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Use of the diabetes drug metformin - before a diagnosis of COVID-19 - is associated with a threefold decrease in mortality in COVID-19 patients with Type 2 diabetes, according to a racially diverse study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Diabetes is a significant comorbidity for COVID-19.

Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIR) and GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) announced an agreement with the U.K.-based AGILE initiative to evaluate VIR-7832 in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 in a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial. VIR-7832 is a neutralising COVID-19 antibody that preclinical data suggests has two distinguishing properties: an enhanced ability to clear infected cells and the potential to enhance virus-specific T cell function, which could help treat and/or prevent COVID-19 infection.

A clinical trial involving COVID-19 patients hospitalized at UT Health San Antonio and University Health, among roughly 100 sites globally, found that a combination of the drugs baricitinib and remdesivir reduced time to recovery, according to results published Dec. 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

At its virtual Pharma Media Day, Bayer presented exciting progress in transforming its pharmaceutical business with breakthrough innovation in healthcare that will significantly help patients suffering from conditions that are currently still difficult to treat. The company has recently heavily invested in external innovation with an unprecedented number of more than 25 collaboration agreements and acquisitions.

Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company focused on prevention of infectious diseases with significant unmet medical need, announced it is in advanced discussions with the European Commission (EC) for the supply of up to 60 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, VLA2001. VLA2001 is currently the only inactivated vaccine candidate in clinical trials against COVID-19 in Europe.

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have identified the sensor in human lungs that detects SARS-CoV-2 and signals that it's time to mount an antiviral response. The study, published today in Cell Reports, provides insights into the molecular basis of severe disease and may enable new strategies for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19.

EMA has received an application for conditional marketing authorisation (CMA) for a COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. The assessment of the vaccine, known as COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, will proceed under an accelerated timeline.

Seeking to understand why COVID-19 is able to suppress the body's immune response, new research from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology suggests that mitochondria are one of the first lines of defense against COVID-19 and identifies key differences in how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, interacts with mitochondrial genes when compared to other viruses.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) today announced results from an in vitro study conducted by Pfizer and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) that shows the antibodies from people who have received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine effectively neutralize SARS-CoV-2 with a key mutation that is also found in two highly transmissible strains.

Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, announced that the European Commission has granted a conditional marketing authorization (CMA) for COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna, allowing vaccination programs using the Moderna vaccine to be rolled out across the European Union.

Bayer has signed a collaboration and services agreement with CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC), a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). Under the terms of the agreement, Bayer will support the further development, supply and key territory operations of CureVac's COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV.

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine has been granted emergency use authorisation in India as well as Argentina, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico and Morocco for the active immunisation of adults.

The vaccine was shown in clinical trials to be safe and effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19, with no severe cases and no hospitalisations more than 14 days after the second dose.

The inactivated COVID-19 vaccine developed by Beijing Institute of Biological Products of Sinopharm CNBG has been granted conditional registration by the NMPA of China, Chinese equivalent of FDA, according to a press conference of the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism on December 31, 2020,

Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, provided a supply update for the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, increasing its base-case global production estimate from 500 to 600 million doses for 2021. Moderna said it is continuing to invest and add staff to build up to potentially 1 billion doses for 2021.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) announced they will supply an additional 100 million doses of COMIRNATY®, the companies' COVID-19 Vaccine, to the 27 European Union (EU) member states in 2021. This announcement is a result of the European Commission's decision to exercise its option to purchase an additional 100 million doses under its Advanced Purchase Agreement signed on November 11, 2020.

A novel computational drug screening strategy combined with lab experiments suggest that pralatrexate, a chemotherapy medication originally developed to treat lymphoma, could potentially be repurposed to treat COVID-19. Haiping Zhang of the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology in Shenzhen, China, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Computational Biology.

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency supply in the UK, with the first doses being released today so that vaccinations may begin early in the New Year.

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has provided authorisation for emergency supply of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca,

COVID-19, which has killed 1.7 million people worldwide, does not follow a uniform path.

Many infected patients remain asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. Others, especially those with comorbidities, can develop severe clinical disease with atypical pneumonia and multiple system organ failure.

Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX), a late-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, today announced initiation of PREVENT-19, its pivotal Phase 3 study in the United States and Mexico to evaluate the efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of NVX-CoV2373, the Company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) today announced a second agreement with the U.S. government to supply an additional 100 million doses of the companies' COVID-19 Vaccine from production facilities in the U.S. This agreement brings the total number of doses to be delivered to the U.S. to 200 million.