Centogene, Lufthansa to provide 1st walk-in COVID-19 testing at Frankfurt airport

Centogene (NASDAQ:CNTG) has partnered exclusively with Lufthansa and with Fraport, the operator of Frankfurt Airport, to offer COVID-19 testing to passengers flying to and from Frankfurt Airport (FRA).

Serving as a blueprint to opening international borders, this first walk-in testing solution in Germany will aid with regulations when entering countries.

The partnership for Frankfurt Airport with Lufthansa and Fraport starts immediately, and is expected to run until July 31, 2021.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3586763-centogene-teams-up-lufthansa-to-provide-first-walk-in-covidminus-19-testing-frankfurt-airport

Tiziana Life inks deal for manufacturing of TZLS-501 for COVID-19 patients

Tiziana Life Sciences (NASDAQ:TLSA) is up 21% premarket on the heels of executing an agreement with STC Biologics for GMP manufacturing of TZLS-501, an anti-IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody (mAb) acquired from Novimmune in 2017, currently in agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY).

The company is simultaneously developing an inhalation technology, in collaboration with Sciarra Laboratories, for the direct delivery of TZLS-501 into the lungs using a handheld inhaler or nebulizer for treatment of patients with COVID-19.

TZLS-501 follows a dual mechanism by not only blocking downstream signaling pathways from membrane-bound and soluble IL-6 receptors, but it also rapidly depletes blood-stream levels of IL-6, the major culprit for cytokine release syndrome in lungs of COVID-19 patients.

Tiziana’s objective is to submit an IND application for TZLS-501 in Q1 2021 for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3586759-tiziana-life-inks-deal-for-manufacturing-of-tzlsminus-501-for-covidminus-19-patients

BioNTech raises $250 million from investors including Temasek

BioNTech (BNTX.O) said Singapore’s state investment company Temasek and other investors are injecting $250 million into the German biotech firm through a private placement.

The company, which is developing a COVID-19 vaccine, said the transaction includes the purchase of about $139 million in ordinary shares and a $112 million investment in 4-year mandatory convertible notes.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-biontech-placement/biontech-raises-250-million-from-investors-including-temasek-idUSKBN2400PS

CanSino’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate approved for military use in China

China’s military has received the greenlight to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by its research unit and CanSino Biologics (6185.HK) after clinical trials proved it was safe and showed some efficacy, the company said on Monday.

The Ad5-nCoV is one of China’s eight vaccine candidates approved for human trials at home and abroad for the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. The shot also won approval for human testing in Canada.

China’s Central Military Commission approved the use of the vaccine by the military on June 25 for a period of one year, CanSino said in a filing. The vaccine candidate was developed jointly by CanSino and a research institute at the Academy of Military Science (AMS).

“The Ad5-nCoV is currently limited to military use only and its use cannot be expanded to a broader vaccination range without the approval of the Logistics Support Department,” CanSino said, referring to the Central Military Commission department which approved the military use of the vaccine.

CanSino declined to disclose whether the innoculation of the vaccine candidate is mandatory or optional, citing commercial secrets, in an email to Reuters.

The military approval follows China’s decision earlier this month to offer two other vaccine candidates to employees at state-owned firms travelling overseas.

The Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of the CanSino’s vaccine candidate showed it has the potential to prevent diseases caused by the coronavirus, which has killed half a million people globally, but its commercial success cannot be guaranteed, the company said.

Separately, AMS received an approval earlier this month to test its second experimental coronavirus vaccine in humans.

No vaccine has yet been approved for commercial use against the illness caused by the new coronavirus, but over a dozen vaccines from more than 100 candidates globally are being tested in humans.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-vaccine/cansinos-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-approved-for-military-use-in-china-idUSKBN2400DZ

Alexion Pharma’s Ultomiris OK’d in Europe

The European Commission has approved Alexion Pharmaceuticals’ (NASDAQ:ALXN) Ultomiris (ravulizumab), a long-acting C5 complement inhibitor, for the treatment of adults and children with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) who are complement inhibitor treatment-naïve or have received Soliris (eculizumab) for at least three months and have evidence of response to eculizumab.

Atypical HUS is an ultra-rare disease that can cause progressive injury to vital organs, primarily the kidneys, via damage to the walls of blood vessels and blood clots.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3586749-alexion-pharmas-ultomiris-okd-in-europe

Declining eyesight improved by looking at deep red light

Staring at a deep red light for three minutes a day can significantly improve declining eyesight, finds a new UCL-led study, the first of its kind in humans.

Scientists believe the discovery, published in the Journals of Gerontology, could signal the dawn of new affordable home-based eye therapies, helping the millions of people globally with naturally declining vision.

In the UK there are currently around 12 million people aged over 65: in 50 years this will increase to around 20 million and all will have some degree of visual decline because of retinal ageing.

Lead author, Professor Glen Jeffery (UCL Institute of Ophthalmology) said: “As you age your visual system declines significantly, particularly once over 40.

