Author: Biotech Express

The World Health Organization on Wednesday granted Covaxin an emergency use listing, or EUL, which means the ‘made-in-India’ vaccine will finally be recognised by other countries and Indians who received the shot need not self-quarantine or face restrictions when travelling abroad. Covaxin is the only vaccine which has shown best results against COVID-19 particularly delta variant in pioneer studies but it had to wait for a long time because of political turmoil that move around western countries. US, European and even Chinese vaccines were given approval as soon they submitted data but Bharat Biotech was enquired several times on small points even…

Revelations of poor practices at a contract research company helping to carry out Pfizer’s pivotal covid-19 vaccine trial raise questions about data integrity and regulatory oversight. Paul D Thacker reports in BMJ. For researchers who were testing Pfizer’s vaccine at several sites in Texas during that autumn, speed may have come at the cost of data integrity and patient safety. A regional director who was employed at the research organisation Ventavia Research Group has told The BMJ that the company falsified data, unblinded patients, employed inadequately trained vaccinators, and was slow to follow up on adverse events reported in Pfizer’s pivotal…

The Government of Meghalaya and the World Bank recently signed a $40 million health project for the state of Meghalaya. The project will improve the quality of health services and strengthen the state’s capacity to handle future health emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project will enhance the management and governance capabilities of the state and its health facilities; expand the design and coverage of the state’s health insurance program; improve the quality of health services through certification and better human resource systems, and enable efficient access to medicines and diagnostics. All 11 districts of the…

Brazilian senators have voted to recommend charging President Jair Bolsonaro over his handling of the devastating Covid pandemic. A Senate panel backed a report calling for charges against Mr Bolsonaro including crimes against humanity, after 600,000 deaths from coronavirus. The report has been handed to the chief prosecutor, a Bolsonaro appointee. The president has maintained he is “guilty of absolutely nothing” but the crisis has dented his popularity. Brazil’s death toll is second only to that of the United States. There is no guarantee this vote will lead to actual criminal charges, as the report’s recommendations must now be assessed…

Homegrown Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin has been under scrutiny since day 1 with many raising questions on transparency in data of clinical trials. Dr Krishna Ella, founder of Bharat Biotech that makes Covaxin believes the criticism is unfair. “Some people think Indian companies are soft targets and aything done in other parts of the world is gold standard”, he says. When asked by ET Now whether he thought the WHO was putting Covaxin under more scrutiny than others, Dr Ella said, “Perhaps, Yes. Earlier they had a one stage committee for clinical trials, we had two stage committee. If they ask more questions,…

Following successful completion of first and second edition of NBRCOM (AIIMS, Rishikesh, and PGIMER, Chandigarh), the Society of Young Biomedical Scientists (SYBS), India, is going to organize 3rd National Biomedical Research Competition-2021 (NBRCCOM 2021) on virtual platform (online) from 6 to 10 December 2021. This National level scientific program will be held in collaboration with AIIMS-Rishikesh, JNU-Delhi, PGIMER-Chandigarh, NIPER-Mohali, CDRI-Lucknow, IITR-Lucknow, and AIIMS-Jodhpur. The research competition will be held in both oral and poster presentation formats in each of four categories (Life Sciences; Health Sciences; Pharmaceutical Sciences; Innovation, Artificial Intelligence and Medical Robotics), and guest lectures from eminent speakers in…

The National Institutes of Health has stunningly admitted to funding gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses at China’s Wuhan lab — despite Dr. Anthony Fauci repeatedly insisting to Congress that no such thing happened. The letter revealed that Dr. Anthony Fauci was wrong — and Senator Rand Paul was right. Last month, NIH Director Francis Collins a close aid of Fauci resigned from the post amid growing controversies about funding of research and COVID pandemic. In a letter to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) on Wednesday, a top NIH official blamed EcoHealth Alliance — the New York City-based nonprofit that has funneled US funds to…

No one has asked for NIH Director Francis Collins resignation but his name come up in COVID controversies because of Dr Anthony Fauci which led him to exit this politicization of science issue. Senator Rand Paul and Rep. Jim Jordan are consistently criticizing Fauci over the funding and the other issues particularly mask mandates, vaccine mandates, lockdown measures among many which Fauci suggested and created panic, according to the duo. In a recent cascade, as controversy heats up over the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s involvement in funding dangerous gain of function research in Wuhan, China before the onset…

“If you think you know it, then you do not know it, and if you know that you cannot know it, then you know it”. Ramachandran elaborated on this interesting paradox from the ancient Hindu philosophy used to describe the Divine force of the Universe in Kena Upanishads in one of his Mathematical Philosophy (MATPHIL) reports. by Seema Pavgi Upadhye | October 17, 2021 Gopalasamudram Narayana Ramachandran (or simply GNR to those who knew him well) is one of those few scientists who have made India proud by their research. He had many lucrative assignments for doing research in the…

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), headquartered in Hyderabad, India has won the 2021 Africa Food Prize for the Tropical Legumes projects work that has improved food security across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.ICRISAT is a non-profit, non-political public international research organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. ICRISAT has been working towards improving the lives of smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa since five decade through several flagship projects, including Tropical Legumes, which led to this award, together with its earlier significant…