Research
According to top line data from a Phase 2/3 study of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine among children ages 6-11, released this week, the company determined that two doses given a month apart produced a strong antibody response -- stronger, even, than those seen in adults.
Conducted in collaboration... Read More »
Novartis officials said the company has established an agreement leveraging its manufacturing capacity and capabilities to address the COVID-19 pandemic by expanding Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine support.
The agreement targets the fill and finish of more than 50 million doses in 2021 at the Novartis... Read More »
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) announced it had joined the international Human Vaccines Project (HVP) Thursday, bringing its expertise and computing resources to the project to aid the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine and to improve understanding of immune response.... Read More »
Recognizing the delays that have plagued low-income countries at nearly every aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced this week a pledge of up to $120 million to accelerate access to the antiviral drug molnupiravir among low-income nations.
Molnupiravir is... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) announced a new solicitation this week for the development of rapid and affordable at-home SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, as well as supportive technologies to further more widespread, decentralized testing for COVID-19.
In reaching... Read More »
In a new position paper, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted the setbacks and failures faced worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlighted seven means for nations to begin building a more resilient and secure health system.
These recommendations include:
Utilizing... Read More »
Results arrived this week for a Phase 3 trial of Valneva SE’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001, and they revealed neutralizing antibody activity greater than 95 percent, along with broad T-cell responses and significant tolerability.
It was reported that the inactivated, adjuvanted vaccine... Read More »
A joint cybersecurity advisory (CSA) from the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Security Agency (NSA) has detailed an ongoing cyber threat to the U.S. Water and Wastewater... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported last week that tuberculosis (TB) deaths rose for the first time in more than a decade as COVID-19 continues to impact the world.
According to WHO, approximately 1.5 million people died as a result of TB in 2020. The organization noted that fewer... Read More »
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced it would be joining several agencies in New York City to conduct above-ground and below-ground air sampling studies.
The studies will help urban areas prepare for and recover from... Read More »
Following two successful Phase 3 trials of more than 6,000 patients, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week accepted the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. anti-COVID-19 cocktail known as REGEN-COV for priority review.
REGEN-COV is a mix of the antibodies casirivimab and... Read More »
The all-star team of government officials, scientists and industry executives who tackled COVID-19 made great strides in the development of an effective vaccine against the novel virus, but that is no guarantee that the United States will be ready for the next pandemic that rears its head, speakers... Read More »
A newly released Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health report has detailed recommended federal policy changes regarding masks and respirators.
The report, Masks and Respirators for the 21st Century: Policy Changes Needed to Save Lives and Prevent... Read More »
Nerve agent poisoning can result in a quick death, causing the central and peripheral nervous systems to shut down. For those fortunate enough to receive medical care and survive exposure, long-lasting side effects are probable, including seizures, extreme muscle spasms, and diminished mental... Read More »
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $73 million in cooperative agreements to 10 academic institutions last week through its Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to foster more public health information technology... Read More »
South Dakota-based Synthetik Applied Technologies, LLC has secured a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program award to develop explosives and illicit drugs detection technology.
Officials indicated Synthetik Applied Technologies, LLC was selected... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has earmarked over $1 million for research on countering potential unmanned aerial systems (UAS) threats.
The funding allotment to the University of North Dakota (UND) stemmed from the efforts of Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) as a member of the Senate Homeland... Read More »
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that her state would open up a $40 million Biodefense Commercialization Fund to support the state’s growing Life Science industry.
The fund would provide grants to companies within the state working to bring to market infectious disease solutions... Read More »
A new report from Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) has found that 20 years after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, America is not fully prepared for public health emergencies.
The report, 2021 Ready or Not: Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases,... Read More »
Thanks to collaborations with commercial and academic research partners alike, the Argonne National Laboratory has published new research showing the capabilities of artificial intelligence and simulation workflows to provide insight to the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome and potentially fuel drug... Read More »
A new House bill introduced by United States Reps. Mike Turner (R-OH), Jason Crow (D-CO), and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) -- the Havana Syndrome Service Member Support Act -- seeks to provide aid for those with Havana Syndrome-induced brain injuries and initiate federal efforts to address related... Read More »
Approximately 4,000 people from all over the world will be enrolled in a Phase 3 trial of a combined SK bioscience and GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate beginning this week.
The trial will combine the SK COVID-19 vaccine candidate GBP510 with GSK’s pandemic... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) released a compendium this week consisting of 24 innovative health technologies that could be used by low and middle-income countries to advance disease preparedness and response.
“Innovative technologies are accelerating access to healthcare everywhere, but... Read More »
Thinking up ways to better address future public health emergencies, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority’s (BARDA) Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures (DRIVe) has expanded a partner program focused on technology development to include digital health tools and... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) began a Phase 2 clinical trial last week to investigate any antibody response generated by an extra dose of authorized/approved COVID-19 vaccines among patients with autoimmune disease who experienced no response from a previous vaccine regimen.
The... Read More »
According to a new paper from the nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), artificial intelligence in nuclear weapons systems is a neutral wash of possibilities -- but it also appears inevitable, and as a result, immediate action is needed to balance benefits and risks while the technology is... Read More »
New voices were added to the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Tick-Borne Disease Working Group this week, filling positions left vacant by public members looking to workshop ideas on how best to counter rising cases of tick-borne illnesses.
In all, seven new members... Read More »
INOVIO received the green light for phase three of its INNOVATE Phase 2/3 clinical trial of INO-4800 last week, allowing it to proceed with efficacy evaluation of its COVID-19 DNA vaccine candidate in Brazil.
Alongside its partner, Advaccine Biopharmaceuticals Suzhou Co., Ltd., INOVIO intends to... Read More »
The largest ever Lassa Fever study in West Africa secured the means of testing this week, thanks to a contract between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Zalgen Labs LLC, which will supply antibody testing kits for up to 7,000 participants.
Zalgen, a biotechnology... Read More »
New data released by Johnson & Johnson this week showed that using its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine as a booster for the previously vaccinated could provide as much as a nine-fold increase in antibodies for patients at least 18 years old.
The news follows interim reports from July, published in... Read More »
Through publication of data in Vaccine, this week Soligenix showcased the capabilities of its filovirus vaccine platform to formulate and provide heat stabilization for multiple antigen combinations of vaccine candidates: monovalent, bivalent, and trivalent.
The single-vial platform project was... Read More »
A 210-person Phase 2 clinical trial for the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ABNCoV2, began this week to determine its potential as a booster vaccine for those who have either caught the disease previously or been otherwise vaccinated.
Licensed by Bavarian Nordic A/S and developed by AdaptVac, the... Read More »
Results of a Phase 3 clinical trial have shown that AstraZeneca’s antibody combination for COVID-19, AZD7442, cuts the risk of symptomatic COVID-19 cases by 77 percent for at least three months.
That is dependent on the treatment being taken prior to infection. However, the antibodies used in... Read More »
With the formation of a new Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for experts to lend their knowledge on the origins of pathogens with wide-reaching potential.
This multidisciplinary group will consist of up to 25... Read More »
While key federal agencies prepared interagency response plans and conducted 74 interagency exercises from 2009 through 2019 to prepare for and respond to a wide variety of biological incidents, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently determined that the agencies weren’t on the same... Read More »
