Author: Biotech Express

Dr. Krishna Ella, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Bharat Biotech, has been awarded the prestigious Dean’s medal by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The award was presented to Dr. Ella by Dean Ellen J. MacKenzie during Bloomberg School’s Convocation Ceremony on May 22nd, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland, for his exceptional leadership, enduring vision and contribution to improving public health. John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health acknowledges Dr Ella’s pioneering work, remarkable influence, and determination to develop an indigenous, innovative, and safe vaccine focused on global public health. This is the School’s highest honour, reserved for outstanding…

According to the latest study, the global antibiotics market size is calculated at USD 53.90 billion for 2024 and is expected to reach around USD 85.80 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 5.3% from 2024 to 2033, Asia Pacific accounted for the highest market share of over 46.00% in 2023. The antibiotics market is experiencing rapid growth driven by the increasing demand for medicines that combat bacterial infections in both human and veterinary healthcare settings. These medications function by either eradicating bacteria or inhibiting their proliferation, targeting specific bacterial infections such as strep throat, urinary tract infections, and…

Biocon announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) has approved the Company’s first-to-file application for Yesafili™ (aflibercept-jbvf), an interchangeable* biosimilar aflibercept. YESAFILI, a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor used to treat several different types of ophthalmology conditions, is a biosimilar of its reference product EYLEA® (aflibercept). The approval of YESAFILI marks Biocon Biologics’ expansion into the ophthalmology therapeutic area in the United States following a steady track record of approval in Europe (September 2023) and the United Kingdom (November 2023) where it was the first biosimilar aflibercept to be approved. The Company has secured a launch…

An HIV vaccine candidate developed at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute triggered low levels of an elusive type of broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies among a small group of people enrolled in a 2019 clinical trial. The finding, reported May 17 in the journal Cell, not only provides proof that a vaccine can elicit these antibodies to fight diverse strains of HIV, but that it can also initiate the process within weeks, setting in motion an essential immune response. The vaccine candidate targets an area on the HIV-1 outer envelope called the membrane proximal external region (MPER), which remains stable even…

The first person to publicly release the genome sequence of the virus that causes COVID-19 — virologist Zhang Yongzhen — seems to have resolved a public dispute with the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center (SPHCC), Fudan University, China, which erupted last week. According to social-media posts on Zhang’s personal Weibo account, which have since been removed, the institute gave the research team two days to leave, but the SPHCC did not initially specify to where they should relocate. Later, Zhang said that officials told his team to move to a lab that did not have the necessary biosafety conditions to…

MAY 03, 2024 Days after AstraZeneca acknowledged that its COVID vaccine can lead to a rare blood clot side effect, the parents of a young woman who allegedly died after being given Covishield are planning to sue the British pharma giant and world’s largest vaccine maker. The development comes after AstraZeneca admitted in the UK court that their vaccine can cause rare side effects that can lead to blood clots and low platelet count. Notably, while AstraZeneca developed the COVID-19 vaccine, it was manufactured in India by the Serum Institute of India (SII) under the name ‘Covishield’. The vaccine was…

Biological E. Limited (BE), a Hyderabad-based Vaccine and Pharmaceutical Company, announced the publication of Phase-III clinical trials results of BE’s 14-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) (PNEUBEVAX 14TM; BE-PCV-14) conducted in paediatric population (6-8-week age group). The study results have been accepted and published by Vaccine, a reputed peer-reviewed international journal. In this study, the immunogenicity and safety of the BE’s 14-Valent PCV containing two additional epidemiologically important serotypes (22F and 33F) were evaluated in infants, in comparison to the licensed comparator vaccine PCV-13. This was a pivotal Phase-III single blind randomized active-controlled study conducted at 12 sites across India in…

By Kamal Pratap Singh, Managing Editor, Biotech Express E-mail- kamal9871@gmail.com Finally, AstraZeneca has accepted in UK court that it’s vaccine could have caused blood clots in rare cases. The word rare here has been cautiously used to show that the numbers of events are negligible. In court documents from February, AstraZeneca denied that “TTS is caused by the vaccine at a generic level”. However, it admitted to the possibility of TTS as a result of its vaccination in “very rare cases”. Biotech Express probably is the only magazine around the world which has covered all news of adverse events and…

The first study of the use of microarray patches to vaccinate children has shown that the method is safe and induces strong immune responses. The phase 1/2 randomized trial compared results from the measles and rubella vaccine delivered by a microarray patch, a small sticking plaster-like device with an array of microscopic projections that painlessly penetrate the skin and deliver the vaccine, or by conventional injection with a needle and syringe. The trial, which involved 45 adults (18-40 years old), 120 toddlers (15-18 months old) and 120 infants (9-10 months old) in The Gambia, found giving the measles and rubella…

Kavitha Malarvizhi, Deepak Agarwal* Institute of Fisheries Postgraduate Studies, TNJFU, OMR-CAMPUS, Chennai-603103 *Corresponding author: deepakbfsc@gmail.com Abstract: We currently reside amid a profound technological revolution that is reshaping the global landscape. Evident transformations encompass a wide spectrum of facets within our daily lives, encompassing fields such as transportation, healthcare, and communication. As per the timeless adage, what was once considered science fiction in the past has now become a reality in the realm of science. Today, we are witnessing an expansive augmentation of our capacities across diverse scientific domains, which include chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering. This expansion encompasses endeavours such…