The University of Oxford and Ifakara Health Institute have dosed the first participants in a Tanzania-based Phase 1b/2 trial of Oxford’s single-dose rabies vaccine candidate, the university announced earlier this month.
The ChAdOx2 RabG vaccine uses the same adenovirus vector platform as the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 shot and would be a “game changer” if successful, according to Oxford’s chief trial investigator. The investigator noted that current rabies regimens are effective but “…
Adjuvant Capital announced last week a $300 million Global Health Technology Fund focused on accelerating the development of medical innovations for “historically overlooked public health challenges.”
The New York-based social impact investor noted in its press release that it has already backed 14 companies, requiring each to make products broadly accessible to people in low- and middle-income countries. Adjuvant’s “young portfolio” includes investments in companies addressing…
WHO’s Market Information for Access (MI4A) to Vaccines initiative last week released its annual Global Vaccines Market Report (GVMR) and a new market study on rabies vaccines.
The GVMR said that while it cannot yet show the impact of Covid-19, the pandemic is “likely to alter vaccine markets for several years.” WHO estimated global vaccine market volumes for 2019 of 5.5 billion doses, with a global market value of $33 billion (both estimates exclude travel and military markets).…
Local media reported last week that authorities in India have moved to unblock construction of a long-delayed new biotechnology park in Odisha State, paving the way for Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to manufacture vaccines on the property.
Mint quoted state officials who said they had granted “required statutory clearances” and that construction should start within two weeks.
The news outlet also quoted BBIL chair Krishna Ella as saying his company…
GSK and CureVac announced Monday that they will jointly develop, manufacture and commercialize up to five mRNA-based vaccines and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs).
Under the terms of the deal, GSK will purchase nearly 10% of the German company for $165 million, in addition to paying $132 million upfront and making a one-time reimbursable payment of $33 million to reserve manufacturing capacity. CureVac will also be eligible for as much as $771 million in milestone payments, plus potential…
Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic and France’s Valneva announced last week that they have struck a deal to market and distribute each other’s vaccine products.
Valneva will assume the rights to Bavarian Nordic’s two travel vaccines for rabies and tick-borne encephalitis (acquired from GSK last year) in “selected European countries and Canada” beginning in the second half of 2020, and take over markets in the United States, Germany and Switzerland later this year.
In exchange, Bavarian…
Local media reported last week that Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) is bidding to buy into an Indian government-owned vaccine center, which has reportedly failed to start production because of a “cash crunch.”
The Economic Times said it had seen a letter from BBIL to health minister Harsh Vardhan offering to invest $84 million in the Integrated Vaccines Complex in Tamil Nadu run by state company HLL Biotech Limited (HBL) in return for the opportunity to “manufacture and…
CureVac announced positive interim results yesterday from Phase 1 trials of its novel prophylactic messenger RNA-based rabies vaccine.
The German biotech said two administrations of a low dose of CV7202 demonstrated a “strong adaptive immune response with protective virus-neutralizing antibody titers levels above the threshold recommended” by WHO and that the vaccine schedule was well-tolerated.
CureVac is also developing prophylactic and therapeutic mRNA vaccines for cancers,…
Indian media reported this week that Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) has restarted production of rabies vaccine at its recently-acquired Chiron Behring facility and plans to invest $10 million in increasing vaccine production to 15 million doses per year.
BBIL bought GSK’s mothballed Gujarat-based subsidiary in February amid a global shortage of rabies vaccine, occurring after Beijing revoked the manufacturing license last year of China’s second-biggest rabies vaccine…
GSK announced this week that it will sell two travel vaccines for rabies and tick-borne encephalitis (acquired from Novartis in 2015) to Bavarian Nordic in a deal worth up to $1.1 billion. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.
Media said the deal is part of the company’s effort to narrow its pipeline and focus on the lucrative cancer market. GSK also transferred its Ebola and Marburg vaccine candidates to Sabin Institute and stopped development on two other…