Recent papers suggests the novel coronavirus does some of its deadly work by disabling interferons, powerful proteins that are the body’s own frontline defenders against viral invasion. If so, synthetic interferons given before or soon after infection may tame the virus before it causes serious disease—a welcome possibility that additional recent studies support.
"Operation Warp Speed," the federal government's Covid-19 vaccine program, on Tuesday announced the largest government Covid-19 vaccine contract to date—a $1.6 billion contract with Novavax, a Maryland biotech company.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the initiation of late-stage clinical trials evaluating REGN-COV2, Regeneron's investigational double antibody cocktail for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19.
Researchers at the University of Sydney and Centenary Institute are repurposing an existing tuberculosis vaccine to see if it can be used in a new way against COVID-19 to develop a novel vaccine.
They’re easier to manufacture than traditional vaccines, but scientifically their history is checkered.
When medical researchers worldwide began to study COVID-19 to try develop a vaccine, they needed a different kind of mouse, since normal mice could not be infected with the virus. Two University of Iowa professors realized they had something in their labs that might help: Decade-old frozen sperm from a transgenic mouse developed in 2005 that could be infected with SARS-CoV.
Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that it has published a pre-print publication describing initial pre-clinical results from its COVID-19 vaccination program, which introduced a novel targeted protein vaccine against COVID-19, referred to as T-VIVA-19.
Biotech company Inovio released positive interim data from its Phase I clinical trial of INO-4800, its experimental vaccine against COVID-19.
Antibodies are not the body’s only weapons against the coronavirus. The body also has special immune cells in the lung that can be reactivated more easily than previously thought, according to new research from Salk immunobiologists.
Researchers at the UI Carver College of Medicine created a mice model that inserts human receptors into mice cells to study the effects of COVID-19 on the immune system.
A Covid-19 vaccine trialed by Vietnam-based pharmaceutical firm Vabiotech has produced an antibody response in mice.
The authors of a recent paper ask what role gut bacteria might play in COVID-19. They outline strands of existing evidence and conclude that a link between the two is plausible, but that more research is necessary.
Differences in lung physiology and immune function are possible reasons why children are often spared from severe illness associated with SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
A synthetic antibody can act as a decoy to intercept and neutralize the coronavirus that leads to COVID-19 before it can cause infection, according to new research with mice.
Evidence from tissue studies and some people with COVID-19 shows that the virus damages insulin-producing cells.
In a recent groundbreaking bioRxiv* paper, Chinese researchers describe a novel approach towards coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine design based on engineered human mesenchymal stem cells, with favorable and promising antibody response.
Experts at UC San Diego have developed nanoparticles that attract and neutralize the coronavirus by soaking up harmful pathogens and toxins like a sponge. In lab experiments, the nanosponges reduced the viral infectivity level of SARS-CoV-2 by up to nearly 90 percent.
Gene therapy, in which genetic material from survivors is injected directly into others to give them protection against the pathogen, offers another approach to battling the virus and putting an end to future pandemics.
Since developing an effective drug can take several years, scientists have been looking at drugs currently in the market that could be repurposed to treat COVID-19 patients. Are there any that have been successful or at least show potential? The answer is yes and no.
Recent history suggests a new vaccine entering human clinical trials has about a 1-in-3 chance of getting FDA approval. Stephane Bancel, chief executive of Moderna, pegs the chances of his company’s novel coronavirus vaccine at closer to 80% to 90%.
A South Dakota company expects to start human trials next month for a Covid-19 antibody treatment derived from the plasma of cows that have been genetically engineered to have an immune system that’s part human.
The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts say.
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine evaluated several human antibodies to determine the most potent combination to be mixed in a cocktail and used as a promising anti-viral therapy against the virus that causes COVID-19.
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a COVID-19 vaccine that would be administered to patients on a small patch the size of a postage stamp, with tiny, dissolvable needles.
Researchers at Washington University’s School of Medicine believe their recent testing on mice could help find answers to some of the key questions about SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.
