UK-based Exscientia has entered a four-year $70m partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics against multiple viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. The initial focus will be on broad-spectrum agents targeting coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, as well as MERS. The partnership will later extend to develop drugs for influenza and Nipah. Exscientia’s AI-driven drug discovery platform will be used to discover and develop five Phase I-ready small-molecule candidates, the partners said.
Novavax has started enrolment in a Phase I/II clinical trial to assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of a vaccine that combines its Covid-19 and seasonal influenza vaccines. The trial will enroll 640 healthy adults aged 50 to 70 years at up to 12 sites in Australia. Participants must have had prior Covid-19 infection or be vaccinated with an authorised vaccine. Trial data are expected to be available in the first half of next year.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Moderna has signed a multi-year agreement for National Resilience to manufacture drug substance for its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. The production will be carried out at Resilience’s facility in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The Resilience-manufactured substance will be distributed globally. Moderna’s deal with Resilience follows a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian Government to boost the country’s mRNA manufacturing and enable direct access to rapid pandemic response expertise.
The European Medicines Agency has listed Guillain-Barré syndrome, a very rare nerve disorder, as a potential side effect of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, Reuters reported. A causal relationship between the disorder and the vaccine is “at least a reasonable possibility,” the agency said. By 31 July 2021, 833 Guillain-Barré syndrome cases were noted out of 592 million AstraZeneca shots administered globally.
