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The first American participants in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial of the BNT162 vaccine program, created by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, have been dosed as the companies ramp up manufacturing capabilities to meet 2020/2021 capacity needs.
That vaccine is meant to treat COVID-19, the disease that... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Roche for its Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19, antibody test.
The test is designed to help determine if a patient has been exposed to the virus and if the patient has developed antibodies against... Read More »
The U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) placed a new order under the contract awarded in 2017 to Bavarian Nordic for the manufacturing and supply of Jynneos, a smallpox and monkeypox vaccine.
The new award is for $202 million. It is in addition to the existing... Read More »
Global security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin has secured a $6.07 billion Army contract to produce Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptors and associated equipment.
"This contract demonstrates our customer's continued confidence in our ability... Read More »
Thanks in part to another $1.3 million of funding granted by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an agreement between INOVIO and Richter-Helm BioLogics will expand to support large-scale manufacturing of investigational COVID-19 vaccine INO-4800.
INOVIO originally made... Read More »
A group of organizations jointly released guidance concerning mosquito-based diseases.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Special Programme for Training and Research of Tropical Diseases (TDR) and the World Health... Read More »
Puritan Medical Products has been awarded a Department of Defense (DoD) contract to produce COVID-19 testing swabs.
“The Department of Defense will invest $75.5 million in Defense Production Act Title 3 funding to increase swab production by 20 million per month starting in May,” Lt. Col.... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently launched the $1.5 billion Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative, to infuse funding into innovative technologies aimed at speeding innovation, development, and commercialization of reliable COVID-19 tests.
Those technologies need... Read More »
Biotechnology companies Entos Pharmaceuticals and EpiVax, Inc. announced a partnership this week dedicated to the development of a pan-coronavirus DNA vaccine.
"We are excited to be working with the exceptional team at EpiVax, whose computational approach to optimizing vaccine design is second... Read More »
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has released a primer regarding SARS-CoV-2 serology antibody testing, as well as the research and policy questions the effort raises.
“As serological testing for SARS-CoV-2 advances, there are multiple issues that need to be addressed, from... Read More »
The Phase 3 SIMPLE trial of Gilead Sciences Inc’s antiviral drug remdesivir has reached its primary endpoint, supplying positive data that COVID-19 patients administered the drug early fared better than those treated later.
From 397 patients, the study revealed that 62 percent of patients... Read More »
The Cerus Corporation has created the INTERCEPT Blood System as a means to reduce pathogens in red blood cells, and now, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is collaborating with it to test the system’s capabilities against SARS-CoV-2.
SARS-CoV-2 is the virus... Read More »
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is poised to assist a national COVID-19 commission that would be created under legislation introduced earlier this month.
Specifically, recommendations and pandemic plans issued by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense would be reviewed and evaluated by... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will invest $3.5 million in Clover Biopharmaceuticals Australia to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
It is CEPIʻs ninth investment in a COVID-19 vaccine. The investments total $39.6 million.
This latest investment will support Clover... Read More »
Professional services and technology firm KBR has secured a $63.9 million Department of Defense (DoD) task order to develop interoperability solutions resulting in expanded military testing and training capabilities.
KBR’s scope of work on the DoD’s Test Resource Management Center (TRMC)... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) announced two partnerships this week in its ongoing fight against COVID-19: America’s Blood Centers, to help collect and distribute convalescent plasma, and InBios International, Inc. to hasten the development of serological... Read More »
Boeing recently completed another COVID-19 transport mission resulting in 1.5 million medical-grade face masks reaching healthcare professionals at Prisma Health in South Carolina.
The Boeing Dreamlifter delivered personal protective equipment (PPE) from Hong Kong in partnership with Prisma... Read More »
Northern Arizona University (NAU) researchers staffing the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute (PMI) have launched the COVID-19 Testing Service Center (CTSC) to grow the SARS-CoV-2 virus and test drugs against it.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis that requires the whole scientific community... Read More »
An Oxford University vaccine for COVID-19 funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) last month has officially advanced into Phase 1 testing, complete with human trials.
Known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, the candidate is the third CEPI-funded vaccine to enter Phase 1 trials.... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has struck a partnership with Cytovale to develop a rapid diagnostic system for sepsis as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response.
Cytovale’s rapid diagnostic system analyzes the biomechanical properties of immune cells, which... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. said on Thursday it will provide contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services to support Johnson & Johnson’s efforts to develop a vaccine candidate for COVID-19.
The vaccine candidate leverages the AdVac and PER.C6 technologies from the Janssen... Read More »
New York State and Bloomberg Philanthropies are working together on a contact tracing initiative to control the infection rate of COVID-19.
Bloomberg Philanthropies, founded by Mike Bloomberg, has committed $10.5 million, along with organizational support and technical assistance, to build out... Read More »
In a new report titled Developing a National Strategy for Serology in the United States, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security argued for the creation of a national antibody testing strategy in the United States to counteract the spread of COVID-19.
One of the major problems for the U.S.... Read More »
The spread of coronavirus in the United States has unveiled various levels of inequalities in society, including between major cities with more robust hospital systems and rural communities with less access to resources.
The COVID-19: A Frontline Guide for Local Decision-Makers, a global... Read More »
Pharmaceutical firm Roche said it has developed and would soon launch its test detecting antibodies in people exposed to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19.
The Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 serology test can support priority screening of high-risk... Read More »
Department of Justice officials recently forwarded a Business Review Letter to AmerisourceBergen, notifying the firm there would be no challenge to efforts to aid COVID-19 treatment efforts.
“We commend AmerisourceBergen’s efforts to assist the United States in responding to the COVID-19... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Tangen Biosciences, Inc. are teaming up to develop a rapid diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2, capable of producing results within an hour.
The test will be paired with the Tangen GeneSpark, a molecular diagnostic system, and... Read More »
Novartis is proceeding with a Phase III clinical trial to evaluate the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of patients with COVID-19 disease.
The company got the go-ahead from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The trial will involve approximately 440 patients and be conducted at... Read More »
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers said they have developed a tool designed to aid hospitals and medical professionals in disinfecting N95 masks.
In the wake of hospitals nationwide disinfecting N95 masks by placing them in repurposed rooms or shipping containers... Read More »
Animal testing of the Gilead Sciences Inc.-created antiviral Remdesivir showed promise against rhesus macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists said.
This study was led by the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and... Read More »
A universal Ebola vaccine may fight all four virus species that infect humans, according to preclinical tests of a new treatment at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Data published in the Journal of Virology shows the virus could work as a stand-alone protection, but may also... Read More »
In a teleconference between experts from the Immunization Action Coalition, FasterCures and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday, one thing was made abundantly clear: the world needs the best possible vaccines to combat COVID-19 as quickly as possible.
In the opinion of Dr.... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA) is working with Hememics Biotechnologies to develop a rapid antigen and antibody test to identify the COVID-19 coronavirus in 60 seconds.
The test will be designed to detect the SARS-CoV-2 antigen, which causes COVID-19, from nasal... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that a recent collaboration including U.S. Cotton, UnitedHealth Group, Quantigen, and the Gates Foundation has resulted in further COVID-19 testing option expansion.
Officials said the determination that spun synthetic swabs, with a design... Read More »
Invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has entered a new, $336 million contract with General Electric (GE) that will see 50,000 ventilators supplied to the government by July 13.
"The President promised on March 27 that we would have 100,000... Read More »
