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Following the World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use listing of the AstraZeneca/University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine this week, the COVAX initiative announced it intends the bulk of the first deliveries to occur in March.
COVAX is finalizing the first and second quarter allocations of... Read More »
A new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security addresses the status of SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, sequencing, and the three emerging variant strains, establishing four policy recommendations to identify and manage them.
“Staying Ahead of the Variants: Policy Recommendations to... Read More »
A joint document recently released by the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA) and Partnership for Global Security (PGS) defines a comprehensive domestic strategy to advance nuclear power development.
“Clean energy technologies, including advanced nuclear energy, are essential to meet mid-century... Read More »
Another four COVID-19 therapeutics for those with mild to moderate symptoms moved further up the pipeline this week, with the announcement of enrollment for Phase 2/3 testing in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) ACTIV-2 trial.
ACTIV, or the Accelerating COVID-19... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) formally approved emergency authorization for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, allowing two versions of it to be distributed through the global COVAX program.
AstraZeneca-SKBio is producing the two vaccines in the Republic of Korea and the Serum Institute of... Read More »
BAE Systems has been awarded a $184 million contract option via the Marine Corps, covering production, fielding, and support costs for the Amphibious Combat Vehicles personnel carrier (ACV-P) variant.
The firm was awarded the initial full-rate production contract option in December for the... Read More »
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security introduced a new website last week known as the COVID-19 Testing Toolkit to provide essential information on available tests, testing services, how they work, and how accurate they are for any interested organizations.
“For a lot of organizations,... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. on Friday announced a new contract development and manufacturing company (CDMO) agreement with Canadian-based Providence Therapeutics, which is producing a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine similar to the Moderna Inc. and Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus shots already being... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office (TTO) has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a contract to develop an advanced technology weapon concept.
The effort would increase the engagement range and weapon effectiveness of domestic forces against... Read More »
Through a letter of intent released this week, AstraZeneca and IDT Biologika pledged to increase COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing in Europe and guarantee long-term supply capacity.
While the details are still up in the air, both companies also intend to invest in drug substance capacity.... Read More »
The U.S. Army announced that it will continue its relationship with Skydio, the leading U.S. drone manufacturer.
Specifically, the Army will continue with the Skydio X2D SRR system to complete the remaining integration and documentation requirements within the Other Transaction Agreement... Read More »
AppCensus, a start-up from El Cerrito, Calif., won a $198,600 award from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to develop testing and validation services for digital contact tracing applications.
The phase 1 award was made under S&T’s... Read More »
Lockheed Martin officials said the aerospace company has contracted with ABL Space Systems to supply a rocket and associated launch services for Lockheed Martin's first UK vertical satellite launch.
The UK Pathfinder Launch is slated to be the first vertical small satellite launch from UK soil... Read More »
Following preliminary data that showed the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine to have minimal effect in preventing mild to moderate cases of a South African variant, the global COVAX initiative has nevertheless stressed the need to assess its efficacy against more severe illness.
Preliminary... Read More »
The National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) this week began enrolling participants for an international phase three clinical trial of AZD7442, an antibody combination developed by AstraZeneca to treat those hospitalized with COVID-19.
The trial is part of ACTIV-3, a... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. on Monday hosted Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan at the multinational biopharmaceutical company’s East Baltimore, Md., Bayview facility where the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine candidate is being manufactured.
Emergent’s Bayview facility, which is designated by... Read More »
Where and when COVID-19 transmission rates are high, a new study published in The Lancet Public Health journal last week asserts that weekly testing and two week isolation periods for positive cases remain the most cost-effective ways to control spread.
This will remain the case until vaccines... Read More »
GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) and CureVac N.V. announced a €150 million ($180,639,000) collaboration last week focused on developing mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 and its emerging variants.
Their goal is a multi-valent candidate capable of fighting COVID and its iterations at the same time. This... Read More »
Following efficacy and safety data reports released earlier, Johnson & Johnson announced today that Janssen Biotech, Inc. -- J&J’s pharmaceutical arm -- has applied for Emergency Use Authorization from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.... Read More »
World Health Organization (WHO) officials have joined UNICEF, the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, and the Vaccine Alliance in touting COVAX’s first COVID-19 vaccine interim distribution forecast.
Building on the publication of the 2021 COVAX global and regional... Read More »
The results of Phase 3 clinical trials of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and South Africa were released this week in The Lancet, proving the vaccine to be safe and effective, including preventing any severe cases for at least 22 days after the first dose.
All told,... Read More »
An experimental, intranasal influenza vaccine developed by Emergent Biosolutions, Inc. passed a years-long test this week, showcasing strong immune responses among a small group of volunteers in a phase one study.
The results, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, showed that after... Read More »
In its first-ever global assessment of country health information systems, released this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that while two-thirds of low-income countries have some form of system to report causes of death, there is a widespread need for improvement.
This has been... Read More »
Visby Medical, Inc. was awarded a Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) this week that will allow it to expand efforts surrounding the Visby Personal PCR Test, a COVID-19 test seeking to add the capability to distinguish between influenza cases.
The test is meant to be... Read More »
Members of the Democrat-controlled U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee argued Wednesday the Trump administration’s actions on COVID-19 were inadequate to bring the pandemic under control and only the massive expenditure being called for by President Joe Biden will be enough to defeat the... Read More »
The UK Government has ordered 40 million more doses of Valneva’s adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate for supply in 2022.
This increases the total doses of the Valneva vaccine ordered by the UK Government to 100 million. Plus, the UK Government retains options for possibly a further 90... Read More »
Air Force officials said two firms have been selected to compete for task orders through the five-year Software Development Security Operations (DevSecOps) Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) contract.
The Air Force selected Northrop Grumman Corporation and Lockheed Martin for the endeavor. Northrop... Read More »
Avails Medical, a Menlo Park, California diagnostics company, has secured an award worth up to $2.5 million from CARB-X to develop an electronic antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) device.
The innovation would expedite healthcare providers’ ability to determine the most effective... Read More »
The United States Departments of Defense (DoD) and Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $231.8 million to Ellume USA LLC this week to expand the domestic production capacity of its COVID-19 Home Test.
These funds will increase Ellume’s U.S. production capacity by 640,000 tests per day by... Read More »
With fears growing over mutated strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that have spread from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil, Innova Medical Group, Inc. provided some relief this week with confirmation that its antigen test kits are capable of identifying all three.
"As these dangerous... Read More »
Novartis signed an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech to leverage its manufacturing capacity and capabilities to support the production of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine.
Through this agreement, Novartis will use its aseptic manufacturing facilities at its site in Stein, Switzerland. Through... Read More »
A new forecast from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington establishes the danger of two new variants of COVID-19, warning of the possibility of a surge of deaths later this year, even despite the vaccine rollout.
According to the report, B.1.351 -- the... Read More »
Those residents of the European Union 18 years or older will now be able to get AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to prevent COVID-19, following a conditional marketing authorization granted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
The approval will allow AstraZeneca to begin working with the EU... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, or CEPI, is awarding up to $140 million in funding to research institutions for clinical data on COVID-19 vaccines.
This initiative aims to fill in existing clinical research and development gaps to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines. The... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently joined Cactus League officials and affiliates in an exercise designed to review pre-incident preparedness measures and response plans.
For the second consecutive year, the tabletop exercise... Read More »
