Drug Discovery and Development Archives - Page 158 of 158

Merck, IAVI work to develop COVID-19 vaccine

Merck (NYSE:MRK) and IAVI announced today that they are collaborating to develop an investigational vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 for preventing COVID-19.

The vaccine candidate is slated to use the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) technology used as the basis for Merck’s Ervebo Ebola Zaire virus vaccine, which was the first such vaccine to be approved for use in humans, according to a news release. Merck also signed an agreement with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, to provide funding for the collaboration.

“COVID-19 is an enormous scientific, medical, and global health challenge,” Merck Research Laboratories president Dr. Roger Perlmutter said in the release. “Merck is collaborating with organizations around the globe to develop anti-infectives and vaccines that aim to alleviate suffering caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection.

“Merck and IAVI are…

Moderna prices $1.3 public offering following positive COVID-19 vaccine results

Shortly after touting positive results from its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Moderna announced the pricing of an offering of 17.6 million shares of its common stock.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based clinical-stage biotechnology company announced yesterday that it received positive interim clinical data from trials for its mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate against coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).

Get the full story at our sister site, MassDevice.

Selux Diagnostics receives BARDA funding to speed development of rapid AST platform

[Image courtesy of Selux Diagnostics]

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has awarded Selux Diagnostics $9.6 million to fund its development of a next-generation phenotyping (NGP) platform to treat superbug infections and combat antibiotic resistance.

The $9.6 million is the third funding tranche the company has received from BARDA as part of the company’s milestone-based contract. BARDA has provided Selux $30.4 million in funding to date.

“BARDA has offered strong support in the development of the Selux NGP platform and has led the way in the successful government-private sector collaboration to solve one of the world’s toughest health challenges — antibiotic resistance,” said Selux CEO Steve Lufkin. “This leadership is especially vital now, as new data indicate the antibiotic resistance crisis is even more threatening than previously understood. BARDA is leveraged…