Coronavirus company news summary – FDA approves a third vaccine – Health Canada approves two versions of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine

1 March 2021

Health Canada has authorised two Covid-19 vaccines, one manufactured and developed by AstraZeneca in partnership with the University of Oxford, the other is the Serum Institute of India’s version of the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine. While AstraZeneca applied for authorisation in October 2020, the Serum Institute of India with its partner Verity Pharmaceuticals sought authorisation in January 2021.

The US Government has procured a minimum of 100,000 doses of Eli Lilly‘s bamlanivimab and etesevimab, two monoclonal antibody drugs indicated for Covid-19. Bamlanivimab and etesevimab combined were recently granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) for treating mild to moderate Covid-19 symptoms in patients at the risk of developing severe disease or being hospitalised.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted EUA for a third Covid-19 vaccine. The authorisation allows Johnson & Johnson‘s Janssen Covid-19 vaccine to be distributed across the US and to be administered to individuals aged 18 years and older.