Friday Morning Briefing: WHO scientist sees regulators cooperating to speed COVID-19 vaccine approval

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Regulators likely to cooperate to speed vaccine approval
Regulators that normally work within their own countries or regions will likely harmonize efforts on potential COVID-19 vaccines to speed up their approvals once they become available, the World Health Organization's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said.

Swaminathan also said testing vaccines for safety and efficacy - usually a years-long process - could be accelerated to just six months during the pandemic, if data satisfied regulators that they have enough information to issue approvals. Still, she said, safety would be paramount.

Chinese vaccine candidate shows promise in animal tests
Animal tests of a potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Chinese researchers show it triggers an immune response against the coronavirus, offering some promise as it goes into early-stage human trials, according to a peer-reviewed study. ARCoV is a messenger RNA vaccine which uses technology similar to candidates being developed by Moderna and BioNtech and Pfizer. It is the second potential COVID-19 vaccine that China’s military-backed research unit has moved into clinical trials.
Results of trials of ARCoV in mice and monkeys, published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Cell on Thursday, show both single and two-dose inoculations induced strong antibody and T-cell responses against several COVID-19-causing virus strains.

Lonza cites Trump support on Moderna vaccine project
Swiss drugmaker Lonza sees no delays for its project to make Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate and has “strong support” from President Trump to get the necessary manufacturing equipment, its chairman said. Chairman Albert Baehny had earlier raised concerns that hiring qualified staff and finding gear like bioreactors on short notice could snarl aggressive goals to begin commercial manufacturing of vaccine ingredients for Moderna. Lonza is readying production of smaller batches this month for Moderna’s mRNA vaccine trials in 30,000 people.

India reports record 49,000 new coronavirus cases
India reported over 49,000 fresh cases of the novel coronavirus with 740 new deaths on Friday, marking the biggest daily surge in cases even as officials in some states complained of shortages of vital drugs for those hospitalized. As the number of cases neared 1.3 million in India, local authorities scrambled to procure generic versions of remdesivir, the drug that has shown promise in clinical trials in treating severely-ill patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Britain’s home testing dogged by delays
When Rachel Holdsworth developed a fever, she found her nearest coronavirus testing centre was an hour away by foot. So she ordered a home test kit through the National Health Service. It didn’t arrive for two days. Her sample wasn’t delivered to a laboratory until two days after that. By the time she received the test result in a text message – it was negative – five days had passed. To expand badly needed COVID-19 testing, the government has bet heavily on home testing, a strategy other countries severely affected by the virus haven’t tried. Home tests are now offered to anyone who exhibits symptoms.

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: UK retail, Pearson, Chinese buys. Britain’s retail recovery looks patchy, and Chinese investors in Western companies just can’t catch a break. Catch up with the latest financial insights.

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U.S.

With bilateral relations in free-fall, Beijing is bracing for more turbulence in the run-up to the U.S. election in November, and the possibility that a Joe Biden presidency presents an opportunity to avoid a deeper conflict. Washington’s demand this week that China shut its Houston consulate in 72 hours infuriated Beijing and forced a retaliatory order to close the U.S. consulate in Chengdu. As usual, China did not directly criticize President Donald Trump, who often speaks of his personal friendship with President Xi Jinping, but in caustic editorials state media portrayed the move as an election gambit.

Jimmy Tosh, who runs a multi-million dollar hog and grain farm in Tennessee, is a lifelong Republican. He is pro-gun, supports lower taxes and agrees with most of President Trump’s agenda. He is also spending his money to help defeat Trump in November’s election. Tosh is one of a growing number of wealthy conservative Americans who say Trump is a threat to democracy and the long-term health of the Republican Party.

Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen will return to his Manhattan apartment to finish his criminal sentence after a judge found he was imprisoned two weeks ago as retaliation for planning to publish a book about Trump.

Federal agents fired tear gas canisters at Black Lives Matter demonstrators in downtown Portland in a 56th straight day of protests, amid growing scrutiny over the use of border patrol officers in the city. Positioned behind a steel fence, agents began firing tear gas after a small group of protesters, many helmeted and wearing face masks, lit a fire at the entrance of the building shortly after midnight.

Wider Image

“The scariest thing about the arrest was that I couldn’t get married on time,” said Henry Tong, who was arrested during a Hong Kong protest last year along with his wife Elaine. Since June of last year, more than 9,000 people have been arrested during the Hong Kong protests. Among them are newlyweds Henry Tong and Elaine To, who prepared for a life apart as they faced rioting charges.

Sifting with bare hands, hundreds of scavengers at this landfill site on the outskirts of New Delhi expose themselves to a disease that has infected more than 15 million people globally and claimed over 600,000 lives.

Follow the money

Airbus offers 'final' concession in jet subsidy dispute

European planemaker Airbus made what it described as a final step aimed at halting a transatlantic trade war over billions of dollars of aircraft subsidies. Airbus said it had agreed to pay higher interest rates on government loans it received from France and Spain to help develop its A350 jet, which entered service in 2015.

3 min read

Fed hoped to skirt a second virus wave. Small businesses may sink in it

The number of outright failures of U.S. small businesses in the first months of the coronavirus pandemic was comparatively modest, but the months ahead look far grimmer as cash balances dwindle, federal help expires, and the disease surges back.

6 min read

Goldman Sachs, Malaysia agree to $3.9 billion settlement over 1MDB

Malaysia said Goldman Sachs has agreed to a $3.9 billion settlement with the government over the multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal. The deal includes a $2.5 billion cash payout by Goldman and a guarantee by the bank to return at least $1.4 billion in assets linked to 1MDB bonds, Malaysia’s finance ministry said in a statement.

1 min read

Huawei lawyers claim Trump created 'ominous' climate for extradition of CFO Meng to U.S.: documents

Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, have applied to a Canadian court seeking stays in the proceedings for her extradition to the United States, documents showed.

3 min read

Exclusive: More than 1,000 people at Twitter had ability to aid hack of accounts

More than a thousand Twitter employees and contractors as of earlier this year had access to internal tools that could change user account settings and hand control to others, two former employees said, making it hard to defend against the hacking that occurred last week.

6 min read

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