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10 Covid-19 Candidate Vaccines In Clinical Evaluation

The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus is a reminder of how global populations and economies are interconnected. The pandemic is integrating the global healthcare force by exposing the obvious realities that no single individual, company, or country can solve the pandemic crisis alone. Researchers are optimistically demonstrating best-in-class resources from the lab to manufacturing to advance the innovations at multiple vaccine candidates. Indeed, the global biopharma manufacturing industry is funding and expanding its capabilities for vaccine production on an ‘’at-risk basis’’ to facilitate the world’s immediate need and demand. Novel paradigms of Next-generation vaccine technology platforms are accelerating the development of “one life-saving vaccine” to nullify the repulsive humanitarian and economic impact. According to the WHO, as of May 30 there are 10 vaccines under clinical evaluation which have already progressed to human trials and 121 candidates are in preclinical evaluation.

A Digital Bounce Back Post Covid-19

MedTech industry is at the epicentre of the COVID-19 crisis. Supplying everything, from protective masks, gowns, gloves to diagnostics kits to ventilators, the industry is essentially a lifeline during these troubled times. Since this is a novel virus, the epidemiology of the disease wasn’t clearly understood. Therefore, clear diagnostic and care pathways could not be carved out. And yet, within a record time of just two to three months, medtech firms have come up with game-changing innovations to address the unmet clinical needs of the market.

“CST is committed to developing new rigorously validated antibodies and protein tools”

The United States-based Cell Signaling Technology (CST) is a global, private, family-owned company founded by scientists in 1999. CST supplies the highest quality antibodies and reagents to enable researchers to discover the mechanisms of disease. It didn’t believe in compromising science for profits. That’s why it produces and validate its products in-house. BioSpectrum Asia spoke to Roberto Polakiewcz, Chief Scientific Officer, Cell Signaling Technology (CST), Danvers, United States, who drives research, product, and technology innovation, facilitating the creation of CST’s most valuable products, technologies, and intellectual property on the company’s contributions in tacking COVID-19 and plans for expansion in Asian region?

“COVID-19 crisis has brought together the scientific community like never before”

The UK headquartered Cytiva is a $3.3 billion global life sciences leader with nearly 7000 associates operating in 40 countries dedicated to advancing and accelerating therapeutics. As a trusted partner to customers that range in scale and scope, Cytiva brings speed, efficiency and capacity to research and manufacturing workflows, enabling the development, manufacture and delivery of transformative medicines to patients. Cytiva announced the collaboration with Takara Bio to develop DNA vaccine to confront the virus in Japan, on May 21. BioSpectrum Asia spoke to Francis Van Parys, Vice-President Commercial, Asia-Pacific, Cytiva (Formerly GE Life Sciences), Seoul, South Korea, who is responsible for providing transformational technologies in biopharmaceutical research, manufacturing and diagnostics to Cytiva customers and partners in the life sciences industry in China, India, Japan, Korea, ASEAN and Australia & New Zealand, for his major plans in store and his plans to enhance growth within the APAC region for the company.

IF WISHES WERE VACCINES…

The long road till commercial availability compelling sustained funding at unprecedented levels. Combined with the $ 2 billion outlay expected from GAVI / CEPI and various government institutions and alliances across the globe, the total economic interest invested in this research would be at a never-before-seen or imagined level.

“Merck is currently supplying key products and services to over 45 COVID-19 vaccine programmes around the world”

Asia Pacific Life Science business of Merck develops improved and enhanced technologies from biopharmaceutical therapies to cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production. Responding to COVID-19 outbreak, Merck’s BioProcessing unit is engaged in consolidating and supplying raw materials along with characterization and detection of vaccine research products. Merck actively evaluates and leverages business continuity plans for COVID-19 vaccines and therapies development. Merck’s SARS-CoV-2 detection, characterization, vaccine and therapy production capabilities are leveraged at the Jenner Institute for the development of Oxford vaccine. Prioritizing on crucial timeline Merck’s advanced upstream and downstream portfolios target faster yield and productivity to support and expedite the need of an hour. BioSpectrum Asia spoke with Benoit Opsomer, Vice President & Head of BioProcessing, Asia Pacific, Life Science business at Mercato explore the company’s commitment towards researchers, developers and manufacturers to combat COVID-19 pandemic.

Face-lifting biopharma industry image

Emerging markets are gaining more importance than ever, led by China, considering the scales of volumes they offer. With time and cost of development significantly reduced, the pharma companies can launch the products at affordable prices.

