Sanofi/GSK's vaccine is under review in the EU and the UK government has awarded a grant to a company to allow it to increase its production of a key component of mRNA vaccines. Also, EU member states have proposed ways of improving the supply and donation of COVID-19 vaccines, including for those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. Germany’s InflaRx has reported “encouraging” results with its anti-inflammatory drug vilobelimab in seriously ill patients.

InflaRx and Relief Therapeutics/NeuroRx are investigating potential new treatments for COVID-19-induced pneumonia and for coronavirus-related ARDS.

The coronavirus research field may be dominated by vaccines from the likes of Oxford University/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech, but a lot of interesting work is being done elsewhere by smaller academic and commercial projects looking at the potential of various novel antibody therapies against COVID-19. 

The company and partner Vifor said the selective complement 5a receptor inhibitor met both primary and multiple secondary endpoints; US and EU filings are planned for 2020.