Merck’s COVID-19 pill Lagevrio (molnupiravir) not only reduced the risk of hospitalization or death in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 by 32.1 percent, it also reduced the chance of needing acute care visits for weeks after treatment ended, researchers reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Read More

Sabizabulin demonstrated a 55.2 percent reduction in deaths relative to the untreated cohort. Read More

Moderna anticipates that the Omicron-specific booster will be available in the late summer. Read More

The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted almost unanimously yesterday for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of a two-dose primary series of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine. Read More

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is pulling out of its COVID-19 vaccine supply contract with the troubled drug manufacturing plant, Emergent BioSolutions. Read More

The test uses anterior nasal swab samples rather than the more invasive nasopharangeal swabs. Read More

The portable eLab system provides “results comparable in quality to those provided by central lab testing,” the company said. Read More

Novavax goes before FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologics Advisory Committee this week, seeking Emergency Use Authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine. Read More

Test analysis is limited to the Aldatu Diagnostics laboratory in Watertown, Mass. Read More

Gemina plans to launch the COVID-19 test in Europe in the second half of 2022. Read More

Pfizer said it will announce the project’s cost and timeline in early June. Read More

Pfizer and BioNTech expect to complete their EUA submission of their COVID-19 vaccine for kids under five this week. Read More