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Coronavirus Update: More Drugs Enter Trials, UK To Host Latest Vaccine Summit

 
• By Ian Schofield

In addition to our daily in-depth coverage of key events relating to the coronavirus, we’re bringing you a periodic round-up of other pandemic developments. This edition covers events at the national, European and global level. 

Covid19_Lab
More potential coronavirus treatments and vaccines are being tested. • Source: Shutterstock

This latest Pink Sheet coronavirus update looks at new UK trials of existing drugs for use in coronavirus patients, an update on vaccine development from the international drug industry federation IFPMA, and arguments over how best to make new COVID-19 products available to all.

Efforts are continuing to repurpose existing drugs for potential use in COVID-19 patients, with numerous new trials continually starting up. One of these is the 500-patient UK SPIKE trial, which was launched on 29 May to test the COVID-19 potential of Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s camostat, a serine protease inhibitor that is approved in Japan and South Korea for pancreatic disease. Funded by LifeArc, the SPIKE trial is being conducted by Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug Development (CDD), UK biotech firm Latus Therapeutics, and the University of Edinburgh

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More from Europe

EU Wants Industry To Define ‘Trade Secrets’ Under Health Data Sharing Regulation

 
• By Eliza Slawther

The European Health Data Space Regulation is deliberately “vague” when it comes to defining trade secrets because the EU wants the pharma industry to make recommendations on safeguarding intellectual property, a policy officer for the European Commission says.

Safety Review Prompts EMA to Suspend Ixchiq Chikungunya Vaccine For Seniors

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

The European Medicines Agency is investigating whether Valneva’s Ixchiq is safe to use in the elderly, following reports of 17 serious adverse events, including two cases resulting in death, in people aged 62 to 89 years who received the vaccine. This follows actions by US and French authorities last month regarding Ixchiq’s use in people over 65.

England: HTA Sandbox Helping To Assess ‘Challenging’ Drugs And Indications

 
• By Eliza Slawther

England’s health technology assessment institute explains how its sandbox environment is helping to test new evaluation methods for drugs or indications with which it does not have experience, such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.

EU Pharma Reform: Exclusivity Vouchers Alone Are Insufficient Incentive For Antimicrobials, Industry Says

 
• By Eliza Slawther

European pharma trade associations EFPIA and EUCOPE outline their respective views on how the EU’s pharma legislation overhaul should tackle antimicrobial resistance, and why transferable exclusivity vouchers alone will not suffice as incentives.

More from Geography

Pharma Industry Argues Tax, Other Incentives Better Than Tariffs

 
• By Jessica Merrill

Pharmaceutical industry organizations offered alternatives to tariffs that could maintain a secure domestic supply chain in public comments filed in response to a federal 232 investigation.

US FDA Guidance Roadblock: Writing Continues, But Publication Has Slowed Or Stopped

 
• By Derrick Gingery

Cuts to the FDA’s policy and legal personnel have prevented dozens of product-specific guidances for generic drug development from being published.

FDA Adcomms Are Back: Four Cancer Drugs, COVID-19 Vaccine Formulations To Get Reviews

 
• By Sue Sutter and Bridget Silverman

The Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee will meet for two days in mid-May, followed by a Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee’s review of the 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine formulation.