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The University of Maryland (UMD) has secured a Department of Defense (DOD) award totaling nearly $4 million to support data collection efforts on terrorism-related projects and other asymmetric threats.
The DOD would fund data collection on several projects that include the Study of Terrorism... Read More »
Citing data from six preclinical studies, Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics last week announced that their oral antiviral COVID-19 medicine, molnupiravir, maintained efficacy against the widespread Omicron variant.
These in vitro lab studies were independently organized and conducted by... Read More »
Brittany Global Technologies, based in New Bedford, Mass., has secured a $1.3 million Department of Defense (DoD) contract for industrial base production of Berry Amendment compliant fabrics for military uniforms.
“This increased capacity will ensure the U.S. government continues to have... Read More »
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a lawsuit to block Lockheed Martin Corporation from the vertical acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc to prevent critical market consolidation.
Regulators argued the $4.4 billion acquisition effort would remove the last independent U.S.... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. dosed the first participant this week for its Phase 2 study of a COVID-19 booster vaccine tailored to the omicron variant, mRNA-1273.529, kicking off a two cohort trial that will span the United States.
In all, approximately 300 participants will be enrolled in each cohort. One... Read More »
BAE Systems officials said the company has secured a Marine Corps contract award totaling $169 million for 33 Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACVs).
“BAE Systems is dedicated to helping the Marines meet their expeditionary and Force Design 2030 needs,” John Swift, director of amphibious programs... Read More »
Drawing from a $200 million program meant to stimulate the development of vaccines with broad betacoronavirus protection, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced a $16.9 million award this week for development efforts by BioNet.
BioNet, a French-Thai vaccine... Read More »
In support of the federal Project BioShield incentivization effort, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) recently launched a Request for Proposals for late-stage development, approval, and procurement of an antibiotic capable of overcoming... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations’ (CEPI) 100 Days Mission to reduce the vaccine development timeline received a $300 million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome.
While a fraction of the organization’s overall fundraising goal of $3.5 billion,... Read More »
Under a long-term agreement with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced this week, Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics have agreed to provide 3 million courses of COVID-19 oral antiviral molnupiravir for use in low and middle-income countries.
Distribution will occur throughout... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) recently collaborated to advance COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing in Africa.
CEPI seeks to develop vaccines against future epidemics, while IPD is a non-profit public interest foundation located in... Read More »
A new partnership between governmental, military, and academic scientists seeks to collaboratively develop a vaccine over the next five years capable of protecting against tularemia, melioidosis, and plague from a single source.
Aided by a $10 million grant for the Defense Threat Reduction... Read More »
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials said the agency has selected 10 industry and university research teams for the Enhanced Night Vision in Eyeglass Form (ENVision) program.
Authorities indicated ENVision's goal is to leverage recent advances in night vision (NV) systems... Read More »
Expanding options for individuals with COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) last week recommended two additional drugs for treatment: the oral inhibitor known as baricitinib and the monoclonal antibody drug sotrovimab.
Baricitinib is meant for use by those with severe or critical... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has coordinated with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to purchase 380 million over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits.
Contracts were awarded to Orlando, Florida-based Abbott Rapid Dx North America, LLC; Mountain View, California's iHealth Lab... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense announced Tuesday that it has exercised a contract option to continue its contract with Motorola to operate and maintain the U.S. Navy’s land mobile radio (LMR) system.
The $29 million contract supports continued critical radio communications at U.S. Navy... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced Monday that it had awarded contracts to Atlantic Trading, LLC, of Austin, Texas and Medea, Inc., of Pleasanton, Calif., that would purchase a combined total of 27 million over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits.
The contracts will support President Joe... Read More »
According to GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) and Vir Biotechnology, Inc., the United States government this week agreed to purchase another 600,000 doses of the COVID-19 antibody treatment sotrovimab, which will be distributed in this first quarter of 2022.
