COVID-19 Long-Acting AntiBody (LAAB) combination AZD7442 rapidly advances into Phase III clinical trials
AstraZeneca's long-acting antibody (LAAB) combination, AZD7442, will advance into two Phase III clinical trials in more than 6,000 participants at sites in and outside the US that are due to begin in the next weeks. The LAABs have been engineered with AstraZeneca's proprietary half-life extension technology to increase the durability of the therapy for six to 12 months following a single administration. 
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) (the Company) announced the European Commission (EC), acting on behalf of the European Union (EU) Member States, has approved an Advance Purchase Agreement in which the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies will supply 200 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate to EU Member States following approval or authorization from regulators. 
Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIR) and GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) announced the global expansion to Phase 3 of the COMET-ICE (COVID-19 Monoclonal antibody Efficacy Trial - Intent to Care Early) study evaluating VIR-7831 for the early treatment of COVID-19 in patients who are at high risk of hospitalisation. 
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) today announced the initiation of a rolling submission to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for BNT162b2, the lead candidate from the companies' vaccine development program against COVID-19. The EMA's decision to start a rolling review follows the encouraging preliminary results from pre-clinical and early clinical studies in adults, 
CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid ("mRNA"), announced that the first participant has been dosed in a Phase 2a clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV. 