Health Care

The U.S. government signed a $450 million contract with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (REGN.O) for its potential COVID-19 antibody cocktail, the drugmaker said on Tuesday.

The U.S. government has awarded Novavax Inc $1.6 billion to cover testing, commercialization and manufacturing of a potential coronavirus vaccine in the United States, with the aim of delivering 100 million doses by January 2021.

Gilead won the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency authorization for a COVID-19 treatment in May. Now, the biotech giant says, it will soon begin clinical trials for a different version of the same experimental drug, remdesivir, which might make it easier to administer outside of a hospital or ICU wing.

The coronavirus pandemic postponed the start of clinical trials for potentially life-changing, new medicines. It also could delay the time in which some of those drugs will reach the market as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration faces a potential surge in applications amid a pandemic. The full impact of the postponements for testing new drugs, treatments and vaccines for ailments besides Covid-19 may not be known for months.

CVS Health Thursday said it is delivering as promised to open 1,000 testing locations for the Coronavirus strain Covid-19.

Quest Diagnostics Inc. is offering services to large employers geared at getting their employees back to work safely, including testing for the novel coronavirus, analytics to monitor symptoms and hotspots, and services like temperature monitoring, the company announced Wednesday.

Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday it would start human trials of its potential COVID-19 vaccine in the second half of July, two months earlier than planned, as drugmakers race to develop a shot for the deadly respiratory disease.

Business leaders with long-term leadership coaches say tough feedback has prepared them for the challenges of the pandemic.

The drug giant AstraZeneca said Thursday that it has found partners to manufacture and distribute 2 billion doses of the experimental Covid-19 vaccine created by Oxford University, inking a series of deals with non-government organizations and another manufacturer.

Drug company AstraZeneca is to start producing a potential vaccine for coronavirus, its boss has told the BBC.