Vaxart announced new data from its Hamster Challenge Study today, showing that its oral COVID-19 vaccine candidate can potentially reduce viral load and induce a significant immune response.

As marketability goes—and despite a growing unmet medical need—Lyme disease vaccine programs have suffered a futile fate. With its VLA15 candidate, French specialty vaccine company Valneva is trying to change that. 

Aiming to shed the legacy of an epic Alzheimer’s fail a few years ago, Axovant $AXGT is changing its name in a full corporate rebrand. The company announced Tuesday it will now be called Sio Gene Therapies as it completes what’s been a three-year pivot away from Alzheimer’s disease and toward, well, gene therapy.

Heat Biologics in Research Triangle Park is also working on a vaccine to combine with one like Pfizer’s to generate a more robust immune response.

Jewish Hospital has treated its first patient as part of a national study that hopes to prevent the progression of pulmonary complications due to COVID-19.

Though a COVID-19 vaccine could be released by year’s end or soon after, healthcare professionals say getting it to everyone who needs it is expected to take over a year.

Two genetic signatures that Rain Therapeutics scientists are focusing on are MDM2 gene amplification and wild-type p53 status, which tend to be exclusive events in malignancies.