Tag: covidvaccine

The German company CureVac dropped more than 50% in the extended session Wednesday after the company said its COVID-19 vaccine candidate is 47% effective in preventing the disease. The trial, which included 40,000 volunteers in Latin America and Europe, estimated that CureVac’s mRNA vaccine had an efficacy of just 47 percent, among the lowest reported so far from any Covid-19 vaccine maker. The trial will continue as researchers monitor volunteers for new cases of Covid-19, with a final analysis expected in two to three weeks. The CureVac vaccine is of key importance to Europe, which has preordered 225 million doses, with the option to buy 180 million more. “While we were hoping for a stronger interim outcome, we recognize that demonstrating high efficacy in this unprecedented broad diversity of variants is challenging,” Chief Executive Franz-Werner Haas said in a statement. Read more

Johnson & Johnson is in talks with India's government to begin a clinical trial of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in the country, the company said on Friday. India is looking to ramp up its vaccine doses amidst high demand due to the second surge of coronavirus in the country, with several states saying they are running out of supplies. Top government sources told The Indian Express that J&J will soon conduct the trials, which could pave the way for its vaccine to be marketed in India. “Johnson & Johnson has sent a letter to the CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) that they will very shortly apply for permission to conduct clinical bridging trials in India,” the sources said. A bridging study tests the safety and immunogenicity of a vaccine, and India has indicated that any vaccine maker must conduct such a trial for a shot to be considered for its immunisation programme.

Shares of Panacea Biotec were locked in the upper circuit of 20 per cent at Rs 220.85 on the BSE in Tuesday's session after the company and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) agreed to produce 100 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine in India per year.Production of Sputnik V at Panacea Biotec sites will help facilitate the global supply of Sputnik V to international partners of RDIF, a joint statement said.Panacea Biotec will produce Sputnik V in its internationally accredited facilities complying to strict GMP standards and prequalified by the World Health Organization (WHO), he added. Efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6 per cent as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most respected medical journals," the release said.

Shares of Pfizer gained 20 per cent on Tuesday and touched a record high of Rs.5900 a piece after its parent company Pfizer Inc said that its Covid-19 vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective, based on initial trial results. Pfizer and German partner BioNTech said they had found no serious safety concerns yet and expected to seek US emergency use authorization this month, raising the chance of a regulatory decision as soon as December, an announcement that triggered hopes worldwide. The trial will continue through a final analysis at 164 confirmed cases. The trial has enrolled 43,538 participants to date, and of these, 38,955 had received a second dose as of November 8. If permission granted, the two companies estimate they can roll out up to 50 million doses this year, enough to protect 25 million people, and then produce up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. This announcement has cheered the world market on hopes of Covid vaccine. Read more