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(Alliance News) - AstraZeneca aims to deliver a validated Covid-19 antibody test by the beginning of May that could be scaled up by the end of that month, its UK president has said.
Tom Keith-Roach told the PA news agency the focus is on antigen tests, which can tell people whether they have the virus, but work is also ongoing on an antibody test.
Antibody tests are seen as a vital route out of lockdown. They work by telling people if they have already had the virus and developed immunity, which can enable them to return to normal life.
AstraZeneca, Cambridge University and GlaxoSmithKline have joined forces for a testing facility in Cambridge with the aim of delivering 30,000 antigen tests by the start of May.
AstraZeneca and GSK are supporting three other testing centres in Milton Keynes, Alderley Park and Glasgow.
Keith-Roach said pharmaceutical firms are working together in the national interest to overcome global supply problems with the chemicals and swabs needed for testing.
He said testing kits have 79 components, including reagents and other chemicals, and six are subject to constraints.
"On each of those six components and swabs, we're working with the government, we're working with GSK," he said.
"We all obviously have global supply chains that reach into China, that reach into all of our trading partners around the world."
He said work was happening to leverage "collective procurement capacity and supply chains to really make sure that we can provide all of those components" to hit 30,000 tests a day.
Experts are also looking at alternative reagents or alternative components "to deal with and mitigate some of those risks", he said.
"But at this stage, we're confident that we're going to have the capacity to do 30,000 a day and that's why we felt able to make that commitment."
He said labs are dependant on the health system's capacity to "deliver to the front door of the lab" 30,000 swabs every day from healthcare workers and other people who need to be tested.
"We have a process for extracting and purifying the genetic material that's delivered in the swabs for testing, and then the conducting of those tests, and then returning the results to the health care system.
"So the testing machine will have the capacity to do 30,000 tests a day. But obviously, whether we can do 30,000 tests a day will depend on 30,000 swabs arriving at the front door."
Keith-Roach said the team in Cambridge is also working on antibody tests and will test on a small scale in the first week of May.
"We are working to deliver a validated test by the beginning of May that we could then scale up by the end of the month," he said.
He added that, in the last month, "there has been an extraordinarily constructive and open dialogue between us and government, and also all the partners that we need to work with, from the NHS to commercial organisations.
"I see an extraordinary kind of pulling together, of collective
GlaxoSmithKline PLC and US-based Vir Biotechnology Inc have entered a collaboration agreement to develop solutions for coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, the companies announced on Monday.
In addition to gaining access to Vir's technology, Glaxo will make an equity investment in Nasdaq-listed Vir of USD250 million, priced at USD37.73 per share, a 30% premium to the closing share price on Friday.
Shares in Glaxo were up 0.2% at 1,492.20 pence each in London. Vir Biotechnology shares on Friday at USD29.00 each on Friday. In pre-market trade in New York on Monday, the stock was up 34% to USD38.80.
The collaboration will use Vir's monoclonal antibody platform technology to accelerate existing and identify new anti-viral antibodies that could be used to help address the current Covid-19 pandemic and future outbreaks. The companies will also take advantage of Glaxo's expertise in functional genomics, gene editing and artificial intelligence to identify anti-coronavirus compounds that target cellular host genes.
Glaxo and Vir also plan to use their combined expertise to research SARS-CoV-2 and other coronavirus vaccines.
I recently got my shingles vaccination but was given the Merck vaccine. My conclusion was that the NHS either had stock to work through or an ongoing contract with Merck orNICE hadn't go around to reviewing it.
The date is clear: the GSK vaccine is far super to the Merck vaccine and has largely replaced the latter in North America.
The FDA grants Priority Review status to AstraZeneca's (NYSE:AZN) supplemental marketing application seeking approval for Lynparza (olaparib), combined with RocheLynparza (olaparib),s Avastin (bevacizumab), for the maintenance treatment of patients with advanced ovarian cancer who are in complete or partial response to 1st-line platinum-based chemotherapy with bevacizumab.
TOP NEWS:
(Alliance News) - FTSE 100-listed drugsmaker AstraZeneca PLC said Friday its key cancer treatment drug Imfinzi has been granted priority review approval by US regulators after positive late-stage clinical trial data.
The US Food & Drug Administration accepted the supplemental biologics license application and granted priority review for Imfinzi - the brand name of durvalumab - for the treatment of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.
The approval was based on the positive results of the phase three Caspian trial. The trial recently released test results in the Lancet journal which showed "statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement" in survival rates from the drug.
Imfinzi is already approved for unresectable stage three non-small cell lung cancer in 54 countries after the phase three Pacific trial results.
Shares in Cambridge-based AstraZeneca were 0.6% lower at 7,454.00 pence in London on Friday.
By Ahren Lester; ahrenlester@alliancenews.com
AstraZeneca 'best-in-class' biopharma, SVB Leerink says
Nov. 22, 2019 12:52 PM ET|About: AstraZeneca PLC (AZN)|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
AstraZeneca (AZN +0.7%) enjoys modest gains after SVB Leerink initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and $57 price target, saying it expects momentum to continue even though shares have climbed significantly since 2017 and currently trade at a premium vs. peers.
Leerink's Andrew Berens thinks AZN's "focused strategy" has established the company as a best-in-class biopharma after a successful transition from a general therapeutics company to a rapidly growing oncology company with a number of multi-blockbuster drugs.
AZN also has invested in other areas of rapid growth including the emerging markets, which Berens believes will "generate additional investor value as these areas become more commercially validated and relevant."
AZN's average Sell Side Rating and Seeking Alpha Authors' Rating are both Bullish, while its Quant Rating is Neutral.
One of my best decisions this year was to take the hit and sell my holding in WPCT, Painful at the time but subsequent events showed that I made the right decision.
I've been following AVCT for years and have seen the steady glide down in the SP.
What the management is really good at is telling a good story and getting new investment into the company, but this always results in existing shareholder dilution and it doesn't work. After a blip up the glide down continues.
Now I wonder, has Neil Woodford got any money left on 34 Black?
Q1. No
Q2. No
Q3. It isn't.