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As part of a phase three trial of the Novavax, Inc. COVID-19 vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, up to 3,000 volunteers between 12 and 17 years old will be dosed at up to 75 sites across the United States to determine potential pediatric applications.
While the number of vaccines for adults has been growing,... Read More »
The global COVAX initiative received a major boost in its fight against COVID-19 this week through a new deal with Moderna, Inc. that will bring up to 500 million doses of vaccine into the fold for use by the lowest income countries, including up to 34 million doses this year alone.
Delivery of... Read More »
A new report, the COVID CRIME INDEX 2021 REPORT, compiled by BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, found that cybercrime has experienced a massive uptick of 74 percent among banks and insurers alike since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The data, which focused on financial institutions and their... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. announced major investments this week to bring global rollout of its COVID-19 vaccine to as many as 3 billion doses next year and somewhere between 800 million and 1 billion doses this year.
The increase in supply stems from new funding commitments to Moderna’s owned and... Read More »
An Iowa State University research team is developing a new sensor capable of detecting Ebola in a single drop of blood while providing results in an hour.
Researchers indicated the sensor is based on DNA aptamers, described as short, single-stranded DNA molecules selectively bound to a specific... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Enalare Therapeutics partnered this week to reformulate the agnostic respiratory stimulant ENA-001 into an intramuscular, emergency treatment for opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD).
The action is being undertaken... Read More »
Merck has reached voluntary licensing agreements with five Indian generics manufacturers to produce molnupiravir for the COVID-stricken nation, granting it another oral therapeutic to aid the COVID-19 pandemic.
While molnupiravir is currently being studied in a phase three trial to treat... Read More »
As part of a new agreement reached with Moderna, Inc., Sanofi will provide fill/finish manufacturing services and supply packaging for up to 200 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, beginning in September.
“We welcome the opportunity to work with Sanofi on... Read More »
Following a recommended pause due to rare cases of severe blood clots among those administered the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are encouraging use to continue.
The announcement followed... Read More »
Hundreds of non-hospitalized volunteers are being enrolled in a Phase 2/3 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-run trial of the SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. creation SAB-185, a polyclonal antibody therapeutic meant to counter COVID-19.
The trial is known as ACTIV-2, part of the Accelerating COVID-19... Read More »
Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) are espousing the benefits of the Navy awarding a contract to Huntington Ingalls that will result in an amphibious warship.
Officials said $107,194,022 has been earmarked to purchase long-lead-time materials in advance of the construction of... Read More »
Valneva SE announced this week that it will no longer prioritize centralized discussions with the European Commission regarding the distribution of its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate VLA2001 but instead move to bilateral, country-by-country discussions.
“We’ve committed... Read More »
Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers are espousing the benefits of a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of identifying COVID-19-related conspiracy theories on social media.
The AI models how the conspiracy theories evolved and how they could someday help public health officials... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently awarded contracts to FLIR Systems, Leidos, and Charles River Analytics to create lightweight materials and more adaptable countermeasures for equipment protective against chemical and biological threats.
The problem is, while... Read More »
Several over-the-counter drugs could potentially find new lives treating COVID-19 symptoms, as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced this week that $155 million would be invested into a phase three trial of up to seven self-administered medications to that end.
It will be a... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoked last week the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the sole use of the monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab against COVID-19.
“Based on its ongoing analysis of emerging scientific data, specifically the sustained increase of SARS-CoV-2... Read More »
A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that there remains a relative dearth of antibacterial treatments in the pipeline, despite the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
The WHOʻs annual Antibacterial Pipeline Report found that of the 43 antibiotics that are currently in... Read More »
To provide real-time updates on federal actions that could help defend against biological threats, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has created an interactive recommendations tracker of completed, in-progress, and items of inaction.
“This new and interactive tracker will build on the... Read More »
Amid rising fears that variants of COVID-19 may already be reducing the efficacy of vaccines, INOVIO provided some good news last week, with news that its vaccine candidate produced neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses against all three major variant strains.
INO-4800, a DNA vaccine... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will invest approximately $24 million into the first year of contracts for the Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response (CEIRR) to aid a network of research sites investigating influenza.
These institutions cover... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) personnel and partners are espousing the benefits of a recently executed tabletop exercise designed to bolster Indianapolis 500 race safety.
CISA joined Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials, state and local... Read More »
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has utilized the BioFlash Biological Identifier created by Smiths Detection to successfully identify airborne traces of SARS-CoV-2 inside its campus in real-time.
BioFlash is a device that collects and analyses air samples, rapidly sifting... Read More »
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) engineers are espousing the benefits of a low-cost computer system connecting older public safety radios with the latest wireless communications networks.
“This NIST project aims to develop a prototype infrastructure that could be used by... Read More »
FLIR Systems, Inc. announced Monday that it had won a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop new fabrics embedded with catalysts and chemical agents that can fight and reduce chemical and biological threats on contact.
The fabrics will be incorporated... Read More »
Specialty vaccine company Valneva SE has concluded recruitment of 4,131 adults for a phase three trial of VLA1553, a single-shot chikungunya vaccine candidate.
If approved, VLA1553 would be the first chikungunya vaccine to gain Biologics License Application. This would, in turn, earn its... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) said its partnership with Niceville, Florida-based DEFENSEWERX (DWX) would bolster Homeland Security solutions advancement efforts.
DWX is a nonprofit organization focusing on cultivating ecosystems enabling... Read More »
A mix of casirivimab and imdevimab, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s REGEN-COV, is now strongly recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for high risk COVID-19 patients that are non-hospitalized.
The drug was given a strong rate based on randomized trials, which involved more than... Read More »
The international COVAX facility has managed to deliver more than 38 million doses of various COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to more than 100 economies within 42 days of its first international delivery to Ghana on Feb. 24, 2021.
It is a positive start for a massive global undertaking meant to... Read More »
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has earmarked $3 billion to 64 jurisdictions to bolster broad-based COVID-19 vaccine distribution, access, and administration efforts.
The funding allotment would support local efforts to increase vaccine uptake by expanding COVID-19 vaccine... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. is trumpeting the interim results of a phase three trial of its COVID-19 vaccine, which have shown antibodies persisting for six months post-vaccination.
These results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, come with some caveats, though. While the results were founded... Read More »
An assessment by the COVID-19 subcommittee of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) has concluded that blood clots affiliated with the AstraZeneca vaccine are concerning but rare and require further study to determine a causal relationship.
All... Read More »
Bavarian Nordic received a new supply order from Janssen Pharmaceutica NV to manufacture and deliver bulk drug substance of MVA-BN Filo vaccine to treat Ebola.
The MVA-BN Filo vaccine will be licensed to Janssen as part of its Ebola vaccine regimen, Zabdeno and Mvabea, which the European... Read More »
The specialty vaccine company Valneva SE has issued positive data for Part A of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate VLA2001.
Officials noted subject to regulatory approval, the company plans to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial by the end of... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. is joining forces with Catalent, Inc. to create a high-speed vial filling line in Indiana that will aid the manufacture of its COVID-19 vaccine and, potentially, other items in Moderna’s clinical portfolio.
While Catalent -- a provider of advanced delivery technologies,... Read More »
The Symbiotica COVID-19 Self-Collected Antibody Test System gained emergency use authorization from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week, making it the first antibody test authorized for use with self-collected dried blood spot samples.
The test allows those prescribed... Read More »
