The FDA hasn’t detected any potential safety signals, including for stroke, in people aged 65 years and older who have received Pfizer’s bivalent Covid booster, one senior official told members of the agency’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) on Thursday.

The update comes as the FDA and CDC investigate a “preliminary signal” that may indicate an increased risk of ischemic stroke in older Americans who received Pfizer’s updated shot.

The FDA has stopped use of another drug as a result of the new coronavirus variants. On Thursday, the agency announced that AstraZeneca’s antibody combo Evusheld, which was an important prevention option for many immunocompromised people and others, is no longer authorized.

The FDA said it made its decision based on the fact that Evusheld works on fewer than 10% of circulating variants.

Evusheld was initially given emergency authorization at the end of 2021. However, as Omicron emerged, so did studies that showed Evusheld might not work against the dominant Omicron strain. In October, the FDA warned healthcare providers that Evusheld was useless against the Omicron subvariant BA.4.6. It followed that up with another announcement earlier this month that it did not think Evusheld would work against the latest Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5.

The FDA has handed Torrent Pharmaceuticals an official action indicated (OAI) status for a previously inspected manufacturing facility in India.

Torrent Pharma sent a letter to the National Stock Exchange of India earlier this week with word that the manufacturer has received a “communication from the FDA determining the inspection classification as ‘Official Action Indicated’ (OAI)” for one of its sites. An OAI classification from the FDA comes after the agency has completed an inspection and determines if the facility complies with the applicable laws and regulations. Being given an OAI classification means that regulatory or administrative actions will be recommended to Torrent. However, the details on the recommended actions have not been given.

The Washington-based CDMO AGC Biologics has been tapped to manufacture the type 1 diabetes treatment Tzield from Provention Bio.

AGC Biologics will produce Tzield at its Seattle protein biologics site. It was chosen after AGC helped to guide the product through process performance qualification (PPQ) manufacturing and validation batches, and, ultimately, FDA approval. Tzield is the only immunomodulatory treatment approved to delay the onset of Stage 3, type 1 diabetes in children and adults aged eight and older.

XyloCor Therapeutics says patients with heart disease who got its gene therapy could exercise for longer and had fewer chest pain attacks. The biotech announced it completed a Phase I/II trial of the gene therapy Thursday morning, and plans to move forward with a pivotal trial.

In the Phase II portion of the trial, 28 patients with angina (or chest pain) caused by coronary artery disease and who had no other treatment options were enrolled and were given the highest tested dose from the first part of the trial. Patients were followed for six months.

Contract manufacturer Abzena has permanently laid off 66 employees at one of its San Diego sites, marking the latest in a string of layoffs spanning the biotech industry.

The layoffs took effect on Jan. 11 at the company’s 8810 Rehco Road site, according to a WARN notice filed with the Employment Development Department of California.

Abzena does have another location in the San Diego area, where the manufacturer invested $60 million and added 50,000 square feet in 2020. Endpoints News reached out to Abzena but has not received a response as of press time.