COVID-19
Third-quarter revenues for antiviral treatment Paxlovid dropped 97% operationally compared with the prior-year period, while vaccine Comirnaty revenues declined 70% in the quarter.
Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax and more are working to combine preventative shots for COVID-19, flu, RSV and other illnesses. Will convenience be enough to overcome vaccine fatigue?
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a need for local production of vaccines. Now, German pharma company BioNTech has said it will start manufacturing vaccines in Africa.
The company plans to launch up to 15 new products and bring up to 50 new candidates to the clinic over the next five years as part of its growth plan, while scaling down COVID-19 manufacturing.
The regulator Monday approved the companies’ supplemental Biologics License Applications for their respective mRNA shots formulated to more closely target currently circulating variants.
The vaccine maker reported new trial data confirming an 8.7 to 11-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies against circulating strains, including the highly watched BA.2.86, EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 variants.
The vaccine was effective against previous COVID-19 variants but lacked efficacy against new ones, the company announced Thursday, leaving the booster no commercially viable options.
The biotech’s experimental vaccine has shown a neutralizing response to XBB sublineages of COVID-19, which currently dominate new cases in the U.S. and Europe.
The companies contend that their updated COVID-19 vaccines for the fall vaccination season can elicit strong immune responses against the virus’ currently dominant and emerging subvariants.
The vaccine maker cut 25% of staff amid post-pandemic business challenges in May, but resurgent sales and an updated COVID-19 shot may prove a turning point.
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