Research
Moderna, Inc. dosed the first participant this week for its Phase 2 study of a COVID-19 booster vaccine tailored to the omicron variant, mRNA-1273.529, kicking off a two cohort trial that will span the United States.
In all, approximately 300 participants will be enrolled in each cohort. One... Read More »
Drawing from a $200 million program meant to stimulate the development of vaccines with broad betacoronavirus protection, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced a $16.9 million award this week for development efforts by BioNet.
BioNet, a French-Thai vaccine... Read More »
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued Monday its December 2021 operational statistics update, which offers a comprehensive view of agency initiatives.
“The dedicated men and women at CBP are committed to ensuring dangerous drugs and counterfeit products are off the streets, our... Read More »
In support of the federal Project BioShield incentivization effort, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) recently launched a Request for Proposals for late-stage development, approval, and procurement of an antibiotic capable of overcoming... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations’ (CEPI) 100 Days Mission to reduce the vaccine development timeline received a $300 million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome.
While a fraction of the organization’s overall fundraising goal of $3.5 billion,... Read More »
A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) report determined firearm discoveries at Georgia airports increased in 2021.
Per the analysis, officers at Georgia airports discovered 542 firearms in travelers’ carry-on luggage last year, with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport... Read More »
Under a long-term agreement with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced this week, Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics have agreed to provide 3 million courses of COVID-19 oral antiviral molnupiravir for use in low and middle-income countries.
Distribution will occur throughout... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) recently collaborated to advance COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing in Africa.
CEPI seeks to develop vaccines against future epidemics, while IPD is a non-profit public interest foundation located in... Read More »
A new partnership between governmental, military, and academic scientists seeks to collaboratively develop a vaccine over the next five years capable of protecting against tularemia, melioidosis, and plague from a single source.
Aided by a $10 million grant for the Defense Threat Reduction... Read More »
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials said the agency has selected 10 industry and university research teams for the Enhanced Night Vision in Eyeglass Form (ENVision) program.
Authorities indicated ENVision's goal is to leverage recent advances in night vision (NV) systems... Read More »
Expanding options for individuals with COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) last week recommended two additional drugs for treatment: the oral inhibitor known as baricitinib and the monoclonal antibody drug sotrovimab.
Baricitinib is meant for use by those with severe or critical... Read More »
While Cue Health already has a COVID-19 test on the market capable of detecting the widespread omicron variant, the organization announced that it will work with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to create a point-of-care test specifically focused on rooting out... Read More »
Lockheed Martin officials are detailing the F-35 fighter jet program's progression, noting the continued expansion of its global footprint and operational capabilities enhancement.
"The F-35 joint enterprise team continues to provide unmatched combat capability to the 21st-century battlespace... Read More »
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) released news from the South African Phase 3b Sisonke study of its COVID-19 booster vaccine, which demonstrated 85 percent effectiveness against COVID-19 induced hospitalization, even in a region dominated by the omicron variant.
The results were preliminary, conducted by... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched an initiative to address potential machine learning (ML) model attacks.
The Guaranteeing AI Robustness against Deception (GARD) program seeks to work ahead of safety challenges by developing a new generation of defenses against... Read More »
With a growing body of evidence that novel coronaviruses will continue to infect animals to afflict humans anew, top scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have called for collaboration in pursuit of a universal coronavirus vaccine.
Drs. Anthony Fauci, Jeffery Taubenberger, and... Read More »
With recommendations from an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) and positive antibody and safety showings from preliminary studies, Sanofi and GSK announced this week that their COVID-19 vaccine booster candidate will continue its Phase 3 trial.
So far, the DSMB has identified no... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM), co-founders of the Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus, said two of their bipartisan bills addressing Artificial Intelligence and the U.S. government have passed as part of the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.
The bills, the... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Screening at Speed Program announced Tuesday it had awarded more than $2.5 million to Vanderlande Industries to develop a passenger self-screening concept design and prototype to streamline TSA PreCheck... Read More »
The U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the recent launch of its Hack DHS bug bounty program represents an effort to identify potential agency cybersecurity vulnerabilities while increasing cybersecurity resilience.
“As the federal government’s cybersecurity quarterback, DHS... Read More »
With as many as 40 percent of medical device manufacturing facilities refusing to submit records when asked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-IL) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have proposed a bill that would encourage compliance.
The requests were made between... Read More »
A new report released by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security this week determined that the failure to incorporate primary care providers into the frontline response to COVID-19 and the larger public health system could have improved care, testing, and vaccination acceptance.
In... Read More »
Pfizer and BioNTech officials recently provided an update regarding the Omicron variant, noting results of an initial laboratory study demonstrating serum antibodies via BNT162b2 neutralize the variant after three doses.
“Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against... Read More »
A new report from the Nuclear Threat Initiative has found that nations around the world remain “dangerously unprepared” to meet future epidemic and pandemic threats,
The report – the 2021 Global Health Security (GHS) Index -- measured the capacities of 195 countries to prepare for... Read More »
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Tuesday that it has awarded $22 million to nearly 30 organizations across the globe to combat antimicrobial resistance (AR) and other healthcare threats.
The CDC also established two new networks – the Global Action in Healthcare... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended the deadline for DHS Cooling Solutions Challenge submissions to Feb. 24, 2022.
Through the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), DHS is encouraging domestic innovators to develop... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has released a new Master Question List (MQL) for Synthetic Opioids.
The MQL serves as a reference guide as a means of aiding emergency responders and the research community by providing critical and vetted... Read More »
With a new disease variant come further questions of vaccine viability and new tests, and this week, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced an expansion of a vaccine agreement with Gritstone bio Inc. to test its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine against the Omicron variant.... Read More »
For a world where masks are among the new norms, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has launched the second phase of a $500,000 contest to develop creative, comfortable, and effective new mask designs for the public.
For this competition, BARDA is working with the... Read More »
According to a report released Friday by the White House, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is leading the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to combat human trafficking.
DHS helped the White House develop a whole-of-government National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking,... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) reopened submissions for redeveloping therapeutics into medical countermeasures against chemical threats last week.
Of interest are therapeutics already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or those in... Read More »
Preliminary results from a Phase 2 mix and match trial of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 booster vaccine are in, and they determined that administered six months after a vaccination routine of BioNTech and Pfizer’s BNT162b2, both antibody and T-cell responses rise.
The independent study,... Read More »
As part of a trial co-funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp. (MVC), researchers will mix and match COVID-19 boosters focusing on combinations of MVC’s vaccine candidate and others.
“As we strive to stay one step ahead of... Read More »
Last week, the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, approved an initial investment of $155.7 million to support the introduction, acquisition, and delivery of malaria vaccines throughout eligible nations in sub-Saharan Africa between 2022 and 2025.
The public-private health organization hopes... Read More »
A new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center makes recommendations on modernizing the U.S. public healthcare systems in light of the challenges the country has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report, Public health Forward: Modernizing the U.S. Public Health System, outlines critical... Read More »
