Astra Zeneca | Business Upturn

China clears AstraZeneca’s drug for lung cancer

Diya S. — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 08:43:51 +0000

On July 19, Reuters reported that China’s National Medical Products Administration has approved the usage of AstraZeneca’s drug Imfinzi for an aggressive form of lung cancer i.e. extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) in adults with an aim of strengthening its efforts to fight the illness.

The country’s approval came after positive results of CASPIAN Phase 3, which demonstrated that the drug when combined with the use of chemotherapy helped improve the overall survival of the patients against chemotherapy alone. Imfinzi allows the immune system to detect and attack certain cells.

The British-Swedish pharmaceutical company has said that the results from a local trial were consistent with global results as well. The drug has received approval from many countries as a treatment for the more common and less aggressive non-small cell lung cancer.

The lung cancer portfolio of AstraZeneca consists of a range of medicines including Imfinzi, which was approved by the United States and European Union for extensive-stage SCLC in 2020.

In addition, it is striving to catch up with Roche, a Swiss healthcare company. China had given the nod to Roche’s Tecentriq for the initial treatment of the same type of illness.

SCLC, being the most aggressive form of lung cancer, typically recurs and advances despite a response to chemotherapy. The small cancer cells grow quickly, which ends up creating large tumours.

A new study claims that no antibodies were found against Delta in 16% samples after both doses of Covishield

Diya S. — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 13:05:00 +0000

A study conducted by the researchers from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has claimed that no neutralizing antibodies were found against the Delta variant i.e. B1.617.2 in 58.1 and 16.1 percent of serum samples after the first and second doses of SII-manufactured Covishield respectively.

The former head of the department of microbiology at Vellore’s Christian Medical College Dr. T Jacob John has stated that not observed is not the same as not present, the neutralizing bodies level could be significantly low so it failed to detect, it might still be present and protect the person against infection as well as severe disease.

He continued, “Also, there would be some cell-mediated protective immunity as well that can protect against infection and severe disease.”

In addition, he said with an assumption that the serum used for the study was from healthy persons, the proportion of individuals with levels of neutralizing bodies that are unobserved will be higher among individuals who are old, comorbid, have chronic illnesses since their immune response is lower. In simpler terms, men and women above the age of 65 years, people with diabetes, hypertension, chronic heart, lung, kidney diseases, or those undergoing cancer treatment should be provided with a third dose.

According to the report, the titers of the neutralizing antibodies, the ones that specifically target the virus that causes COVID-19 called Sars-CoV-2 along with killing or preventing it from entering human cells were also found to be lower against the Delta variant in comparison to the B1 variant which causes the first fave of COVID-19 infections in the country.

Germany suggest need to mix COVID-19 vaccines for it might enhance immune response

Faara Nadeem — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 15:46:36 +0000

AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines mixed with Pfizer or Moderna shots creates an enhanced immune response, according to Germany.

On Friday, Germany recommended the same this formula and claimed that it enhance immune responses against COVID-19 and at the same time, it also shorten the interval period between the two shots.

The NHK World reported that the government of Germany has asked people to either chose the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for their second dose.

The country’s standing committee drafted a recommendation to on vaccination, a day before to the same effect.

The second dose must be administered four weeks or more after the first AstraZeneca shot, the committee further recommended although it recommends a gap of nine or more weeks between two doses of AstraZeneca.

A research group from Britain’s Oxford University shared on last monday that a stronger immune response was generated by the combination of of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines compared to that of two rounds of AstraZeneca in a trial.

On Thursday, the head of the WHO’s expert panel, Joachim Hombach, said that it was a “great news” as it’ll offer more flexibility to the countries facing constraints in vaccine supply.

However, Hombach further said that no other vaccines except AstraZeneca and Pfizer should be mixed as the efficacy and safety of mixing other vaccines are being studied.

COVID-19 Vaccine: 7 deaths in UK after taking AstraZeneca dose

Govindraj Muttepawar — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 17:26:04 +0000

Seven people have died from unusual blood clots after getting the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK, the medicines regulator has confirmed to the BBC news

In total, 30 people out of 18 million vaccinated by 24 March had these clots. It is still not clear if they are just a coincidence or a genuine side effect of the vaccine. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency says the benefits continue to outweigh any risk. The World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency have echoed this conclusion.

A spokeswoman for AstraZeneca said: “Patient safety remains the company’s highest priority.

However, concern has led to other countries including Germany, France, the Netherlands and Canada to restrict the vaccine’s use only to older people. The data released by the MHRA on Friday showed 22 cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) which is a type of blood clot in the brain. These were accompanied by low levels of platelets, which help form blood clots, in the body. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) also found other clotting problems alongside low platelet levels in eight people. Now the MHRA has confirmed, in an email to the BBC, that “sadly seven have died”.

