Private
A new platform, SolaVAX, aims to help inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus -- the virus which causes COVID-19 -- in patients, and its progress will be a joint project of its creators at Colorado State University and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
SolaVAX was... Read More »
Pharma company Moderna will collaborate with Catalent – a company that develops technologies and manufacturing solutions for drugs and consumer health products – on Moderna’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Catalent will provide vial filling and packaging capacity, as well as... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI, signed an agreement with Stevanato Group to supply glass vials to hold vaccine for the COVID-19 virus once it is developed.
Stevanato, based in Italy, will supply 100 million Type 1 Borosilicate glass vials to hold up to 2 billion... Read More »
The Department of Defense (DoD) recently awarded a $59 million contract to Alion Science and Technology to implement weapons systems research and development.
The scope of work would aid the Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC) Red Cell, information operations cell, and electromagnetic... Read More »
An existing partnership between vaccine company Sanofi Pasteur and clinical-stage mRNA therapeutics company Translate Bio expanded this week to include development of mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases.
The companies originally began collaborating in 2018. Now, their union will focus on... Read More »
Clover Biopharmaceuticals began phase 1 clinical trials in Perth, Australia, on its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which is supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
CEPI has provided up to $3.5 million for Clover to support the preparation and initiation of a trial... Read More »
Both INOVIO’s CELLECTRA 3PSP smart device and CELLECTRA 2000 devices will benefit from a $71 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), in the hopes of scaling up DNA delivery devices for the company’s potential COVID-19 vaccine, INO-4800.
Both devices deliver INO-4800... Read More »
A public-private partnership between the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and MBio Diagnostics aims to create a COVID-19 serology test capable of providing results within five minutes.
The test is a point-of-care diagnostic that tests for human anti-SARS-CoV-2... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories recently announced that it was working with medical device manufacturers to test mask materials and with local hospitals to evaluate N95 mask cleaning methods to boost the availability of masks in the beleaguered United States healthcare system.
This assistance is... Read More »
In an effort to reduce shortages and the reliance on foreign medical supply chains, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Department of Defense (DoD) have teamed up with Corning, Inc. to produce more glass tubing and vials quicker.
In particular, the federal... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) initiated a partnership with digital health developer Empatica last week that focuses on developing a wearable system and algorithm that can detect early signs of COVID-19 infection in individuals.
That system, known as Aura,... Read More »
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Defense (DOD) officials said the agencies have partnered to expedite vial manufacturing capacity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through Operation Warp Speed, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), under the... Read More »
The lack of a cohesive national plan for dealing with COVID-19 was once more brought to the fore last week with the release of a report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, which laid out a series of recommendations surrounding antibody studies.
These antibody studies --... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions revealed this week plans to expand its viral vector and gene therapy capabilities.
The company announced it will invest $75 million in its Canton, Mass., facility, which is focused on the contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) of drug substances for live viral... Read More »
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) Board of Directors has approved more than $200 million for network upgrades that include 5G and on-demand coverage.
“These investments mark the next major step in our mission as we continue to evolve the FirstNet network based on public... Read More »
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is providing a team of Toledo, Ohio-based Battelle researchers with funding earmarked for wastewater virus research.
“This should give us a reflection of what’s going on in specific neighborhoods,” Battelle Principal Research Scientist Rachel Spurbeck,... Read More »
The Senate voted to support GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, this week through a resolution introduced by U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Time Kaine (D-VA).
The resolution commends and reaffirms support for GAVI. It also puts the nation’s money where its mouth is, so to speak, pledging U.S.... Read More »
In exchange for rapidly testing drugs for potential repurposing as COVID-19 treatments, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers will receive up to $3.6 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) over the next year.
All of the drugs to be tested are... Read More »
Results from a University of Oxford study found that the low-cost, low-dose steroid dexamethasone was revealed this week to have reduced COVID-19 deaths by up to one third in patients hospitalized with the disease.
This is the first time a therapy has demonstrated any ability to improve survival... Read More »
Tamr Government Solutions, based in Cambridge, Mass., has received the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) inaugural Phase 5 award to develop an international traveler screening solution.
The $813,000 funding allotment via the Silicon Valley... Read More »
Raytheon Missiles & Defense personnel are espousing the benefits of the successful initial guided release of a StormBreaker smart weapon from an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
"StormBreaker is the only weapon that enables pilots to hit moving targets during bad weather or if dust and smoke are in the... Read More »
Pharmaceutical company SIGA Technologies, Inc. gained a boost to its work toward a label expansion for TPOXX, an antiviral drug for treating smallpox caused by variola virus, thanks to an increase in funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) this week.
With the addition, DoD is now... Read More »
Biotechnology company Regeneron has begun clinical trials of its REGN-COV2 cocktail, a two-antibody therapeutic for COVID-19, with recent funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
The therapeutic proposes to inhibit SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes... Read More »
Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has accelerated the initiation of the Phase 1/2a first-in-human clinical trial of its investigational COVID-19 vaccine.
The trial is expected to commence in the second half of July, moved up from its initial September time frame.... Read More »
Under the terms of a new contract, Bavarian Nordic will manufacture and deliver additional cases of the MVA-BN Filo vaccine in bulk to Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V., building its supply of Ebola vaccines.
The deal, valued $13.9 million, will kick off this year and build on the more than 2... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Snapdragon Chemistry are teaming up to develop a continuous manufacturing platform to produce a specific raw material for COVID-19 vaccines.
They are developing ribonucleotide triphosphates (NTPs), a critical raw material for... Read More »
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals initiated the first clinical trial of REGN-COV2, an antibody cocktail for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
The REGN-COV2 clinical program will consist of four separate study populations, including hospitalized COVID-19 patients, non-hospitalized symptomatic... Read More »
Health experts maintain the federal government needs to craft a plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccines in Black and Latino that have borne the brunt of the pandemic nationwide.
“They are going to have to make sure we have a sound distribution plan to make sure that we don’t repeat the mistakes... Read More »
Testing of Moderna’s mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine candidate moved forward this week, with the announcement that arrangements are being made to study 30,000 subjects as part of a phase 3 study in July and manufacturing set to reach as high as 1 billion 100 microgram doses per year in... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced Thursday it signed an agreement to provide its contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services to support AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the United States.
The agreement, valued at approximately $87 million, gives Emergent stateside... Read More »
Another SARS-CoV-2 laboratory diagnostic has caught the attention of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is teaming up with OraSure Technology, Inc. to get it United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).
This test,... Read More »
For three years, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has supported the development of Chembio Diagnostics’ DPP Zika IgM System diagnostic system, and now, the result has been approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The test detects... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have reached an interagency agreement with AstraZeneca to support phase 1 clinical development of a monoclonal antibody combination therapy for use against COVID-19.
This... Read More »
The University of Queensland (UQ) has partnered up with CSL and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to accelerate development, manufacturing, and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate its researchers pioneered earlier this year.
In an agreement formalized this week,... Read More »
Results are in from the phase 1 human trial of the Bavarian Nordic A/S vaccine candidate MVA-BN WEV, a prophylactic meant for use against three equine encephalitis viruses, and the data paints the picture of a well-tolerated vaccine capable of spurring immune responses.
The vaccine is meant to... Read More »
