clinical trials Archives - Page 11 of 11

Tevogen Bio’s investigational t-cell therapy for COVID-19 wins funding

In July 2020, the clinical-stage biotech Tevogen Bio (Metuchen, N.J.) announced its plans to use its proprietary T-cell therapy to treat COVID-19.

Now, the company has announced that it has received funding from HMP Partners, a team of physician-investors, to advance what it terms an “investigational curative” therapy.

Tevogen will use the funding to support clinical trials for the therapy.

The company filed an investigational new drug application with the FDA in October 2020.

The company’s TVGN-489 therapy consists of allogenic lab-grown virus-specific T cells that it hopes will recognize and destroy COVID-19-infected calls.

HMP Partners believes the therapy could be effective against COVID-19 variants. “We believe it’s imperative to create a curative treatment that is not expected to be compromised by mutations,” said HMP CEO Dr. Manmohan Patel in a statement. “Unmodified virus-specific T-cells are well established as being effective and …

Authorities investigating death of California recipient of COVID-19 vaccine

[Photo by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash]

Last week, Norwegian officials raised eyebrows when they announced that they were investigating the deaths of 23 elderly patients who had recently received COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Now, California authorities are investigating the death of a Placer County-based patient who received a COVID-19 vaccine dose on Jan. 21. The patient died hours afterward.

Placer County officials stressed they had not linked the death to the vaccine.

They are planning on conducting an autopsy.

Officials in Florida are also investigating the death of a 56-year-old physician who died 16 days after receiving the BNT162b2 vaccine from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX).

Pfizer had stressed that it doesn’t “believe at this time that there is any direct connection to the vaccine” in the Florida physician’s death.

Separately, the World Health Organi…

Norway investigating deaths of 23 individuals who received COVID-19 vaccine

Image from Mark König on Unsplash

In Norway, authorities are investigating the deaths of nearly two dozen people who received the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX).

To date, it has analyzed data from 13 of those individuals.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency concluded that common adverse reactions to mRNA vaccines, including fever and nausea, could have contributed to deaths in elderly and frail patients.

The agency said in a statement that it had expected deaths close to the time of vaccination, given its plan to vaccinate elderly patients, many of whom have “serious underlying diseases.” Some 400 people in Norway die each week in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

While it is clear that elderly individuals have a higher risk of mortality from all causes, it will take time to determine what role a vaccine might play, said Updesh Dosanjh, practice le…

EU OKs Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

Moderna Logo (PRNewsFoto/Moderna Therapeutics)

The European Union has authorized the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) ahead of schedule, responding to criticism that it had been too slow in its mass vaccination plans. The E.U. drug regulator had planned on meeting later in the month to discuss the vaccine.

“This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency,” said Emer Cooke, Executive Director of European Medicines Agency (EMA), in a statement. “It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we have this second positive vaccine recommendation just short of a year since the pandemic was declared by WHO.”

EMA has also authorized the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX) on Dec. 21. It has not, however, given the greenlight to the vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, which is now available in the U.…