News & Trends - Pharmaceuticals
Sanofi reports positive pre-clinical results for COVID-19 vaccine candidate

Pharma News: Sanofi and Translate Bio, a clinical-stage messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics company, announced the preclinical results for MRT5500, a mRNA-based vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease.
Sanofi is already conducting phase I/II clinical trials with its GlaxoSmithKline-partnered vaccine. This particular vaccine candidate uses the same recombinant protein-based technology as one of Sanofi’s seasonal influenza vaccines with GSK’s established pandemic adjuvant technology.
Preclinical evaluation of Sanofi and Translate Bio’s vaccine candidate MRT5500 demonstrated a favourable immune response profile against SARS-CoV-2. A Phase 1/2 clinical trial is anticipated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2020.
“To tackle this global pandemic, we must look to both the strong knowledge we have from years of infectious disease expertise and the promise of new, innovative technologies,” said Thomas Triomphe, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Sanofi Pasteur. “Today’s presentation of these positive results is another development milestone for providing a safe and effective potential vaccine against SARS-CoV2 and shows how promising this technology is. We are looking forward to working on next steps with our partner Translate Bio to bring this technology to people worldwide.”
“The rapid development of effective vaccines to address the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be an urgent global public health need and I am encouraged by the progress we’ve made to date with our partner Sanofi Pasteur toward the development of a promising mRNA vaccine candidate,” said Ronald Renaud, Chief Executive Officer at Translate Bio. “The preclinical results we report in this paper demonstrate the ability of MRT5500 to elicit a favourable immune response in both mice and non-human primates. Importantly, these results provide additional support for using our mRNA platform to potentially expedite the development of alternative approaches to traditional vaccines.”
News & Trends - Pharmaceuticals

Clinicians call for closer monitoring of patients post CAR T therapy
Australian clinicians are raising questions about whether cancer patients need closer monitoring after receiving CAR T-cell therapy. A Peter MacCallum […]
MoreNews & Trends - MedTech & Diagnostics

Next-gen surgical mesh to fill critical gap after regulatory ban
Next-generation urogynaecological surgical mesh implants are on the horizon for women suffering from pelvic organ prolapse (POP). This development aims […]
MoreNews & Trends - Pharmaceuticals

Contraceptive lawsuit against Bayer fails
The Victorian Supreme Court has dismissed a class action against Bayer for an allegedly defective contraceptive device. Justice Andrew Keogh […]
MoreNews & Trends - Pharmaceuticals

NSW Government ignored warnings since 2018: Mental health system unravels as psychiatrists quit en masse
The New South Wales Labor government’s plan to “redesign” the state’s mental health system, while excluding psychiatrists, has sparked intense […]
More