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NIH Official Set to Testify Before COVID Panel on ‘Discrepancies’ in Pandemic Timeline
Lawrence Tabak, principal deputy director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will testify before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic later this month, with committee Chair Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) planning to ask about the “discrepancies” between prior testimonies. Tabak has agreed to testify before the subcommittee on May 16. He previously served as acting NIH director from December 2021 to November 2023. In January, he sat for a closed-door interview with the select subcommittee.
In a letter first shared with The Hill, Wenstrup cited to Tabak the recent testimony from EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak and the apparent “conflicts” between what he said and what NIH officials, including Tabak, have said as reason for the requested testimony.
Among the discrepancies the subcommittee found in Daszak’s testimony was his claim that EcoHealth was late in submitting its Year 5 report to NIH because it was “locked out” of the agency’s system, a claim that NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research Michael Lauer has refuted.
Wenstrup also asked for clarification on what NIH knew regarding the location of samples from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and whether the agency knew what the status of the relationship was between EcoHealth and the WIV. The virology lab in Wuhan was formally debarred from the U.S. for 10 years in September, though Daszak acknowledged EcoHealth is still in contact with the lab. Following Daszak’s testimony, Wenstrup called for EcoHealth to similarly be barred from receiving federal funds.
Wenstrup questioned if NIH is certain that no federal funds have reached WIV and whether EcoHealth’s continued contact is a violation of the debarment.
Pandemic Treaty Talks Will Go on After Missed Deadline, Some Progress, WHO Says
Talks to draw up a global pact to help fight future pandemics have ended without a draft agreement by the expected deadline, but progress has been made, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
Negotiators from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 194 member states were hoping to have a final draft agreement by the end of Friday, with a view toward adopting the legally binding text at the World Health Assembly later this month. But they missed that deadline and will now continue negotiations over the coming weeks ahead of the assembly, the World Health Organization (WHO), which is hosting the member-state-led negotiations, said in a statement on Friday evening.
Some of the treaty’s most contentious elements, including details around a “pathogen access and benefits system”, have already been pushed back for later discussion, with a deadline in two years. The system intends to codify sharing of material with pandemic potential, such as new viruses or strains, and ensure all countries benefit fairly from vaccines, drugs and tests developed as a result.
An existing agreement that governs pandemic influenza also has a clause about selling vaccines at affordable prices or donating them to WHO. It allows for between 5% and 20% for both options, to allow for flexibility in negotiating with manufacturers.
This framework is what would be brought into play should the H5N1 strain of avian flu, which has raised alarm after being identified in cows in the United States as well as among other animals and birds, become easily transmissible between humans.
Status of Chinese Citizen Journalist Who Reported on COVID Unknown on Day of Expected Prison Release
The whereabouts of a Chinese citizen journalist who served four years in prison for reporting on the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan and was expected to be released Monday are unknown, raising concern from activists. Zhang Zhan, who had been sentenced to four years in prison on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vaguely defined charge often used in political cases, has finished serving her sentence at Shanghai’s Women Prison.
Ren Quanniu, a former lawyer who previously represented Zhang, said he could not reach her father and expressed concern that Zhang would be released only to be put under another form of control by police. Monday was the last day of her four-year sentence, confirmed Ren and Jane Wang, another overseas activist who launched the Free Zhang Zhan campaign in the U.K.
Zhang was among a handful of citizen journalists who traveled to the central Chinese city of Wuhan after the government put it under total lockdown in February 2020, in the early days of the pandemic. She walked around the city to document public life as fears grew about the then-mysterious coronavirus. During her prison stay, Zhang staged a hunger strike and was hospitalized at one point in 2021.
Zhang’s family has faced police pressure during her stay in prison, and her parents have declined interview requests from media. Her family at times could only speak to their daughter by phone at the prison.
Japan’s Shionogi Says COVID Treatment Did Not Meet Endpoint in Late-Stage Trial
Japan’s Shionogi & Co (4507.T) said on Monday its pill-based treatment for COVID-19 did not meet the primary endpoint of showing a statistically significant reduction of 15 common symptoms of the illness in a global, late-stage trial. The company’s pivotal Phase 3 study (SCORPIO-HR) of ensitrelvir did however demonstrate a potent antiviral effect compared to placebo, the company said.
Shionogi said previously it expected the pill, known commercially as Xocova, to deliver $2 billion in annual sales if it secured U.S. approval. Xocova would compete with Pfizer‘s antiviral drug Paxlovid. Shionogi’s CEO told the Nikkei newspaper in March that the company expected to be able to sell the drug in the U.S. in early 2025.
Xocova was granted emergency approval by Japanese regulators in November 2022, making it the nation’s first domestically produced oral treatment for COVID. It received full approval in Japan in March 2024.
The Japanese government bought 2 million courses of the drug, most of which remain unused and are set to be destroyed, according to a Kyodo report this month.
Will Your Last COVID Vaccine Work Against New ‘FLiRT’ Variants?
There are two new COVID-19 variants circulating, posing a threat to a summer surge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking the new variants, scientifically known as KP.2 and KP.1.1 since at least the start of 2024. They’ve been steadily growing in prominence ever since, and have garnered the nickname “FLiRT” because of their mutations.
The latest data shows KP.2 is the dominant strain in the U.S., comprising almost 25% of the tests that have been sequenced. KP.1.1 makes up about 8% as of the end of April. Both are sublineages of the JN.1 lineage of the Omicron variant, the main COVID variant for roughly three years.
Both FLiRT variants are considered very similar to JN.1, health officials say, with early data suggesting only a couple of changes in their spike proteins.
It’s too soon to say whether a new COVID vaccine will be created for the summer months. While the CDC recently eased guidance surrounding COVID, the agency still recommends everyone 6 months old and older get the updated COVID vaccine released in fall, if they haven’t already.
Data Suggest SARS-CoV-2 Could Jump From Raccoon Dogs to People, but Species Barrier May Interfere
Raccoon dogs may carry and transmit COVID-19–causing SARS-CoV-2 to humans, although critical differences in the enzyme that facilitates viral entry into the cell may make the jump unlikely, a study in PLOS Pathogens finds.
“The key to a coronavirus moving from one species to another is its spike protein’s ability to bind to receptors on the cells of the new host,” the authors noted.
University of Minnesota researchers probed the interaction between the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE 2), which lets the virus enter the cell. Coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are known for their ability to jump species, the researchers said.
“Structural comparisons highlighted differences in the virus-binding residues of raccoon dog ACE2 compared to human ACE2 …, explaining their varied effectiveness as receptors for SARS-CoV-2,” the researchers wrote. “These variations contribute to the species barrier that exists between raccoon dogs and humans regarding SARS-CoV-2 transmission.”
