is to establish collaborative research programs in the field of stem cell biology, regeneration and repair in development and disease and with translational emphasis. In order to develop strengths in focused areas, research at inStem is programmatic, and is driven through collaborative inter- disciplinary themes, addressing questions, which are beyond the scope of a single laboratory.

Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India in collaboration with BRICS countries is implementing SARS-CoV-2 NGS-BRICS consortium and multi centric programme to study the impact of severe COVID-19 conditions on TB patients.

Zydus Cadila announced that the company has received the Emergency Use Authorization from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for ZyCoV-D the worlds first Plasmid DNA Vaccine for COVID-19. ZyCoV-D is a three dose vaccine which will be administered first on day zero, day 28th and then on the 56th day. With this approval, India now has its first COVID-19 vaccine for the adolescents in the 12-18 age group, besides the adult population.

Moderna, Inc a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an update to the emergency use authorization for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273) to include a third dose for immunocompromised individuals 18 years of age or older in the United States who have undergone solid organ transplantation, or who are diagnosed with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise.