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Gilead features prominently in the news this week, as the US bought most of the world’s stock of the company’s drug remdesivir, which is one of the only drugs proven to treat COVID-19, while announcing it will charge $2,340 for a 5 day course of the treatment.

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Coronavirus immunity in the world’s population may be more widespread than initially thought, even in those who have tested negative for antibodies, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden tested 200 people for both antibodies and T-cells and found for every person who test positive for antibodies, two people were found to have specific T-cells that find and destroy infected cells. This was even the case with patients suffering with mild COVID-19 or those who had asymptomatic cases of the virus.

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Johnson & Johnson announced that the European Commission has granted Marketing Authorisation for its Janssen Ebola vaccine.

Two Marketing Authorisation Applications (MAAs) were submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the vaccines that are made up of Zabdeno and Mvabea. The MAAs also received a positive opinion by the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) and is indicated for active immunisation and prevention of Ebola Virus Disease caused by the Zaire ebolavirus species in individuals aged one year and above.

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The drug industry is suing to overturn a Minnesota law that requires companies to provide emergency insulin to diabetics who can’t afford it.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) filed a lawsuit in a federal court on Tuesday to declare the Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act unconstitutional and issue a permanent injunction against its enforcement.

The July/August 2020 issue of Pharmafocus is available to read free online now!

The news this week centres on the pandemic in Europe, with the Independent SAGE group are warning that it is not safe to relax social distancing rules for indoor settings in England, while Germany’s coronavirus R number has drastically increased.

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A new study has highlighted how human biases affect the regulatory approval process of the FDA.

Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour

The National Institutes of Health had its funding cut from a research project into bat coronavirus, according its Director Dr Anthony Fauci.

Fauci revealed this at a Congressional hearing on the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with speculation that the virus jumped to humans from a bat.  Republican Representative of Congress Marc Veasey asked why the NIH had cancelled this funding, to which the Director replied: ““It was cancelled because the NIH was told to cancel it. I don’t know the reason, but we were told to cancel it.”

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Researchers at the University of Buffalo have launched a study to see if the steroid treatment ciclesonide could be effective in treating the coronavirus.