As the new variant has been surfaced that causes COVID-19, experts urged caution, saying it would take years, not months, for the virus to evolve enough to render the current vaccines impotent. They added that no one should worry that there is going to be a single catastrophic mutation that suddenly renders all immunity useless. According to The New York Times (NYT), scientists are worried about these variants but are not surprised by them. Researchers have recorded thousands of modifications in the genetic material of the coronavirus as it has hopscotched across the world. Some variants become more common in a population simply by luck, not because the changes somehow supercharge the virus. But as it becomes more difficult for the pathogen to survive because of vaccinations and growing immunity in human populations researchers also expect the virus to gain useful mutations enabling it to spread more easily or to escape detection by the immune system, NYT reported.
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A Look at the Mutated, Out of Control Coronavirus Strain that Stole UK’s Christmas
A person gestures towards a sign with a public health information message, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease, as new restrictions come into force, in London, Britain. (Reuters)
A stringent tier-4 lockdown has been imposed in the worst-affected parts of the country, with restrictions on household mixing in London and the southeast, while in other parts of the country socialising will be allowed only on Christmas day.
As the first mass coronavirus inoculation campaign began in the United Kingdom, PM Johnson announced fresh curbs to arrest the spread of an unseen strain of the novel coronavirus- hitherto. It appears to be more contagious than earlier variants of the pathogen.
Dive Brief:
UniQure, the Belgian drug company leading the race to develop a gene therapy for hemophilia B, said Monday that testing of its treatment has been paused as researchers investigate an unexpected case of liver cancer in a participant in one of the company s clinical trials.
According to UniQure, the Food and Drug Administration placed a clinical hold on the program after a mid-December safety report showed a preliminary diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in one patient who received the therapy, known as AMT-061, late last year, while enrolled in the pivotal HOPE-B study. UniQure noted the patient has multiple risk factors associated with HCC including a longstanding history of hepatitis B and C infections, evidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and advanced age.
Doctors say temporary hospitals can t open because there are not enough staff to adequately service them
Enormous structures were hailed at start of pandemic as a solution to growing crisis in UK hospital capacity
But many are still lying empty as crisis continues to spiral amid concerns over whether they will ever open
London, Birmingham and Tyne and Wear all on standby while Manchester is only open for non-Covid care
Exeter and Harrogate open as specialist diagnostics centres while Bristol is only for local NHS services
uniQure Announces Clinical Update on Hemophilia B Gene Therapy Program
Company to hold conference call today at 8:30 a.m. ET
LEXINGTON, Mass. and AMSTERDAM, Dec. 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ: QURE), a leading gene therapy company advancing transformative therapies for patients with severe medical needs, today announced that its hemophilia B gene therapy program, including the pivotal, Phase III HOPE-B study, has been placed on clinical hold by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Patient dosing is complete in each of uniQure’s three hemophilia B gene therapy studies, and there is no plan to enroll or treat additional patients.