Covid-19 roundup: Cuomo administration allegedly gave Regeneron's George Yancopoulos special preference for testing — report; Acting tough, EU calls on AstraZeneca to 'catch up' on vaccine delivery before exporting

26 Mar 2021
endpts.com
VaccineAntibody
Regeneron’s president George Yancopoulos is in the hot seat, as reports emerge that he got special access to Covid-19 tests from the state of New York during a time when they were hard to come by. Unnamed sources told the New York Times that Yancopoulos, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s relatives, and other influential people got preferential treatment when it came to Covid-19 testing early on in the pandemic. Yancopoulos has longstanding ties to the embattled governor, and has been backed by successive Cuomo administrations, the Times reported on Thursday. A Regeneron spokesperson told Endpoints News that the company — which was working on a Covid-19 treatment — requested testing from the state after someone in Yancopoulos’ household came down with the virus in March 2020. The family got tested at their home that month, according to the Times. “As an essential worker, he was leading and meeting regularly with his team, and this was to ensure he did not pose a risk to that research team, who were actively working on new COVID-19 treatments,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We are disturbed by the negative and false insinuations, which undermine the relentless efforts of the Regeneron people during an incredibly challenging time.” Regeneron got emergency use authorization for its antibody cocktail back in January, a month and a half after it was given to President Donald Trump, who touted it (without data) as a “cure.” The OK came after Regeneron released data showing the drug, REGN-CoV2, reduced virus levels and hospitalization rates in newly diagnosed patients. In January, the US government struck a deal to purchase up to 1.25 million more doses of the treatment, bringing its total order to over 1.5 million doses. The new agreement could cost the country up to $2.6 billion. Previously, the government had inked a deal to secure enough doses to treat about 300,000 people. At the time, Yancopoulos noted that the treatment could potentially be an option for patients who become infected with new mutations of the virus. “The Regeneron cocktail of two antibodies, each targeting a different site on the virus, reduces the possibility of the virus becoming resistant,” he said at the time. Earlier this week, Regeneron announced that a lower-than-authorized dose of its combination of mAbs reduced hospitalization or death by 70% in non-hospitalized Covid-19 patients, and Yancopoulos said in a statement that the company would “rapidly discuss” the new data with regulators and request that a 1,200 mg dose be added to the EUA. On April 1, Cuomo said Regeneron would give the state 500,000 kits for test samples for free, “amid a nationwide shortage of test kits and swabs.” The company told the Times that Yancopoulos wasn’t involved in the donation. The New York State Assembly’s judiciary committee is adding the alleged preferential treatment to its list of investigations into Cuomo’s behavior, the Times reported. The committee is already looking into claims that Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, undercounted Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes, and covered up potential problems with a bridge named after his father. — Nicole DeFeudis The sparring between AstraZeneca and the EU has escalated once again, as the president of the European Commission said the company can’t export any more Covid-19 vaccinesCovid-19 vaccines from the continent until it makes good on its contract there. “I think it is clear for the company that, first of all the company has to catch up, has to honour the contract it has with the European member states, before it can engage again in exporting vaccines,” Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference after meeting with leaders of member nations. Her commission had earlier proposed tougher export controls on vaccines — a controversial move that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson criticized as not “sensible.” Just a day ago, the EU issued a joint statement with the UK, pledging to work together. It is unclear what concrete actions might come out of the EU, where vaccination rates have lagged far behind the UK. In her public comments, von der Leyen stopped short of endorsing the new emergency rules now going through legislation. Scientists at Pfizer have given the children in the first of three age groups the first doses of its Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in a pediatric trial. Children as young as 6 months old are included in the trial, which has 144 participants. Recipients will receive a lower dosage than what adults have received to start, Pfizer’s Bill Gruber told Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News . The three age groups are 6 months to 2 years old, 2-5 years old and 5-11 years old. Once the oldest group has received their vaccine, the trial will move to the next age group. “It’s the same vaccine but we take a very deliberate and careful approach to ensure ourselves of the safety and how well the vaccine can be tolerated in young children,” Gruber said. “So as we move down into the 5-11 year olds we start with a somewhat lower dose, and then we’ll move forward to a midsize dose, and then an adult dose if that is well tolerated.” The trial’s first phase will begin with a dosage of 10 micrograms, then progress to 20 and 30 micrograms. The later stages of the trial will be expanded to include 4,500 children in the US and Europe, NBC News reports . Gruber said that the company anticipates that the vaccine will be available to 12- to 15-year-olds by the start of next school year. For a look at all Endpoints News coronavirus stories, check out our special news channel .
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