Phase 2 Underway for Innovation Pharma’s Brilacidin for COVID-19

 Innovation Pharma (Formerly known as Cellceutix) (OTCQB:IPIX) (“the Company”), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, today reports that eight sites are now participating in the Company’s international Phase 2 clinical trial assessing Brilacidin as a novel therapeutic in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

The trial is now posted on clinicaltrials.gov (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04784897), which shows seven sites as recruiting and enrolling patients. An eighth site is also now enrolling in addition, and the Company has informed clinicaltrials.gov of the change in status. Fifteen patients have already been dosed in the trial. More sites are coming online, which is expected to further accelerate enrollment and treatment. 

The trial doesn’t exclude any variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Virulent coronavirus strains have scoured different countries around the world recently, including highly contagious versions, such as P1 and B.1.1.7. Brazil this week reported that COVID -19 daily deaths reached a new high due to P1. According to Russian news agency Tass, nearly 1,500 coronavirus mutations have been discovered in Russia, a country where seven sites are currently enrolling patients in the Company’s COVID-19 clinical trial. The Company is interested to see what information, if any, might be gleaned from the trial regarding variants considering laboratory studies have indicated Brilacidin to have strong pan-coronavirus treatment potential, remaining unaffected by viral mutations.

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/recruitment-and-enrollment-underway-at-eight-sites-for-innovation-pharma-s-phase-2-clinical-trial-of-brilacidin-for-covid-19/

NextCure upped to Buy from Hold by Truist

 Target $19

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=NXTC

Second Sight Gets FDA Approval for Argus 2s Retinal Prosthesis

 Second Sight Medical Products (NASDAQ:EYES) a leading developer and marketer of implantable visual prosthetics that are intended to create an artificial form of useful vision for blind individuals, today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Argus 2s Retinal Prosthesis System, a redesigned set of external hardware (glasses and video processing unit) initially for use in combination with previously implanted Argus II systems for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The Company expects that the Argus 2s will be adapted to be the external system for the next generation Orion Visual Cortical Prosthesis System currently under development.

In addition to ergonomic improvements, the Argus 2s system offers significantly more processing power, potentially allowing for improved video processing.

“We are very pleased to have received this approval, as it presents an opportunity to offer external hardware that we believe enhance comfort and aesthetics compared with the legacy Argus II system,” said Matthew Pfeffer, acting CEO of Second Sight.

A decision on when or if to begin production of the newly approved hardware is pending completion of Second Sight’s planned business combination with Pixium Vision, which currently is in progress. Should the business combination be completed, the new management team will then evaluate how best to proceed with the Argus 2s Retinal Prosthesis System, as well as all other products in development.

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/second-sight-medical-products-inc-receives-fda-approval-for-the-argus-2s-retinal-prosthesis-system/

Chardan Upgrades Seres Therapeutics to Buy From Neutral,

 

Adjusts Price Target to $30 From $27.50

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/SERES-THERAPEUTICS-INC-22619573/news/Seres-Therapeutics-nbsp-Chardan-Upgrades-Seres-Therapeutics-to-Buy-From-Neutral-Adjusts-Price-Tar-32615363/

Oxford study indicates AstraZeneca effective against Brazil variant

 

Preliminary data from a study conducted at the University of Oxford indicates that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca PLC is effective against the P1, or Brazilian, variant, a source with knowledge of the study told Reuters on Friday.

The data indicates that the vaccine will not need to be modified in order to protect against the variant, which is believed to have originated in the Amazonian city of Manaus, said the source, who requested anonymity as the results have not yet been made public.

The source did not provide the exact efficacy of the vaccine against the variant. They said the full results of the study should be released soon, possibly in March.

Early results indicated the AstraZeneca vaccine was less effective against the South African variant, which is similar to P1. South Africa subsequently paused the use of the vaccine in the country.

The information comes as a small-sample study suggested the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac may not work effectively against the Brazilian variant.

Responding to a request for comment, Fiocruz, which sent the samples that formed the basis of the study, told Reuters it did not have any information on the study, as it was being led by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

Representatives for AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Brazil is currently confronting a brutal and long-lasting second wave of the coronavirus, hitting a daily record of 1,910 deaths on Wednesday.

The P1 variant is among the factors that epidemiologists believe is contributing to a rise in cases and deaths, and there has been concern in the scientific community about the variant's resistance to vaccines.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/ASTRAZENECA-PLC-4000930/news/Exclusive-Oxford-study-indicates-AstraZeneca-effective-against-Brazil-variant-source-says-32615424/

Sinovac vaccine may not trigger sufficient antibody response to Brazil variant

 Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine may not trigger sufficient antibody responses against a new variant identified in Brazil, a small-sample lab study showed.

The emergence of variants of the new coronavirus has raised concern that vaccines and treatments that were developed based on previous strains may not work as robustly.

Plasma samples taken from eight people vaccinated with Sinovac’s CoronaVac failed to efficiently neutralize the P.1 lineage variant, or 20J/501Y.V3, researchers said in a paper published on Monday ahead of peer-review.

“These results suggest that P.1 virus might escape from neutralizing antibodies induced by... CoronaVac,” researchers at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, Washington University School of Medicine in the United States, and a few other institutions said in the paper.

CoronaVac is being used in mass vaccination drives in countries including China, Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey.

Although the study suggests re-infection may occur in vaccinated individuals, the protection given by CoronaVac against severe COVID-19 may indicate other mechanisms in the human immune system, aside from antibodies, may also contribute to reducing disease severity, researchers said.

A Sinovac spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Chief executive Yin Weidong said in a programme aired by state-backed broadcaster CGTN on Thursday the company is “fully capable” of using current research and manufacturing capacity to develop a new vaccine against variants if necessary.

He also said the process would take much less time than it took to develop CoronaVac.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccine-sinovac/sinovac-vaccine-may-not-trigger-sufficient-antibody-response-to-brazil-variant-study-idUSKBN2AX0KK

B117 coronavirus variant might soon become dominant in Germany

 A more contagious variant of the coronavirus first detected in Britain might soon become the predominant strain in Germany, making it hard to stop its spread, the head of the Robert Koch Institute said on Friday.

Lothar Wieler said the B117 variant now made up more than 40% of coronavirus cases in Germany, compared to about 6% of cases four weeks ago.

“It is foreseeable that B117 will soon be the predominant variant in Germany and then it will be even more difficult to keep the virus in check because B117 is more contagious and even more dangerous in all age groups,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-variants/b117-coronavirus-variant-might-soon-become-dominant-in-germany-rki-head-idUSKBN2AX0RV