French drugmaker Sanofi on Tuesday said it would invest 610 million euros ($679.4 million) at two of its French sites to turn them into a hub dedicated to research, development and production of vaccines.
Sanofi's Chief Executive Paul Hudson on Tuesday sought to set aside tensions with the French government and said the drugmaker was committed to helping France build up its healthcare independence.
President Emmanuel Macron said the French government would launch a new initiative this week to repatriate production of some pharmaceutical products to France, pledging to make 200 million euros available to fund production capacity.
U.S. health insurers may balk at covering tests that look for coronavirus antibodies in some cases, arguing that employers or the government should foot a bill expected to run into billions of dollars.
Amazon.com Inc said on Tuesday it launched a technology-aided system in some of its facilities to maintain social distancing, called 'Distance Assistant'.
Global cases of the novel coronavirus reached over 8 million on Monday, as infections surged in Latin America, while the United States and China grappled with fresh outbreaks.
The Chinese capital banned high-risk people from leaving and curbed public transport on Tuesday to stop the spread of the most serious coronavirus flare-up since February, which has stoked fears of a second wave of infections.
Singapore scientists testing a COVID-19 vaccine from U.S. firm Arcturus Therapeutics plan to start human trials in August after promising initial responses in mice.
