SoftBank Q1 Profit Beats Forecast as Intel Rally and OpenAI Investments Boost Returns 
Nintendo Shares Jump as Switch 2 Sales Boost Earnings 
Alphabet Stock Slides as Google AI Pioneer Jeff Dean Exits to Launch Discovery Loop 
Siemens Energy Q3 Profit Beats Forecast as AI-Driven Power Demand Fuels Growth 
Brazil Cuts Selic Rate to 14% as Inflation Eases but Risks Persist 
DBS Raises 2025 Outlook After Record Q2 Profit Driven by Wealth Management 
DoorDash Q2 Revenue Jumps 36% as Orders and DashPass Growth Drive Results 
Oil Prices Slip as Hormuz Shipping Progress and Rising U.S. Crude Stocks Weigh on Market 
Gold Price Hits Seven-Week High as Fed Rate Hike Bets Fade and Hormuz Deal Hopes Grow 
US Stock Futures Hold Steady as Iran Hormuz Deal and Earnings Shape Market Sentiment 
Delta Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Atlanta After Cockpit Fumes Reported 
Asian Stocks Slide as Semiconductor Selloff Weighs on South Korea and Japan 
Novo Nordisk Raises 2025 Outlook Despite Wegovy Pill Miss and CagriSema Setback 
Alibaba Plans Revenue-Sharing Model for Qwen3.8-Max AI Commercial Users 
Philippine GDP Growth Slows to 2.3% in Q2 
Daimler Truck Q2 Profit Falls 18%, 2026 Outlook Raised 
Glencore Posts Strong H1 2026 Earnings, Announces ASX Secondary Listing 
COVID-19 vaccines are expensive but a new alternative is coming and this will cut the costs. A division of the Japanese pharma company, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Company, has developed the world’s first plant-based coronavirus vaccine and is looking to launch it soon.
The Medicago biopharmaceutical company that is owned by Mitsubishi Tanabe said that its new COVID-19 vaccine would be cheaper and easier to move compared to the conventional types since this is plant-based. It was also mentioned that Medicago is also backed by the Marlboro producer, Philip Morris International.
According to the Financial Times, the head of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma’s vaccine business development, Toshifumi Tada, revealed that Medicago would be applying for approval of its plant-based vaccine in Canada by the end of this year.
With its successful development of the alternative COVID-19 vaccine, the Osaka headquartered pharmaceutical firm is expecting global demand for the product. The company also believes that the demand will remain strong since medical professionals continue to detect new strains of the highly contagious coronavirus.
It was noted that no single plant-based vaccine had been approved yet for use in humans, but supporters of the new technology stated that such a type of vaccine is very appealing since plant leaves grow quickly. This fact alone makes the production process cheaper and faster.
Traditional flu vaccines usually take around eight to 12 months to produce but Medicago’s plant-based alternative will only take up five to eight weeks. Plus, the vaccines do not need to be deep-frozen while being transported, as they can be stored at 2C to 8C temperatures.
“Compared to alternative production systems, our proprietary plant-based manufacturing platform has many advantages, including faster lead time, scalability, and versatility,” Medicago’s senior director of scientific and medical affairs, Nathalie Charland, said via the Nature Research Journal. “The rapid nature of our vaccine and therapeutic protein production unlocks many potential ways in which we can better respond to infectious diseases and public health challenges.”
Meanwhile, Medicago will partner with GlaxoSmithKline for the phase 3 trial for its plant-based vaccine in Canada, U.S., the U.K, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. The trial is said to involve 24,000 subjects in all.
