AstraZeneca is taking another stab at developing antibodies for Covid-19.

Having partnered with Vanderbilt University researchers to develop the long-acting antibody combo now known as Evusheld, AstraZeneca this time is betting on newly-launched RQ Biotechnology, a UK-based outfit with roots at the University of Oxford and medical research charity LifeArc.

The pharma giant swooped in with a $157 million deal — plus royalties — to acquire worldwide licenses to a suite of early-stage antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2.

Fluvoxamine, an SSRI already FDA-approved as an OCD treatment, appeared to show some hints of efficacy in Covid-19 too, leading University of Minnesota ID doc David Boulware last December to submit an EUA for it as an outpatient treatment for those testing positive and to prevent the progression to hospitalization.

Almost 6 months later, the FDA said Monday it’s rejecting the cheap generic drug’s Covid-19 EUA as the primary RCT from Brazil, on which the majority of the app rests: “The treatment benefit of fluvoxamine was not persuasive when focusing on clinically meaningful outcomes such as proportion of patients experiencing hospitalizations or hospitalizations and deaths.”

After halting enrollment in an NIH-led Phase II/III study, and failing an earlier Phase III trial, UK-based Synairgen’s Covid-19 drug did show some promise in some select subgroups, the company said in its presentation of a post-hoc analysis on Monday at a conference in San Francisco.

Post-hoc analyses of the Phase III SPRINTER trial, which failed to hit its primary endpoints, showed an “encouraging signal in reduction in the relative risk (RRR) of progression to severe disease or death within 35 days (25.7% reduction in the Intention-to-Treat population and 36.3% reduction in the Per Protocol population).”

A WHO program will see some support from the Biden administration in the fight against Covid-19.

At the second Global Covid-19 Summit, the administration, through the NIH, has decided to officially license 11 Covid-19 research tools and early-stage vaccine and diagnostic candidates. This will be done through the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), a UN-backed program, through WHO’s Technology Access Pool (C-TAP).

As the nation largely abandons mask mandates, physical distancing, and other covid-19 prevention strategies, elected officials and health departments alike are now championing antiviral pills. But the federal government isn’t saying how many people have received these potentially lifesaving drugs or whether they’re being distributed equitably.

Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill, along with Merck’s molnupiravir, are aimed at preventing vulnerable patients with mild or moderate covid from becoming sicker or dying. More than 300 Americans still die from covid every day.

As vaccine talk wanes, re-purposed treatments take center stage for Covid-19.

Veru, which started out as a cancer outfit, plans to request an EUA for its drug sabizabulin as a Covid-19 treatment for patients at high risk for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), it announced today.

Last month, Veru said its Phase III study for its Covid-19 treatment was shut down by an independent data monitoring committee due to the drug’s “overwhelming efficacy.” According to the company, sabizabulin reduced deaths by 55% compared to the standard of care group, which received remdesivir, dexamethasone, antibodies, and JAK inhibitors.

The exact number of doses lost in the Emergent BioSolutions mishap at its Baltimore plant has never been exactly determined. But a recent report from the US House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis says that the company might have destroyed nearly 400 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines after failures to meet quality standards.

The report came to the determination via requests for internal communications between Emergent executives, which the subcommittee alleges included efforts to hide evidence of contamination in “an attempt to evade oversight from government regulators.”

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, a pharma drug pricing watchdog, recently dug into the data on three Covid-19 therapeutics, voting 11-2 that there is not enough evidence to demonstrate a “net health benefit” for Merck’s pill molnupiravir over symptomatic care of Covid-19 alone. But Pfizer’s Paxlovid and the repurposed generic drug fluvoxamine received more favorable votes.