AUSTRALIA'S ‘research engine' SLOWS DOWN

As the COVID-19 has spread around the globe, it has created profound disruption across communities, patients and clinicians. Pharma and medtech companieshave found themselves front and center—supplying (and rapidly scaling up) vitally important medical products to support patients in their time of need, while also attracting widespread attention as the industry sprints to develop new therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19. At the same time, the clinical and product development “research engine” has experienced profound disruption as colleagues adjust to remote work environments and lab capacity is reduced. Due to this crisis the focus has been now devoted to COVID-19 affecting research and development in other areas across the globe including R&D in Australia.

“We can make 13M doses per week without expanding our current capacity”

Luina Bio is a Brisbane, Australia based, drug development and contract manufacturing organization (CMO) serving the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and veterinary industries. Utilising its TGA/APVMA licensed facilities operating to international cGMP standards, it can provide comprehensive manufacturing solutions for both biological and small molecule drugs. BioSpectrum Asia spoke to Max Rossetto, General Manager - Business Development, Luina Bio, Australia on different issues including strategies that are in place/ being planned to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak and what needs to be done to make Australia COVID-19 free?

Taiwan's Success Story In Combating Covid-19

COVID-19 has unravelled the potency and the feebleness of most geographical region’s healthcare, technical, social and political structure. While countries are anticipating various dimensions to tackle coronavirus and combat the pandemic, Taiwan’s success in controlling COVID-19 has bolstered its global standing despite the close geographical proximity with China. The resilient island aggregated its forces to tackle the virus and circumstances rationally with well-established pandemic control strategies, bio medical assets, advanced IoT capabilities, impeccable healthcare system and a well organised political force. Taiwan apparently grappled the coronavirus incredibly well and is now keen to offer medical and technical assistance to other countries in this global crisis.

Is China's Healthcare Industry Going To Gain From Covid-19 Crisis?

COVID-19 has shaken the world and caused enormous challenges to economies and people’s lives. China being the epicenter of the epidemic has been hit particularly hard. The COVID-19 outbreak has brought more attention to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Experts believe that this outbreak will serve as a catalyst to the transformation of the sector in China. How would this public health crisis change China’s healthcare industry, which was projected to be worth $2.4 trillion by 2030? Let’s find out.

“We are increasing our inventory of select raw materials to minimize supply disruption”

US-headquartered West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., a global leader in innovative solutions for injectable drug administration, recently named Stewart Campbell as the Vice President & General Manager for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

“The biggest challenge that India is facing now is the skewed ratio between population & limited resources”

BIOSPECTRUM WEBINAR ON “EXPLORING VARIOUS ASPECTS OF COVID-19”

“Pursue ‘1-10-60 rule' to effectively combat sophisticated cyber-threats”

As hospitals and medical organisations around the world are working endlessly to preserve the wellbeing of individuals stricken with COVID-19, cybercrime hackers are silently targeting hospitals to exploiting stretched healthcare resources and to access critical care systems through cyber-attacks.

“Maintain clear SOPs and have an efficient workflow”

National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS) has been maintaining safety of cancer patients through a strategic model to neutralise the impact of COVID-19 on therapeutic clinical studies and R&D activities.

India to play a crucial role in the supply of repurposed drugs globally

India to play a crucial role in the supply of repurposed drugs globally

DataOps can provide a Data Cure for healthcare organizations

Data is of limited value to a healthcare provider if there is no understanding of its nature or potential application.

How Technology Can Help For Elder Care In India?

There is a dire need for tech-enabled solutions for eldercare in India. Primarily, there are two reasons for this – The rising senior citizen population and increasing urban nuclear families. A possibly revolutionary change which the private companies have brought in is the use of technology at each step in their programmes to support elder care in the country.

80+ Trials Underway To Treat Covid-19

In just over 90 days of identification of a pneumonia of unknown cause, the novel coronavirus pandemic, which is raging around the world and posing a challenge for all countries and regions. As on April 2,2020 the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has risen above 1 million, according to the new tally from Johns Hopkins University. Since the emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), biopharmaceutical companies across the world have stepped up their research efforts to develop vaccines and treatments in order to contain the virus. As of March 26, 2020, there are a number of therapeutics currently in clinical trials and more than 52 candidate vaccines are in preclinical evaluation for COVID-19 and 2 candidate vaccines are in clinical evaluation. Over 80 clinical trials are underway to test new and existing medicines across the globe.

Can Covid-19 Pandemic Fast Track Digital Transformation?

COVID-19 will have a far-reaching effect on business communities globally. This crisis is seen as an inflection point in the drive toward digitization across businesses globally. The connected, digital economy is helping enterprises, employees, and consumers remain engaged and do business, even as the virus continues to spread. This crisis has made it clear in the business world, more so than ever, that investing in emerging digital technologies can potentially do a world of good. The growing dependency on business conferencing tools, e-commerce, digital learning, VR-based training, and business apps supporting remote workers cannot be dismissed as a blip and is likely to remain the new norm among businesses worldwide. BioSpectrum illuminates few technologies joining the world’s battle to combat coronavirus.