The arrangement stems from an amendment to... Read More »
Amid rising breakthrough cases of COVID-19, largely fueled by the spread of the omicron variant, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week shortened the time between primary and booster vaccination with a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to five months.
This revised timeline was reflected in... Read More »
As part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to provide 500 million free at-home COVID-19 tests throughout the United States, the Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded a $51.6 million contract to Goldbelt Security, LLC for delivery of test kits.
Kits will be provided over the counter at no cost... Read More »
An assessment is ongoing to determine the extent and source of a ransomware attack on the New Mexico cities of Albuquerque, Los Ranchos, and Tijeras, which took affected systems offline and severed network connections, forcing most county buildings to shutter on Jan. 5.
While employees continued... Read More »
The Navy has reached a five-year agreement worth up to $154 million with BAE Systems for the firm to continue supporting the Naval Air Warfare Center Webster Outlying Field.
“Those on the front lines need rapid integration of the latest technologies to ensure open, clear, secure, and reliable... Read More »
While Cue Health already has a COVID-19 test on the market capable of detecting the widespread omicron variant, the organization announced that it will work with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to create a point-of-care test specifically focused on rooting out... Read More »
The U.S. Army has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a five-year contract valued at over $1 billion to produce the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS).
The agreement would address low-rate initial production and full-rate production, touting IBCS’s open, modular, and scalable... Read More »
Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) and Former Secretary of Energy under the Obama administration Ernest J. Moniz, co-founders of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, said they applaud the position of world leaders that a nuclear war “cannot be won,” in a statement Monday.
The statement comes in... Read More »
Lockheed Martin officials are detailing the F-35 fighter jet program's progression, noting the continued expansion of its global footprint and operational capabilities enhancement.
"The F-35 joint enterprise team continues to provide unmatched combat capability to the 21st-century battlespace... Read More »
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) released news from the South African Phase 3b Sisonke study of its COVID-19 booster vaccine, which demonstrated 85 percent effectiveness against COVID-19 induced hospitalization, even in a region dominated by the omicron variant.
The results were preliminary, conducted by... Read More »
MilliporeSigma, based in Sheboygan, Wis., has secured a Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) pact to establish domestic nitrocellulose membrane production capacity.
The $136.7 million contract would enable MilliporeSigma to expand its industrial base to... Read More »
The Independent Allocation of Vaccines Group (IAVG), a manager of needs-based allocations for the global COVAX initiative, criticized rich nations last week for hoarding COVID-19 vaccines and issued steps to achieve a new goal of 70 percent immunization coverage by mid-2022.
“As the overall... Read More »
The United States authorized the first two pill-based treatments for COVID-19 last week, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granting emergency use authorization to both Pfizer Inc.’s paxlovid and Merck & Co. Inc.’s molnupiravir.
Taking the honor of first approval was paxlovid.... Read More »
The Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness will award up to $50 million in expanded support to SK bioscience as the company pursues a variant-proof vaccine candidate for sarbecoviruses, a group of viruses from which SARS-CoV-2 emerged.
“The rapid spread of the Omicron variant serves as a stark... Read More »
In an effort to close health disparities brought to light and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced this week that it has banded together with 15 digital health startups in the 2022 PandemicX Accelerator.
“PandemicX will... Read More »
In preliminary showings, a third dose of Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine increased antibody levels against the Omicron variant currently sweeping the world, painting the company’s strategy forward even as a years-long pandemic continues to evolve.
The report followed news that omicron, which... Read More »
The fight against COVID-19 earned another contender last week with the granting of an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization (WHO) to NVX-CoV2373, a vaccine created by Novavax and the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine to earn that listing.
Better known as COVOVAX, as... Read More »
With recommendations from an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) and positive antibody and safety showings from preliminary studies, Sanofi and GSK announced this week that their COVID-19 vaccine booster candidate will continue its Phase 3 trial.
So far, the DSMB has identified no... Read More »
