Author: Biotech Express

The Federal Government of Nigeria has granted environmental approval for evaluation and open cultivation of TELA Maize, a new maize variety genetically modified to tolerate moderate drought and resist the fall armyworm and stem borer. This development now places Nigeria one step closer to commercializing the biotech maize and becoming the second African county after South Africa to do so. The approval was contained in a Certificate issued to the country’s Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) whose researchers developed the variety. It was issued by the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), the federal government agency mandated to regulate genetically modified…

“After detailed deliberation, the committee recommended for grant of market authorization of the vaccine for the age group of 2 to 18 years for restricted use in emergency situation,” the subject expert panel said in a statement. The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on Covid-19 has granted emergency use approval to Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children in the 2-18 years age group. Bharat Biotech had completed Phase-2 and Phase-3 trials of Covaxin on children below 18 years of age in September and submitted the trial data to the Drugs and Comptroller General of India (DCGI) at the start of this month.…

The greater number of deaths amongst those with mental health conditions and intellectual disabilities has been amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, a study based on more than 160,000 patients has revealed. The study was published in the run up to World Mental Health Day on 10 October 2021 which this year has the theme ‘Mental Health in an Unequal World’. Deaths from COVID-19 among those with learning disabilities were nine times higher than the general population during the first lockdown period, according to the study, and for those with eating disorders almost five times higher. For those with personality disorders…

India’s Bharat Biotech will be producing part of the world’s only malaria vaccine that has been developed by Pharma major GSK, and was recently approved by WHO (World Health Organisation). However, it may take a couple of years before the vaccine is launched in the market for use. In January, this year, Hyderabad-based vaccine major announced that it entered a product transfer partnership with the pharma major GSK for its malaria vaccine, RTS, S/AS01E1. GSK will retain the production of the adjuvant of the vaccine (AS01E) and will supply it to Bharat Biotech. As part of this partnership, GSK would…

Italy’s National Health Institute reported that efficacy remained stable seven months after the second mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. They evaluated data up to August 29 from more than 29 million people who had received two doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. They found that effectiveness against infection after seven months was still 89% in the general population and at six months 96% against hospitalization, and 99% against death. This is markedly different from a study run by Pfizer and published on October 4 in the journal The Lancet. In that study, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine infection prevention levels dropped from…

India will reopen to tourism from October 15, the government said, after more than a year of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. Foreign nationals will be able to apply for a visa for the first time since March 2020, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government imposed a strict lockdown in response to the pandemic. “After considering various inputs, the MHA (home ministry) has decided to begin granting fresh Tourist Visas for foreigners coming to India through chartered flights with effect from October 15, 2021,” the home ministry said in a statement on Thursday. It added that foreigners traveling to…

Pfizer scientists agreed that naturally acquired immunity from COVID-19 is better than getting vaccinations in a recently shown undercover video released by Project Veritas. Project Veritas is a non-profit journalism group founded by James O’Keefe in 2010 with the goal of “investigating and exposing corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud and other misconduct in both public and private institutions.” In a 10-minute video released, three Pfizer officials, identified as Nick Karl, Chris Croce and Rahul Khandke, shared that being naturally immune (after one acquires the virus) is better “at that point” than a vaccine. They also said that their company demands…

The findings, published in Current Biology Oct. 4, identify a gene that plays a central role in the evolution of limb development in vertebrates. By manipulating this gene in mice, researchers were able to activate an ancestral form of limb development seen in early tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates). In the limbs of all tetrapods, the bones on the hands and feet on the outside edge form first, known as postaxial development. The study focuses on salamanders, which are the only exception to this rule: their limb bones develop preaxially, or from the inside edge; the thumb before pinky. In both mice…

Huntington’s disease is a fatal condition involving the death of brain cells, typically striking in midlife. But new findings suggest the disease process starts decades earlier. Although symptoms emerge in adulthood, researchers have been able to detect the earliest effects of Huntington’s in the first two weeks of human embryonic development. In the new study, researchers examined the effects of Huntington’s mutation at an earlier stage, called gastrulation, during which the two-week-old embryo starts to form the three embryonic germ layers, from which the progenitors of all cell types, including brain cells emerge. For the study, the researchers created synthetic…

Congratulating the people of the country on this innovative step, Mansukh Mandaviya said, “This is for the first time that a “Make in India’ drone has been used in South Asia to transport COVID vaccine over an aerial distance of 15 kms in 12-15 mins from the Bishnupur district hospital to Loktak lake, Karang island in Manipur for administration at the PHC. The actual road distance between these locations is 26 kms. Today, 10 beneficiaries will receive the first dose and 8 will receive the second dose at the PHC.” He further added, “India is a home to geographical diversities…