Hesperos applies organ-on-a-chip tech to ALS, Sinopharm details interim COVID-19 vaccine readout and more

Hesperos’ Human-on-a-Chip tech
In an Advanced Therapeutics paper, a University of Central Florida team led by Hesperos Inc. co-founder and chief scientist James Hickman tested the efficacy of an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatment regimen using its Human-on-a-Chip platform. The team recapitulated ALS-associated neuromuscular junction defects in an ALS model developed using  healthy primary muscle cells and patient-derived, induced pluripotent stem cell-derived motor neurons, and showed that the Deanna protocol, a proposed nutritional supplement regimen, could alleviate the neuromuscular junction defects. Hesperos has licensed the technology (see “Hesperos: Uniting Organs on a Chip”).

Interim readouts for Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine
In the Journal of the American Medical Association, Sinopharm revealed interim Phase I data showing that three immunizations — each separated by 28 days — with low, medium or high doses of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine induced mean neutralizing antibody titers of 316, 206 or 297; respectively.  Interim Phase II data showed that the medium vaccine dose, given 14 or 21 days apart, led to titers of 121 or 247. The report did not include a convalescent plasma comparator. Across both studies, only 48 of the 320  participants (15%) reported an adverse event, none of which were serious. ...