R&D

Speeding new treatments

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, mass vaccinations have begun to raise the tantalizing prospect of herd immunity that eventually curtails or halts the spread of SARS-CoV-2. But what if herd immunity is never fully achieved - or if the mutating virus gives rise to hyper-virulent variants that diminish the benefits of vaccination?

Large collaboration creates cell atlas of COVID-19 pathology

Scientists from several hospitals and research centers have shown what happens in individual cells of patients who died of COVID-19. In a study published in Nature, the researchers describe how infected cells from multiple organs exhibited a range of molecular and genomic changes. They also saw signs of multiple, unsuccessful attempts by the lungs to repair themselves in response to respiratory failure, which is the leading cause of death in COVID-19 patients.

Hepatitis C drugs multiply effect of COVID-19 antiviral Remdesivir

When combined with drugs currently used to treat hepatitis C, the antiviral remdesivir is 10 times more effective in treating cells infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Published this week in Cell Reports, this finding - from Gaetano Montelione, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and his collaborators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the University of Texas at Austin - raises the potential for repurposing available drugs as COVID-19 antivirals in cases where a vaccine isn't practical or effective.

How COVID-19 impacted UK healthcare

Just one third of people in the UK managed to access the hospital care they needed at the peak of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic - according to new research from the University of East Anglia.

A new study published today looks at the extent to which people managed to access NHS healthcare in April 2020, and as lockdown restrictions eased.

Updated results on coronavirus vaccination effectiveness

Several weeks following the publication of the large real-world COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness study by the Clalit Research Institute in Collaboration with Harvard University in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), additional results focusing on vaccine effectiveness in specific sub-populations have now been published.

New COVID-19 vaccine may offer broad protection from coronaviruses

A COVID-19 vaccine that could provide protection against existing and future strains of the COVID-19 coronavirus, and other coronaviruses, and cost about $1 a dose has shown promising results in early animal testing.

Vaccines created by UVA Health's Steven L. Zeichner, MD, PhD, and Virginia Tech's Xiang-Jin Meng, MD, PhD, prevented pigs from being becoming ill with a pig model coronavirus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV).

SARS-CoV-2: New findings on the persistence of neutralizing antibodies

It is an open question to what extent protection against reinfection persists after overcoming a SARS-CoV-2 infection. The "Rhineland Study", a population-based study conducted by DZNE in the Bonn area, is now providing new findings in this regard. Blood samples taken last year indicate that an important component of immunity - the levels of specific neutralizing antibodies against the coronavirus - had dropped in

Research & Development

Speeding new treatments

Large collaboration creates cell atlas of COVID-19 pathology

Hepatitis C drugs multiply effect of COVID-19 antiviral Remdesivir

How COVID-19 impacted UK healthcare

Updated results on coronavirus vaccination effectiveness

New COVID-19 vaccine may offer broad protection from coronaviruses

SARS-CoV-2: New findings on the persistence of neutralizing antibodies

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