Singapore to get 1st vaccine shipment by early 2021
Singapore may get the first shipment of a COVID-19 vaccine, co-developed by Singapore researchers along with US pharmaceutical company Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc, early next year, according to a media report on Tuesday.
Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB) is pumping in some USD45 million into the manufacture of the vaccine, The Straits Times reported.
EDB will also have the right to purchase up to USD 175 million of the vaccine at pre-negotiated prices, with shipments expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021, said Arcturus Therapeutics, the American pharmaceutical company working with Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) scientists on the vaccine.
Brazil halts China vaccine trials
Brazil’s health regulator halted clinical trials of the potential coronavirus vaccine CoronaVac, citing an “adverse, serious event,” according to a statement it posted to its website Monday night.
The potential vaccine is being developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac and in Brazil would be mostly produced by Sao Paulo’s state-run Butantan Institute. Butantan said in a statement that it was surprised by Anvisa’s decision and that it would hold a news conference Tuesday.
FDA okays emergency use of Eli Lilly’s treatment
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an emergency use authorisation (EUA) for American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly’s experimental COVID-19 antibody treatment called ‘bamlanivimab’ for non-hospitalised patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms.
“The FDA’s emergency authorisation of bamlanivimab provides health care professionals on the frontline of this pandemic with another potential tool in treating COVID-19 patients,” said Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., acting director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in press statement.