Earlier, British regulators said that out of the more than 18 million AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine doses administered in Britain, only around 30 cases of blood clots were reported. The new number of cases is 25 more than what was reported last month.

In March, more than a dozen countries, mostly in Europe, temporarily suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine’s rollout due to concerns about its possible link to the rare blood clots.

“The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19, with its associated risk of hospitalization and death, outweigh the risks of side effects,” the European Medicines Agency said in a press briefing March 31, echoing what the regulator said in the weeks prior.

COVID-19 Vaccine: Netherlands stays use of AstraZeneca for people under 60s

Nitin Anand — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 06:50:56 +0000

Ministry of Health, Welfare & Sport of Netherlands has temporarily halted the use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for people under the age of 60. The decision on Friday was prompted by possible blood clotting problems as a side effect of the vaccine, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Lareb side effects centre published report on Friday that after injecting some 400,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, five reports have been received concerning women aged 25-65 who developed thrombosis in combination with a reduced platelet count. One of these five women died after developing an extensive pulmonary embolism within 10 days of the vaccination.

Netherlands Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said there should be no doubt whatsoever about the safety of vaccines. “The crucial question is still whether it concerns complaints after vaccination or due to vaccination,” he said in a statement, adding that “it is wise to press the pause button now as a precaution”.

The European Medicines Agency said “the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks, but it could not rule out a link between the shot and some unusual kinds of clots, and recommended adding a warning about possible rare side effects.” Most European Union countries, including Germany, resumed using the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 19.

Eight countries have so far fully suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine.

UK orders 10 million doses of AstraZeneca Vaccine from Serum Institute of India

Arnav Dogra — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 07:45:02 +0000

A spokesperson representing the Government of UK told Reuters that they have placed an order of 10 million doses of the Oxford-developed AstraZeneca Vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII), a Pune-based Private Limited company which is currently the world’s largest producer of vaccines by volume.

The government official also added that the total amount of vaccine doses that have been ordered by the UK is 100 million out of which 10 million are from the Serum Institute of India.

SII was mass-producing these vaccines with its sales targeted towards poor and middle-income countries and many of these nations like Bangladesh, Mauritius, Brazil depend on the vaccine producer to maintain their special prices. This move by the United Kingdom, which is a wealthy nation is expected to be seen critically as Western nations go on to procure these vaccines at the expense of poorer nations.

The UK Government, according to NDTV, said that this order does not break the SII’s commitment towards providing vaccines to poor countries.

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which is Britain’s drug regulator, is nearly done with its report on the Serum Institute of India’s manufacturing processes (which it had been auditing in February) and it is expected the SII-produced vaccine will soon be authorized for use in the UK.

AstraZeneca shares rises 5% on WHO approval

Chirag Jha — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 07:43:37 +0000

On Monday, February 15, AstraZeneca received the WHO approval for the emergency use of vaccines. The shares of the company have climbed over 5% in the intraday trade on with the day’s high of 4050.00.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said, “Bull markets have an uncanny ability to climb many walls of worries. And, this bull market, in typical style, is consistently climbing many such walls. The border stress with China, the farmers’ strike, inflation, crude spike…are no longer issues of concern. The bulls are focused on growth & earnings recovery and the incredibly improving COVID incidence”

“FPIs feel that India has the best post-COVID rebound story. In such a favourable setting, investors should remain invested with occasional profit booking. Bank Nifty is fast catching up with the rest of Nifty. IT has still room to go up. There is value in pockets of mid-small-caps”, Vijaykumar added.

The pharma stock has gained 72.35% in one year and risen 77.47% since the beginning of this year. Its share price in BSE in March was around Rs 1900 and now it’s around Rs 3800, making a boom of almost 100%.

Before WHO, the UK government has already approved AstraZeneca and ordered 100 million doses, which is more than enough to vaccine its 50 million people.

Justin Trudeau: Canada will receive COVID-19 vaccines manufactured in India

Sanah Shah — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 07:15:33 +0000

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada may utilize COVID-19 vaccines manufactured in India for their vaccination drives as well. Although it must be noted that discussions are in advancement.

On Friday 12th February while addressing the media in Ottawa, Trudeau said, “We are looking at other possible extra vaccines coming from India, from the Serum Institute (of India). Work is being done closely on that.”

Canada will order 20 million doses more of the vaccine than the already placed order with AstraZeneca.