“Your retinal sensitivity and your colour vision are both gradually undermined, and with an ageing population, this is an increasingly important issue.

“To try to stem or reverse this decline, we sought to reboot the retina’s ageing cells with short bursts of longwave light.”

In humans around 40 years-old, cells in the eye’s retina begin to age, and the pace of this ageing is caused, in part, when the cell’s mitochondria, whose role is to produce energy (known as ATP) and boost cell function, also start to decline.

Mitochondrial density is greatest in the retina’s photoreceptor cells, which have high energy demands. As a result, the retina ages faster than other organs, with a 70% ATP reduction over life, causing a significant decline in photoreceptor function as they lack the energy to perform their normal role.

Researchers built on their previous findings in mice, bumblebees and fruit flies, which all found significant improvements in the function of the retina’s photoreceptors when their eyes were exposed to 670 nanometre (long wavelength) deep red light.

“Mitochondria have specific light absorbance characteristics influencing their performance: longer wavelengths spanning 650 to 1000nm are absorbed and improve mitochondrial performance to increase energy production,” said Professor Jeffery.

The retina’s photoreceptor population is formed of cones, which mediate colour vision and rods, which provide peripheral vision and adapt vision in low/dim light.

For the study, 24 people (12 male, 12 female), aged between 28 and 72, who had no ocular disease, were recruited. All participants’ eyes were tested for the sensitivity of their rods and cones at the start of the study. Rod sensitivity was measured in dark adapted eyes (with pupils dilated) by asking participants to detect dim light signals in the dark, and cone function was tested by subjects identifying coloured letters that had very low contrast and appeared increasingly blurred, a process called colour contrast.

All participants were then given a small LED torch to take home and were asked to look into* its deep red 670nm light beam for three minutes a day for two weeks. They were then re-tested for their rod and cone sensitivity

Results

Researchers found the 670nm light had no impact in younger individuals, but in those around 40 years and over, significant improvements were obtained.

Cone colour contrast sensitivity (the ability to detect colours) improved by up to 20% in some people aged around 40 and over. Improvements were more significant in the blue part of the colour spectrum that is more vulnerable in ageing.

Rod sensitivity (the ability to see in low light) also improved significantly in those aged around 40 and over, though less than colour contrast.

Professor Jeffery said: “Our study shows that it is possible to significantly improve vision that has declined in aged individuals using simple brief exposures to light wavelengths that recharge the energy system that has declined in the retina cells, rather like re-charging a battery.

“The technology is simple and very safe, using a deep red light of a specific wavelength, that is absorbed by mitochondria in the retina that supply energy for cellular function.

“Our devices cost about £12 to make, so the technology is highly accessible to members of the public.”

###

This research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-06/ucl-dei062620.php

Covid forces ‘greatest movement ever’ by biomed industry, government: Milken

Philanthropist and chairman of the Milken Foundation Michael Milken told “Sunday Morning Futures” that the current race for a coronavirus vaccine is “the greatest movement ever in history by the biomedical industry and by government.”

“The medical community, FDA, CDC, HHS, BARDA, NIH, they are accelerating these efforts,” Milken said. “They are making financial commitments so that if something works, it’ll be available to us.”

According to Milken, there are more than 400 potential treatment options available and more than 150 vaccines in development. Milken added that he expects “hundreds of millions” of vaccines to be available in the fourth quarter of this year.

“We don’t know if they work yet, but they will be available,” Milken said.

Milken acknowledged that a vaccine will be required to completely open the economy and “get people comfortable.”

“Antivirals such as Gilead or these ADT drugs, androgen deprivation therapy, are going into human beings today,” Milken said. “These are safe. They’ve been approved. They’ve been around for years, and many of them appear to have a very positive effect on controlling the virus.”

Milken added that the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t need to be pressured by the Trump administration to greenlight a safe solution.

“They’re not going to bring anything that isn’t safe. Johnson and Johnson’s not bringing anything that isn’t safe, Moderna and so on,” Milken added. “Thousands and thousands of people have already been given the vaccines and the Oxford vaccine BARDA has committed more than a billion dollars to it.”

Earlier this month, the White House announced it would move forward with five vaccine candidates for its “Operation Warp Speed Initiative” from Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and Pfizer.

Milken was referred to as “one of America’s greatest financiers” by the White House after being pardoned by President Trump back in February.

Milken fell under government scrutiny when speculator Ivan Boesky agreed to give authorities evidence about malfeasance on Wall Street after a 1986 guilty plea to insider trading, according to a report by the New York Times.

After serving two years of a 10-year prison sentence and being charged $600 million in fines, Milken went on to co-found the Milken Family Foundation and the Milken Institute while contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to medical research, education and disadvantaged children.

There are more than 2.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 125,000 deaths in the United States, according to the latest update by Johns Hopkins University.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/coronavirus-biomedical-industry-government-michael-milken