A Chinese pharmaceutical company and Aerogen have teamed up to create an inhalation Covid-19 vaccination.

According to CanSinoBio, the inhaled vaccine uses a lesser dose, making vaccination of a greater number of individuals around the world more affordable.

CanSinoBio is using Aerogen’s aerosol drug delivery technology to offer a more efficient way of delivering its Convidecia vaccine. The businesses have partnered on supply and commercial development.

Convidecia Air, an inhaled vaccination, received emergency use approval as a booster dosage in China earlier this year. Shanghai was the first city to start adult booster vaccinations via inhalation in October.

Using a cup dispenser, the aerosolised vaccination is administered directly into the patient’s airway. This resembles the Covid-19 infection process in nature.

The businesses claimed that a far lower dose of the vaccine may be used to effectively administer the inhaled form of Convidecia. The CanSinoBio vaccine can now be affordably accessed by more patients than would have been possible with an injectable method.

The inhaled vaccine is currently undergoing clinical testing in Asia and Latin America, according to the two businesses. According to CanSinoBio, Morocco last week approved the use of its vaccine for emergency situations. Aerogen specialises in acute care aerosol medicine delivery, and more than 16 million patients have been treated in 75 different countries using its technology. It received the Irish Medtech Awards’ Medtech Company of the Year honour in 2020.

The Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, and Robert M. Davis, MSD’s global CEO and president, officially opened MSD Ireland’s new production facility at MSD Biotech in Swords, Co. Dublin.

Since construction on the biotech facility started in 2018, the healthcare business has invested more than €1 billion in it, and it is already essential to the production of MSD’s biologics-based medications, such as immuno-oncology.

There are now 70 unfilled opportunities, and 350 new jobs have been created since the establishment of the new location.

The pharmaceutical company has six locations in Ireland and has been operating there for many years. Approximately 3,000 employees work there. The pharmaceutical giant has just made almost $4 billion in its Irish operations.

In August of this year, MSD announced that as part of a significant expansion of its Carlow plant, it would add 100 new employees.

Cúram, a research centre for medical devices run by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), has received €14 million in EU funding to support the development of the field’s future pioneers.

The most recent investment, will result in the creation of 50 postdoctoral fellowship positions with a five-year term. Fellows are free to select their supervisor and secondment organisation as well as any study topic falling within Cúram’s purview.

The co-funding programme involves €7.1m from the European Union and €6.8m from CÚRAM to launch MedTrain+, an enhanced innovative Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action training programme.

University of Galway serves as the host university for Cúram, which has academic partners at ten Irish higher education institutions. All of the partner institutions will host the new postdoctoral research slots.

This award adds to the significant financing generated by Cúram researchers, who have received over €70 million in EU funding over the course of the institution’s first eight years.

A fresh source of funding has been introduced by Enterprise Ireland to help early-stage start-up businesses.

According to the statement, the new funding was created with entrepreneurs and high-growth early-stage start-up businesses in the manufacturing and internationally traded services industries in mind.

Enterprise Ireland claims that the increased investment was decided upon after consulting with business owners and other key players in Ireland’s start-up scene.

The national Business Innovation Centres (BICs) will hold a series of online “PreSeed Start Fund” application-support sessions over the upcoming weeks, according to Enterprise Ireland.

140 new positions have been generated by the new line, which produces injectable diagnostic imaging products used in CT and X-ray operations all over the world.

Iodinated contrast media, which are used to improve visualisation of organs, blood vessels, and tissues across disease pathways, have seen increased demand as a result of the significant growth in computed tomography (CT) procedures brought on by the rising prevalence of chronic disorders around the world.

The Pharmaceutical Diagnostics division of GE Healthcare creates and produces imaging agents for more than 100 million operations worldwide each year, or three patient procedures every second.

By 2025, the new production line is anticipated to enhance the Cork facility’s output capacity by more than 50%.