With respect to Trudeau’s conversation earlier in the week with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, “It was good to talk to Prime Minister Modi on a range of subjects including the role that India is playing in producing vaccines for the developing world and other issues that are important to us.”

The Canadian PMO’s readout after the talk did not state that Trudeau called Modi with a request for the Indian made vaccines and said the “two leaders agreed to work together on access to vaccines”.

Meanwhile, Modi tweeted that he “was happy to receive a call from my friend, @JustinTrudeau” and added, “Assured him that India would do its best to facilitate supplies of Covid vaccines sought by Canada.”

Presently, Canada’s contract is for the AstraZeneca shipment to arrive from the United States, dependent on public health authorities providing emergency authorization to the vaccine.

However, as the US is focusing their priority on its own citizens when it comes to vaccines manufactured there, there is a lack of clarity.

The Serum Institute is working in collaboration with Verity Pharmaceuticals, based in the Greater Toronto Area, for importing the vaccines to Canada, as and when an arrangement is agreed upon with Canadian authorities.

“Our arrangement is currently being finalised. And as soon as it is finalised, I will have more information to share with you and with all Canadians,” public services and procurement minister Anita Anand told the media.

South Africa to spend $5.25 per dose for AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by SII

Sanah Shah — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 12:24:02 +0000

A senior health ministry official announced on 21st January 2021 that South Africa will pay $5.25 per dose for 1.5 million shots of the AstraZeneca’s Coronavirus vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII) which is more than what wealthier nations are spending.

This price is more than $3 a dose that South Africa and other nations in the continent are expected to pay for the same vaccines under an African Union (AU) arrangement and price European Union countries have decided.

The SII refused to comment when contacted by Reuters. AstraZeneca did not immediately decline to a request for comment.

Health department Deputy-General Anban Pillay said SII’s price for South Africa was based on the country’s status as an upper-middle-income level country, according to a report in the Business Day newspaper.

He told Reuters that developed countries that settled on a lower price per shot did so as they contributed towards research and development costs of the AstraZeneca shot.

Pillay said that the South African government would try to negotiate a lower price if it acquired more doses from SII but that it had been told $5.25 a dose was the standard global price for upper-middle-level-income countries.

South Africa’s health department declared the SII deal previously this month after being attacked by local scientists and trade unions for moving too slowly to acquire vaccines.

The SII is one of the various manufactures licensed by AstraZeneca to make it coronavirus OVID-19 vaccine.

South Africa has recorded the highest COVID-19 infections and deaths on the African continent. The statistics display more than 1.3 million cases and over 38,000 deaths to date. It is hosting clinical trials for the AstraZeneca shot.

AstraZeneca likely to get approval from India for emergency use by next week

Divya Joyce — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 05:53:07 +0000

The Coronavirus vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, is likely to get approval from the Indian government for emergency use by next week, two people privy to the development told.

Serum Institute of India (SII), which is producing mass doses of the vaccine dubbed Covishield here, submitted the additional information sought by the government, Reuters reported.

On December 9, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) reviewed the applications and asked for more information from all three companies — SII, Pfizer, and Bharat Biotech. The last two organizations have also sought emergency use authorization.

SII submitted the details the government wanted. The authorities were still waiting for more details from Pfizer, a government health adviser told in a news briefing on Tuesday, while one of the sources said additional information was expected from Bharat Biotech.

Both sources said Indian health officials were in direct contact with their British counterparts over the AstraZeneca shot and that there were “strong indications” an approval would come by next week.

The expected approval comes after data from AstraZeneca’s late-stage trials in the UK and Brazil released earlier this month showed the vaccine had an efficacy of 62% for trial participants given two full doses, but 90% for a smaller sub-group given a half, then a full dose.

The Indian regulator is only considering the two full-dose regimens of the shot despite it showing a lower success rate, the sources said.

This could be the first country to give the regulatory green light for the British drugmaker’s vaccine as the British medicine regulator continues to examine data from the trials.

India, the world’s biggest vaccine-making country, wants to start inoculating its citizens next month and is also considering emergency use authorization applications for vaccines made by Pfizer Inc and local company Bharat Biotech.

Getting vaccines to the world’s second-most populous country with one of the highest infection rates will also be a big step in the battle against the pandemic.

The AstraZeneca-Oxford shot is considered vital for lower-income countries and those in hot climates because it is cheaper, easier to transport and can be stored for long periods at normal fridge temperatures.
“Serum is ready,” said one of the sources. “Initially, we may get around 50 million to 60 million doses.”

The sources declined to be named as deliberations were ongoing and the timeline could change.

India has not yet signed a vaccine supply deal with any company, but SII has already stockpiled more than 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca shot and plans to make a total of 400 million doses by July.