Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told the House’s coronavirus subcommittee Friday that he’s still “cautiously optimistic” that a COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered before year’s end. Read More

Pfizer and BioNTech have signed an agreement with Japan’s Ministry of Health to supply the country with 120 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine. Read More

Merck said it plans to launch two large phase 3 trials of its oral COVID-19 antiviral candidate MK-4482 in September and is also moving ahead with trials of two potential vaccines. Read More

Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have secured a $2.1 billion U.S. government contract to develop and produce 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Read More

Johnson & Johnson announced the start of an early-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Ad26.COV2.S. Read More

Abingdon will begin shipping the test at the end of August. Read More

Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions was the government’s highest-paid drug or vaccine vendor as of mid-June at $643 million, out of nearly $9 billion issued by HHS for COVID-19, according to a new report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Read More

Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline have reached a deal with the British government that will secure up to 60 million doses of the drugmakers’ experimental COVID-19 vaccine for the UK. Read More

Roche’s rheumatoid arthritis blockbuster Actemra (tocilizumab) showed no benefit for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a phase 3 trial, but the company still has high hopes for the drug as a potential treatment for COVID-19 infections. Read More