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Pharmafile.com’s weekly COVID-19 news round-up

pharmafile | July 29, 2020 | News story | Business Services, Manufacturing and Production, Medical Communications, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing COVID-19, coronavirus, pharma 

The once-touted COVID cure hydroxychloroquine continues its downward spiral of credibility as new data is published on its lack of efficacy in treating infection with the virus, while new research findings could mean a troubling winter ahead, demonstrating that patient outcomes associated with the virus worsen in colder months.

But perhaps the biggest news in the last week on the coronavirus front is the revelation that the Moderna’s promising vaccine candidate has received another huge cash injection from the US Government, bringing its total investment in the therapy to $955 million.

1. US Government invests a further $472 million in Moderna’s BARDA-backed COVID-19 vaccine – Published 27/07/20
Moderna has revealed a second investment of $472 million from the US Government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to support late stage clinical development of its messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine candidate mRNA-1273 for the prevention of COVID-19 infection.

2. Brazilian study finds hydroxychloroquine is not effective at treating COVID-19 – Published 24/07/20
The researchers said: “Among patients hospitalized with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, the use of hydroxychloroquine, alone or with azithromycin, did not improve clinical status at 15 days as compared with standard care.”

3. UK Government invests £100m in new COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing site – Published 23/07/20
The UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has revealed a new pledge of an additional £100 million investment to help ensure the UK’s manufacturing capacity for an effective COVID-19 vaccine can meet the scale of demand.

4. Research suggests COVID-19 outcomes are worse in colder months – Published 23/07/20
A partnership between Chinese and European researchers has argued that the severity of COVID-19 could be worse in colder weather brought by winter months, after evaluating the clinical outcomes of more than 40,000 COVID-19 patients since the pandemic began.

5. British pandemic strategy has been an “astonishing” failure, says cross-party parliamentary committee – Published 23/07/20
The Commons Public Accounts Committee concluded that the government schemes to help businesses and employers were drawn up in March by the Treasury, weeks after Britain’s first official cases of COVID-19.

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