As circumstances around coronavirus (COVID-19) continue to evolve quickly, the California Biotechnology Foundation wants to keep you informed about the progress being made by biotechnology researchers in California and across the nation to expand available testing, treat the virus and prevent its spread.

The following resources track what progress has been made as of April 10, 2020. Notable advancements include:

• Gilead Sciences has ramped up production of its experimental remdesivir treatment, supplying the medicine through clinical trials and special access programs, at no charge.

• Inovio Pharmaceuticals is beginning testing for a second coronavirus vaccine candidate after approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

• Governor Gavin Newsom launched a new task force to accelerate testing for COVID-19 and announced Abbott Laboratories’ commitment to opening 75 testing sites in the state.

• GlaxoSmithKline said Monday it will collaborate with Vir Biotechnology on experimental treatments and, potentially, vaccines against the novel coronavirus.

Recent News:

• Pfizer Identifies Lead Coronavirus Drug Candidate
  Wall Street Journal – April 9, 2020
  Pfizer Inc.  has found a promising but early potential coronavirus treatment, which the drugmaker aims to begin testing in patients this summer. Laboratory research suggests the drug candidate blocks the new coronavirus from replicating.

• Arcturus Therapeutics Announces Clinical Trial Timeline for its COVID-19 Vaccine
  Biospace – April 9, 2020
  Arcturus Therapeutics announced plans to initiate a human clinical trial this Summer for its COVID-19 vaccine, also known as LUNAR-COV19. The trial plans to enroll up to 76 healthy volunteer adults including elderly individuals, with follow-up over several months to evaluate extent and duration of immune response.

• Stanford teamed up with Apple to release an app that connects first responders to drive-through COVID-19 tests
  CNBC – April 9, 2020
  A new app from Stanford Medicine will help connect first responders to drive-through COVID-19 testing if they are showing symptoms of the coronavirus. The app was built by Stanford Medicine with help from Apple.

• Antibodies in recovered victims’ blood may hold key to COVID-19 cure
  San Francisco Chronicle – April 9, 2020
  San Francisco’s Vir Biotechnology and Los Angeles’ Sanguine Biosciences have begun collecting blood samples from 100 recovered patients in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Boston and Washington, D.C.

• Prazosin Might Be A Treatment For COVID-19. More Data Is Urgently Needed
  Forbes – April 8, 2020
  In a new preprint, a team of colleagues at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine describe the potential of prazosin to slow down and possibly prevent one of the worst effects of COVID-19: the cytokine storm.

• Bristol Myers Squibb Expands Patient Support Programs to Help Newly Uninsured Patients in the U.S.
  Bristol Myers Squibb – April 7, 2020
  Bristol Myers Squibb announced an expansion of its existing patient support programs to help eligible unemployed patients in the U.S. who have lost their health insurance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• COVID-19 Vaccine Progress from 8 BioHealth Capital Region Companies
  Bio Buzz – April 7, 2020
  In addition to the region’s medical diagnostics companies working to bolster testing capabilities, BHCR companies like Altimmune, Novavax, Emergent Biosolutions, Sanaria, GlaxoSmithKline, Cel-sci and Integrated Biotherapeutics are racing to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

• Coronavirus treatments: A list of the most promising medical treatments for COVID-19
  Business Insider – April 7, 2020
  There is no medical treatment that cures patients with COVID-19. However, some of the world’s leading drugmakers are testing hundreds of existing drugs and investigating new ones to produce a treatment for those already infected.

• Takeda, CSL forge coronavirus alliance, forgoing their own drugs in the process
  BioPharma Dive – April 7, 2020
  Japan’s largest pharma and a Pennsylvania-based drug manufacturer have teamed up with four other companies to speed development and increase supply of a potential treatment for COVID-19.

• Amid COVID-19 pandemic, Gilead cuts production time for experimental drug in half
  San Francisco Business Times – April 6, 2020
  Gilead Sciences Inc. has cut in half the time it takes to make its signature, but experimental, COVID-19 treatment, a critical step in the process of treating some of the 1.3 million people infected by the novel coronavirus that causes the disease.

• GlaxoSmithKline and Vir aim to take on Covid-19 with antibodies and CRISPR
  STAT – April 6, 2020
  The drug giant GlaxoSmithKline said Monday it will collaborate with Vir Biotechnology on experimental treatments and potentially, vaccines against the novel coronavirus.

• Inovio Pharmaceuticals begins human trials for COVID-19 vaccine
  San Diego Union-Tribune – April 6, 2020
  Inovio Pharmaceuticals, which developed a potential vaccine for COVID-19 at its San Diego lab, has begun an early Phase 1 human trial for the drug involving 40 healthy adult volunteers in two states. The first wave of volunteers received doses on Monday.

• Uniting Life Sciences to Tackle COVID-19 From All Angles
  Biocom – April 6, 2020
  Several therapeutics are now in clinical trials and more than 20 vaccines are in development with many members within our California life science community leading the charge. Check out all that Biocom’s members are working on related to COVID-19 at our coronavirus resource center.

• Researchers harness new technology for rapid COVID-19 vaccine development
  Fierce Biotech – April 6, 2020
  Scientists working for a spinoff of Massachusetts General Hospital called Voltron Therapeutics started looking for partners to help develop a vaccine as quickly as possible. They formed a joint venture with Hoth Therapeutics, named HaloVax, and tasked it with using a vaccine technology developed at MGH to find a COVID-19 candidate.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom launches task force to increase COVID-19 testing by five-fold
  KTVU – April 5, 2020
  California Governor Gavin Newsom has launched a new task force to help increase testing for COVID-19. The goal is to increase testing five-fold by the end of the month.

• California Gov. Newsom Says More Tests Coming; State Asks Public For Medical Supplies
  NPR – April 4, 2020
  Newsom announced a new state partnership with UC Davis and UC San Diego that would create several hubs throughout the state to help increase testing capacity. Abbott, the medical device giant that makes a coronavirus test, committed to opening 75 testing sites in the state, Newsom said.

• Moderna chairman says COVID-19 vaccine could begin phase 2 trials in spring
  PM Live – April 3, 2020
  Moderna’s chairman Noubar Afeyan has said that phase 2 human trials of the company’s coronavirus vaccine could begin in spring, as pressure mounts for the successful development of a shot against the novel virus