Healthcare Roundup –J&J teams up with BARDA to accelerate coronavirus vaccine development; Powell urges resisting speculation on coronavirus economic effect

医疗保健精选——强生与BARDA合作加速冠状病毒疫苗的开发;鲍威尔呼吁抵制对冠状病毒经济影响的猜测
Published on: February 11, 2020
Author: Amy Liu

J&J teams up with BARDA to accelerate coronavirus vaccine development

  • Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) unit Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies expands its collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) aimed at accelerating the development of a vaccine against the coronavirus causing the current outbreak, COVID-19 (formerly 2019-nCoV).
  • Janssen and BARDA will both fund R&D costs and mobilize resources to more rapidly progress through the initial stages of development. BARDA will provide funding to support development into Phase 1 studies with options to provide additional funding to advance a promising candidate.
  • In parallel, Janssen will work to upscale production and manufacturing capacities, leveraging its AdVac and PER.C6 technologies.
  • Shares up 1% after hours.

Powell urges resisting speculation on coronavirus economic effect

  • Commenting on the potential economic effect of coronavirus on the U.S., Fed Chair Jerome Powell, said it’s too early to tell, as other government officials have.
  • “We know there will be some impact on China,” of course, he said. And there may be some effect on the U.S., but “will they be persistent and will they be material?” he asked.
  • “We must resist the temptation to speculate,” he said.
  • The central banker emphasizes the strength of the U.S. economy going as the backdrop against the virus outbreak in China.
  • He asserts, “we find the U.S. economy in a very good place, performing well, with strong job creation.”
  • Live webcast of testimony.

Moderna advancing CMV vaccine, adds coronavirus vaccine to pipeline

  • Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) announces that enrollment in its Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating its mRNA vaccine (mRNA-1647) against cytomegalovirus (CMV) is proceeding ahead of schedule with preliminary data now expected in Q3.
  • It has added three new pipeline programs: mRNA-1189 (Epstein-Barr vaccine), mRNA-1345 (RSV vaccine) and mRNA-1273 (coronavirus vaccine).
  • It also announces that the first patient has been enrolled in a Phase 1/2 study of mRNA-3704 in patients with a rare inborn error of metabolism called isolated methylmalonic acidemia due to MUT deficiency, an Orphan Drug-, Fast Track- and Rare Pediatric Disease-tagged indication in the U.S.
  • Shares down 6% premarket in reaction to its planned equity offering.

Co-Diagnostics down 21% premarket on equity offering

  • Taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak-stoked rally, Co-Diagnostics (NASDAQ:CODX) inks agreements with institutional investors for the purchase of ~3.3M common shares at $3.08 per share. Closing date is February 13.
  • Yesterday’s close was $3.96.
  • Shares down 21% premarket on robust volume.

 FDA accepts Novartis application for capmatinib for type of lung cancer

  • Under Priority Review status, the FDA accepts Novartis’ (NYSE:NVS) marketing application seeking approval to use capmatinib (INC280) for treatment-naive and previously treated patients with locally advanced or metastatic MET exon 14 skipping (METex14) mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a type of NSCLC with a poor prognosis.
  • Priority Review shortens the review clock to six months from the standard 10 months.
  • The company in-licensed the MET inhibitor from Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY) in 2009.

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