UK jobless rate highest since 2016 as second COVID-19 lockdown hits

Image
  Britain’s unemployment rate hit its highest in nearly five years in the three months to November, when coronavirus cases began to rise for a second time and most of the country returned to a partial lockdown. Redundancies touched a record high, taking the unemployment rate to 5.0%, its highest since mid-2016, according to official data, although the increase was slightly weaker than economists’ forecasts. There were some signs of a limited recovery in December, when lockdown measures eased, although a deterioration is likely in early 2021 as a tougher lockdown shut schools and closed most non-essential businesses to the public. Tax data for December showed a 52,000 increase in the number of staff on company payrolls from November, but there were 828,000 fewer workers on payrolls than in February. Economists said the data showed the jobs market was holding up better than many forecasters had feared.Unemployment has been kept down by the government’s Job Retention Scheme, which sup...
Post a Comment

Merck ends COVID vaccine program, cites inferior immune responses

 


Drugmaker Merck & Co on Monday said it will end development of its two COVID-19 vaccines, and will focus pandemic research on treatments, with initial efficacy data on an experimental oral antiviral expected by the end of March.

Merck said in a statement it will record a pretax discontinuation charge in the fourth quarter for vaccine candidate V591, which it acquired with the purchase of Austrian vaccine maker Themis Bioscience, and V590, developed with nonprofit research organization IAVI.In early trials, both vaccines generated immune responses that were inferior to those seen in people who had recovered from COVID-19 as well as those reported for other COVID-19 vaccines, the company said.Merck was late to join the race to develop a vaccine to protect against the coronavirus, which has so far killed more than 2 million people and continues to surge in many parts of the world including the United States.

U.S. regulators in December authorized COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna Inc and partners Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, and tens of millions of doses of both have so far been administered globally. Rivals Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca Plc and others are also racing to develop safe and effective vaccines to protect against the virus.

Merck said it will focus COVID-19 research and manufacturing efforts on two investigational medicines: MK-7110 and MK-4482, which it now calls molnupiravir.Molnupiravir, which is being developed in collaboration with Ridgeback Bio, is an oral antiviral being studied in both hospital and outpatient settings. Merck said a phase 2/3 trial of the drug is set to finish in May, but initial efficacy results are due in the first quarter and will be made public if clinically meaningful.

Merck said results from a phase 3 study of MK-7110, an immune modulator being studied as a treatment for patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19, are expected in the first quarter. In December, the company announced a deal to supply MK-7110 to the U.S. government for up to about $356 million..

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UK jobless rate highest since 2016 as second COVID-19 lockdown hits

Image
  Britain’s unemployment rate hit its highest in nearly five years in the three months to November, when coronavirus cases began to rise for a second time and most of the country returned to a partial lockdown. Redundancies touched a record high, taking the unemployment rate to 5.0%, its highest since mid-2016, according to official data, although the increase was slightly weaker than economists’ forecasts. There were some signs of a limited recovery in December, when lockdown measures eased, although a deterioration is likely in early 2021 as a tougher lockdown shut schools and closed most non-essential businesses to the public. Tax data for December showed a 52,000 increase in the number of staff on company payrolls from November, but there were 828,000 fewer workers on payrolls than in February. Economists said the data showed the jobs market was holding up better than many forecasters had feared.Unemployment has been kept down by the government’s Job Retention Scheme, which sup...
Read more

PM inducts new ministers in Cabinet

Image
  Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli appointed eight new Cabinet ministers and one minister of state today, first time after he recommended dissolution of the House of Representatives on December 20. President Bidhya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed ministers. Portfolios of ministers Name of the minister Portfolio Top Bahadur Raymajhi Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Manichandra Thapa Drinking Water and Sanitation Prabhu Sah Urban Development Prem Bahadur Ale Forest and Environment Ganesh Thagunna Federal Affairs and General Administration Gauri Shankar Chaudhary Labour, Employment, and Social Security Juli Kumari Mahato Women, Children, and Senior Citizens Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal (portfolio changed) Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Hridayesh Tripathi (portfolio changed) Health and Population Lilanath Shrestha (portfolio changed) Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe (portfolio changed) Land Management, Coope...
Read more

When do I get a COVID-19 vaccine?

Image
File photo: A nurse prepares a shot as a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., gets underway in Binghamton, New York. There are typically 4 phases in a vaccine trial. The first 3 are the most crucial. That, in theory, is the journey to be taken by all the vaccines against COVID-19. Here, we focus on the journey of Moderna's mRNA-1273 shot. First the good news: The clinical trials drew an immense amount of altruism. Tens of thousands of volunteers offered their bodies to test the unproven, though promising, jabs. In July 2020, at the end of Phases 1 and 2, it already involved hundreds of volunteers. On Monday (November 16, 2020), Moderna's announcement stunned the world: a 94.5% vaccine efficacy, based on interim data, is as good as can be.In terms of the data science, the Phase 3 trials followed standard protocol involving 30,000 volunteers. The trial and analysis aren't complete yet, but initial result...
Read more