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Pharmafile.com’s top 10 news stories of the week

pharmafile | February 5, 2021 | News story | Medical Communications COVID-19 

In the last week, a number of COVID-19 vaccine developments have been made. Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot jab was found to be 85% effective, Novavax’s candidate demonstrated an efficacy of almost 90% in Phase III trial, and GSK and CureVac partnered up to develop a new vaccine to protect against variants of the virus.

 1. GSK and CureVac sign £132m deal to develop next-generation COVID-19 vaccine – Published 03/02/21

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and CureVac have today announced they are joining forces to develop a new COVID-19 vaccine to combat future variants of the virus.

2. Jazz acquires GW Pharmaceuticals in $7.2 billion deal – Published 04/02/21

Jazz Pharmaceuticals has acquired GW Pharmaceuticals for over $7 billion, with the transition expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

3. Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine 85% effective – Published 01/02/21

Johnson & Johnson has announced that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate is 85% effective in preventing serious symptoms of the disease, after interim analysis of Phase III of its trial.

4. CHMP recommends marketing authorisation for Novartis’ Kesimpta – Published on 01/02/21

The EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended the marketing authorisation of Novartis’ Kesimpta (ofatumumab) for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (RMS) in adults with active disease defined by clinical or imaging features.

5. Longer Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine interval improves efficacy, report says – Published 03/02/21

A longer interval between doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine could substantially improve efficacy, according to a report published in the Lancet.

6. Bayer’s venous thromboembolism drug Xarelto gets UK approval for childrenPublished on 01/02/21

Bayer has received UK approval for the use of its oral Factor Xa inhibitor Xarelto (rivaroxaban) to treat venous thromboembolism (VTE) and to prevent VTE recurrence in children aged below 18 after at least five days of initial parenteral anticoagulation treatment, including catheter related thrombosis, cerebral vein, and sinus thrombosis.

7. EMA grants marketing authorisation for Amarin’s heart attack treatmentPublished on 01/02/21

Amarin have been granted authorisation from the EMA to market a treatment that will reduce the chance of heart attacks and strokes for those most at risk.

8. Novavax COVID-19 vaccine shows almost 90% efficacy in Phase III trialPublished on 29/01/21

Novavax has announced that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, demonstrated an efficacy of 89.3% in its UK Phase III trial.

9. New urine test could detect womb cancer in three hoursPublished on 03/02/21

A simple test using patented technology to detect the cancer biomarker MCM5 (Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 5) in urine could help gynaecologists rule out endometrial cancer in as little as three hours, according to a recent study.

10. Combination of Keytruda and Yervoy does not improve cancer survival, MSD trial findsPublished on 02/02/21

A new trial by Merck – known as MSD outside of North America – has found that their lung cancer treatment, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), does not increase overall survival rate when paired with the melanoma medicine Yervoy.

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