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Johnson & Johnson wants to begin human testing of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate by September as part of a $1 billion joint investment between the company and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The end goal is to create a billion vaccines for emergency pandemic use to be... Read More »
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) hosted a virtual summit last week to foster collaboration among government agencies and biopharmaceutical innovators to eradicate coronavirus (COVID-19).
The two-day virtual event allowed companies working on treatments and vaccines to come... Read More »
Clinical trials for the potential COVID-19 antiviral remdesivir are getting underway at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), which announced this week that it is enrolling patients for two studies.
The test, developed by Gilead Sciences Inc., is a general-purpose antiviral first... Read More »
Entos Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian biotechnology company, is working on a DNA vaccine candidate for SARS-CoV-2 -- the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 -- and intends to test it on animal models.
The vaccine, produced using a proprietary drug delivery platform, offers yet another potential... Read More »
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a rapid response research (RAPID) grant to a Northwestern University researcher to develop a new self-sanitizing medical face mask.
The funding initiative stems from the NSF calling for immediate proposals addressing the spread of... Read More »
BAE Systems has secured a $339 million contract modification from the Army to address long-term readiness and modernization needs of the M109 self-propelled howitzer program.
The scope of work would include the production of 48 vehicle sets of M109A7 Self-propelled Howitzer (SPH) and its... Read More »
Professional services and technologies firm KBR has secured a $26.8 million task order to provide additional Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) cybersecurity engineering support.
The agreement aids the AFLCMC’s Engineering Directorate Cyber Systems Engineering Division in... Read More »
The U.S. government has reached collaboration agreements with three more companies in the ongoing effort to create rapid COVID-19 diagnostic tests and fill the divide between demand and supply.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is involved in all three cases. It... Read More »
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has formed partnerships with the manufacturing and biotech industries to increase the state's supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical supplies to battle the coronavirus.
The partnerships with the Illinois Manufacturers' Association (IMA) and the... Read More »
Merck & Co. officials said the firm has provided 500,000 personal protective masks to New York City as part of efforts to address the COVID-19 outbreak.
“COVID-19 is a generational challenge to the global community,” Merck Chairman and CEO Kenneth C. Frazier said. “At Merck, we embrace our... Read More »
The global medicines company Novartis has committed to donating up to 130 million doses of generic hydroxychloroquine to support the COVID-19 pandemic response.
Hydroxychloroquine, in addition to chloroquine, is currently under evaluation in clinical trials for COVID-19 treatment. Novartis is... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) will provide additional support for the development of Kevzara as a potential treatment for COVID-19.
Kevzara -- developed under a collaboration between Regeneron and Sanofi... Read More »
Everlywell announced that an at-home test kit for COVID-19 would be available, starting Monday, March 23.
The initial supply of 30,000 tests is a significant increase in total COVID-19 tests that have been processed in the United States to date. The company plans to have testing and diagnosis... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will invest $4.9 million in a consortium working to develop a COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
The investment and partnership include the Institut Pasteur in Paris, Themis Bioscience, an Austrian biotechnology company, and the University of... Read More »
A new novel coronavirus test developed by the Georgia Esoteric and Molecular (GEM) Laboratory at the Georgia Department of Pathology promises diagnosis turnaround capabilities of just two hours.
At this time, the test is meant for patients of the Augusta University Health System. That said, Dr.... Read More »
While the preparations for COVID-19’s rapid spread through the United States have been widely noted as lacking, public health experts now are calling for public health officials -- not healthcare providers or politicians -- to take charge of the crisis and guide both the response to it and... Read More »
In the expanding efforts to find a solution to testing efforts against COVID-19, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has provided $561,330 to Mesa Biotech, Inc. for development of a new diagnostic test.
This funding -- along with technical expertise -- will help... Read More »
Expanding its efforts to bring COVID-19 vaccines to fruition, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) invested $620,000 into the development of a new vaccine candidate designed by the University of Hong Kong.
“I'm thankful for the support from CEPI,” HKU President Xiang... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions has struck an agreement with Vaxart, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, to develop and manufacture Vaxart’s experimental oral vaccine candidate for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
As part of the deal, Emergent will utilize its molecule-to-market contract development and... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions Inc., world-renowned as a bioterrorism expert, is also utilizing its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) status to help quash the coronavirus disease COVID-19.
“For 22 years, Emergent has focused on products and services that address serious public... Read More »
The World Bank and the International Finance Committee (IFC) approved a $14 billion financing package to assist companies and countries in their efforts to respond to the spread of COVID-19.
About $8 billion of that is from IFC, which is a member of the World Bank Group. It will increase its... Read More »
The measures announced by the Trump administration to control the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus have been endorsed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and its HIV Medicine Association.
IDSA officials said an “all-sector, all-society response” is essential to reducing... Read More »
The research organization RAND Corporation recently offered an assessment of the Space Force’s role, determining most space activities in the Department of Defense should be moved into the new service.
“Launching a Space Force offers the opportunity to increase U.S. military capability,... Read More »
The first participant in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-funded (NIAID), Phase 1 clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine received their first dose this week, officially beginning an approximately six-week program.
The investigational vaccine, mRNA-1273, will be tested on... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is looking to invest up to $2 billion to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
The $2 billion funding call will enable CEPI to expand the number of vaccine candidates to increase the chances of success and fund clinical trials for these... Read More »
World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Foundation officials said the newly launched (COVID-19) Solidarity Response Fund would raise funds from donors to aid countries responding to the pandemic.
The endeavor, created by the WHO, the United Nations Foundation, and the Swiss... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its fourth COVID-19 related diagnostic Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) this week, tapping Thermo Fisher for its TaqPath diagnostic test.
The TaqPath Combo Kit contains both assays and controls necessary to detect RNA from the SARS-CoV-2 virus... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced last week the grand prize winner of its Escape Respirator Prize Challenge.
The contest was launched in December 2018, seeking proposals from innovators for a compact, discreetly-carried escape... Read More »
A revealing study from The Lancet, published last week, revealed previously unknown details of the first case of person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 -- the cause of COVID-19 -- in the United States.
In this case, a woman who had recently traveled to China transmitted the infection to her... Read More »
As testing backlogs grow across the U.S., Hackensack Meridian Health of New Jersey announced last week that its Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) has created a rapid diagnostic for COVID-19 capable of reducing test times to mere hours.
The test allows the health network to quarantine... Read More »
President Donald Trump on Friday declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency, a move that will allow the federal government to tap into billions of dollars in aid to help combat the spread of the virus.
The national emergency declaration will allow up to $50 billion in government... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced Wednesday that it is adding to the list of potential novel coronavirus treatments by beginning work on two plasma-derived candidates meant to treat and prevent COVID-19 and its cause, SARS-CoV-2.
Both products, COVID-HIG and COVID-EIG, will be developed on... Read More »
FLIR Systems officials are espousing the benefits of a new high-definition midrange surveillance system designed to detect illegal activities in degraded weather conditions while distinguishing true threats and false alarms.
The FLIR Ranger HDC MR is a high-performance HD thermal imaging system... Read More »
Lockheed Martin officials said the recent testing of its next-generation long-range missile resulted in a flawless second performance following the missile's inaugural flight last December.
The weapon designed for the Army's Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) program was tested at White Sands... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories has joined forces with the Council on Strategic Risks to launch an initiative to make bioweapons obsolete.
The two organizations have released a report called “Making Bioweapons Obsolete: A Summary of Workshop Discussions. It makes recommendations for significantly... Read More »
