Fierce Biotech's Top 10 stories of 2020—COVID, COVID and more COVID 1) Gilead's remdesivir looks promising in leaked early results, but don't jump to conclusions: analysts 2) Gilead shares slip as a 2nd remdesivir COVID-19 trial halted in China 3) AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine enters phase 2/3 clinical trial 4) New Gilead remdesivir COVID-19 data show up old problems with limited data 5) 'Positive news' on AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine is imminent: report 6) Regeneron's COVID-19 antibody cocktail curbs virus, speeds recovery in early data 7) Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine triggers immune response in older adults 8) Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine trial starts enrolling high-dose arm 9) Was it something he said? Biotech CEO who met Trump this month exits without a word 10) Did Gilead's remdesivir flop a Chinese trial? Analysts beg to differ The inside story behind Pfizer and BioNTech's new vaccine brand name, Comirnaty Fierce Medtech's Top 10 stories of 2020: COVID testing's ups and downs Featured Story | By Ben Adams “Lockdown” has been named the Collins Word of the Year 2020. At Fierce Biotech, the word our team has been writing the most is, in fact, not even a word, but an abbreviation: COVID-19. read more |
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Top Stories By Amirah Al Idrus The world is watching and waiting for data to see whether Gilead's investigational antiviral remdesivir can help fight COVID-19. And while some leaked early results suggest that it can, industry watchers will need to wait for data from Gilead's own controlled phase 3 study to know for sure. read more By Ben Adams After having to halt enrollment in its severe COVID-19 trial due to a lack of patients, a second test of Gilead’s old Ebola drug remdesivir has befallen the same fate, this time in patients with a milder form of the disease. read more By Nick Paul Taylor Researchers at the University of Oxford have begun enrolling subjects in a phase 2/3 clinical trial of AstraZeneca-partnered COVID-19 vaccine AZD1222. The next stage of the program, which follows a 1,000-subject phase 1, is set to enroll 10,260 people in the U.K. to generate results to support the first shipments to customers in September. read more By Nick Paul Taylor Gilead has posted data on 53 severe COVID-19 patients who received remdesivir on a compassionate use basis. More than two-thirds of the patients improved after receiving remdesivir, although the lack of a control arm makes it hard to tell what role the antiviral played in their recoveries. read more By Nick Paul Taylor AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford are set to share “positive news” on their COVID-19 vaccine soon, according to a leading U.K. journalist. The update, which could come as soon as tomorrow, may shed light on how the front-runner vaccine fared in early clinical trials. read more By Amirah Al Idrus The first data are in for Regeneron’s COVID-19 antibody cocktail—and they’re encouraging. The top dose of the treatment lowered virus levels and relieved symptoms more quickly than placebo in patients infected with COVID-19 but not sick enough to be hospitalized. read more By Amirah Al Idrus As seen in 45 younger adults, the middle dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine triggered the production of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in 10 patients aged 56 to 70 and 10 patients over 71. The patients’ antibody levels were two to three times higher than those seen in patients who recovered from the disease. read more By Nick Paul Taylor A phase 1 trial of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate has begun enrolling subjects at the highest dose. Moderna shared the update on the COVID-19 study alongside news that people in another trial had anti-Zika antibodies after receiving the biotech’s vaccine against that virus. read more By Ben Adams Daniel Menichella started the month as CureVac CEO, one of the privileged few to discuss the coronavirus response with the U.S. president and kick-starting a vaccine trial against COVID-19. read more By Amirah Al Idrus The World Health Organization accidentally revealed data from a study in China showing that the treatment neither improved patients’ condition nor tamped down on the amount of virus in their blood, the Financial Times reported, calling the trial a “flop.” But was it really a flop? read more By Beth Snyder Bulik Comirnaty. It’s a name we’ll all know soon. The new brand for Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty mashes up community, immunity, mRNA and COVID—pretty much everything that could fit into the moniker for the world's most high-profile product at the moment. read more By Conor Hale In a typical year, I'd compile our annual roundup of top stories while searching for images of gold confetti and festive ribbons. This year? Not so much. read more Resources Sponsored by: Cytiva A one-stop hub for Cytiva resources to support process development and manufacturing of your novel molecule Sponsored by: GenScript A significant number of new treatments have been approved so far, but some manufacturing and regulatory guidelines pose challenges for advanced therapies, leading to poor production yields. 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