How Technology Can Help Alleviate Covid-19 Crisis?

The current COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity for technology to help healthcare providers manage patients amidst an outbreak and ensure their health system is not overloaded. With technology, healthcare providers can facilitate the care of individual patients in a community and derive population-level measures, fundamental to understanding the state of healthcare needs and its corresponding resources.

“Indian pharma industry likely to reach $100B and medical devices sector reach $50B by 2025”

India Pharma and India Medical Device 2020

Marketing with an enticement, not a mallet : content marketing strategies for startups in biotech

Competing against the industry Goliaths that dominate the health and biotech industries can seem like an impossible task for a company in its infancy. Fortunately, small businesses and startups can build a competitive edge by combining innovation with an organized content marketing campaign. Small business owners simply need to be aware of the key challenges they face and combat those challenges through a strategic content marketing campaign aimed at health and biotech customers.

“Our diamond burs are the world's first-of-a-kind”

Mumbai based Piscium Health Sciences has emerged as India’s first domestic startup involved in the smart dental equipment space. Currently incubated at the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), an umbrella organisation at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, and recognized by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Piscium has developed its first indigenously developed product in the form of nano engineered dental burs, after securing a grant of Rs 50 lakh from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). Ahead of the market launch of the dental burs in April-May 2020, BioSpectrum interacted with Malay Dikshit, Founder & CEO, Piscium Health Sciences to delve more into this unique development. Edited Excerpts;

Where AR & VR Are Headed In Life Sciences Industry?

The rise of MedTech is transforming the healthcare industry, as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have pushed the right buttons with players by offering high-tech solutions to fix prevailing challenges in medical training, diagnostics, and treatments. The development of state-of-the-art technologies such as digital reality has disrupted the industrial scenario, and tools such as AR and VR have gained immense popularity in one stroke. Yet, the industrial adoption of digital reality remained significantly low since its inception, and the application range was fairly narrow due to low penetration and high cost of AR and VR tools.

How Pharma Firms Are Gearing Up To Tackle Coronavirus?

The first confirmed death from COVID-19 occurred on January 9, 2020 and marked the beginning of the race to find treatment that will treat and prevent the ill effects of this Coronavirus. Let’s look at how pharma firms are gearing up to tackle this global endemic.

Public Goods for Health is a concept which is very much a focus of WHO

From Director General (DG), Indian Council of Medical research (ICMR) and Secretary, Department of Health Research, Dr Soumya Swaminathan went to Geneva in October 2017 to take over as the Deputy Director General (DDG) of Programmes at the World Health Organisation (WHO), to be the first Indian to hold this position. Exactly a year back, in March 2019, she took over as the WHO’s first Chief Scientist, a new position heading a division created as a part of sweeping reforms at WHO to have an explicit focus on science. A year after taking over the new and important position at an international level that is expected to create a foundation for a new department, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan spoke to Milind Kokje, chief editor, BioSpectrum while she was in Chennai, India recently about her new role, its responsibilities and other health related issues. Edited excerpts;

We secure approvals – US FDA and CE marking before the end of 2020

Incorporated in early 2018, Pune, India based health tech startup In-Med Prognostics has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) based brain health diagnostic and prognostic tool called NeuroShield, which is one-of-its-kind in India. It is a cloud-based clinical decision support tool for neurological disorders. The tool utilizes three dimensional (3D) based magnetic resonance images to their full potential by extracting data and providing volumetric analysis for the brain and its various structures. The analysis of NeuroShield enables actionable, quantitative, objective decision making to the neuro-physicians for differential diagnosis. To gather more information on this innovative product, BioSpectrum spoke to Dr Latha Poonamallee, Cofounder & Chairperson, In-Med Prognostics, Pune in India. Edited Excerpts;

CELEBRATING WOMANHOOD ON EQUAL NOTE

As nations around the world celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, with the theme #EachforEqual, the number of companies that have had women in a leadership role continues to expand. But the list is still relatively short, and even when women have made it to power, they have rarely led for a long time. Globally women at leadership position are very less and only 4.9 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have women at leadership position.

Exciting time for digital health players

Digital Health has gained much importance, development and investment in the last decade. The year 2019, continued the strong upward trend in health innovation funding. With $13.7 billion in total funding across 727 deals, and was the second most-funded year ever, according to Startup Health. Boasting three out of 2019’s top 10 most-funded cities, China cemented its place as a hub for health innovation, and is positioned for continued growth. The last decade saw the emergence of telemedicine, Big Data, disruption in consumer wellness and healthcare, etc. As the digital health industry matures, there will be new challenges pertaining to data privacy, regulations, digital medicines, etc. Let’s look at the possibilities for digital health in the coming decade.