Results published in Science Immunology showed that Calquence (acalabrutinib), a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, reduced markers of inflammation and improved clinical outcomes of patients with severe COVID-19 disease.(1)

The peer-reviewed case series of 19 hospitalised patients with COVID-19 disease and severe hypoxia and/or inflammation is a collaboration from investigators across the US, including AstraZeneca scientists, and led by Wyndham Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. and Louis Staudt, M.D., Ph.D. at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health in the US.

With the public debate on the merits of scientific data throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Bayer announced its support for a new, multi-year Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI) research effort. This initiative will explore the public engagement with science, and better understand how to build confidence in the reliability, capability and integrity of scientific data and sound science.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced the initiation of a global phase III, randomised, double-blind, multicentre study (REMDACTA) to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Actemra/RoActemra plus the investigational antiviral remdesivir, versus placebo plus remdesivir in hospitalised patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, in collaboration with Gilead Sciences, Inc.

Sanofi announced its intent to sell its equity investment in Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) through a registered public offering and related share repurchase by Regeneron. The registered offering and share repurchase will have no impact on the ongoing collaboration between Sanofi and Regeneron.

AstraZeneca is advancing its ongoing response to address the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19, collaborating with a number of countries and multilateral organisations to make the University of Oxford's vaccine widely accessible around the world in an equitable manner.

Johnson & Johnson (the Company) (NYSE: JNJ) announced a collaboration between the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. to support the manufacturing of its lead investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) announced that the first participants have been dosed in the U.S. in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the BNT162 vaccine program to prevent COVID-19. The trial is part of a global development program, and the dosing of the first cohort in Germany was completed.