Research
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) joined other members of Congress to call on Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson to expand access to the COVID-19 vaccine globally.
In a letter sent on May 5, Merkley, along with Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and... Read More »
The commercial-stage pharmaceutical company SIGA Technologies, Inc. has filed a New Drug Application (NDA) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the intravenous formulation (IV) of TPOXX.
The proposed NDA to treat human smallpox disease in adults and pediatric patients is the same as... Read More »
In an initial primary analysis of the Phase 2b trial of COVID-19 vaccine NVX-CoV-2373, a New England Journal of Medicine-published report revealed that the vaccine provided approximately 55 percent efficacy to non-HIV patients when pitted against the South African variant, B.1.351.
The Novavax,... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. reported initial data this week showing that in phase two testing, its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine proved effective and well-tolerated as a booster or a single 50 µg dose on the previously vaccinated, against both the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and two variants of concern.
In all, three... Read More »
Three Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) scientists have been selected as finalists for the Service to America Medals during Public Service Recognition Week this year, the group announced Monday.
David Boucher, Ph.D.; Dan Wolfe, Ph.D.; and John Lee, Ph.D., who... Read More »
As part of a phase three trial of the Novavax, Inc. COVID-19 vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, up to 3,000 volunteers between 12 and 17 years old will be dosed at up to 75 sites across the United States to determine potential pediatric applications.
While the number of vaccines for adults has been growing,... Read More »
In a call backed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), a bipartisan collection of more than 60 United States representatives wrote to House appropriators last week, asking for increased federal resources to address the growing threat of antimicrobial resistant (AMR)... Read More »
A new report, the COVID CRIME INDEX 2021 REPORT, compiled by BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, found that cybercrime has experienced a massive uptick of 74 percent among banks and insurers alike since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The data, which focused on financial institutions and their... Read More »
While the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the dangers of ill-prepared public health initiatives, a new case study-based report from the global Resolve to Save Lives initiative and its president and CEO Dr. Tom Frieden highlights the numerous ways that governments can invest in and prioritize... Read More »
An Iowa State University research team is developing a new sensor capable of detecting Ebola in a single drop of blood while providing results in an hour.
Researchers indicated the sensor is based on DNA aptamers, described as short, single-stranded DNA molecules selectively bound to a specific... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Enalare Therapeutics partnered this week to reformulate the agnostic respiratory stimulant ENA-001 into an intramuscular, emergency treatment for opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD).
The action is being undertaken... Read More »
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate Center of Excellence’s (COE) Borders, Trade, and Immigration Institute (BTI) announced the release of a report on cross-border e-commerce.
Working with the University of Houston, the report looked at... Read More »
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) researchers are espousing the benefits of a device capable of detecting biothreats from samples such as blood, water, CSF, food, and animal samples.
The Portable EnGineered Analytic Sensor with aUtomated Sampling (PEGASUS) is a miniaturized waveguide-based... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) reintroduced last week the U.S. Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Review Act to demand a study of the nation’s reliance on foreign nations for the pharmaceutical supply chain.
The bill would require a study produced by the Federal Trade... Read More »
Hundreds of non-hospitalized volunteers are being enrolled in a Phase 2/3 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-run trial of the SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. creation SAB-185, a polyclonal antibody therapeutic meant to counter COVID-19.
The trial is known as ACTIV-2, part of the Accelerating COVID-19... Read More »
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) have successfully designed and conducted a study to optimize methods for collecting and measure small amounts of the Ebola virus in... Read More »
Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers are espousing the benefits of a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of identifying COVID-19-related conspiracy theories on social media.
The AI models how the conspiracy theories evolved and how they could someday help public health officials... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently awarded contracts to FLIR Systems, Leidos, and Charles River Analytics to create lightweight materials and more adaptable countermeasures for equipment protective against chemical and biological threats.
The problem is, while... Read More »
Several over-the-counter drugs could potentially find new lives treating COVID-19 symptoms, as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced this week that $155 million would be invested into a phase three trial of up to seven self-administered medications to that end.
It will be a... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoked last week the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the sole use of the monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab against COVID-19.
“Based on its ongoing analysis of emerging scientific data, specifically the sustained increase of SARS-CoV-2... Read More »
A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that there remains a relative dearth of antibacterial treatments in the pipeline, despite the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
The WHOʻs annual Antibacterial Pipeline Report found that of the 43 antibiotics that are currently in... Read More »
To provide real-time updates on federal actions that could help defend against biological threats, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has created an interactive recommendations tracker of completed, in-progress, and items of inaction.
“This new and interactive tracker will build on the... Read More »
Amid rising fears that variants of COVID-19 may already be reducing the efficacy of vaccines, INOVIO provided some good news last week, with news that its vaccine candidate produced neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses against all three major variant strains.
INO-4800, a DNA vaccine... Read More »
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office has found the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spent nearly $1 billion assessing whether other countries’ capacity to address infectious disease threats before the... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released new guidance this week to clarify how it will request and conduct remote interactive evaluations during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, noting how critical such evaluations will be to operations.
This was meant for any FDA-regulated facilities,... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will invest approximately $24 million into the first year of contracts for the Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response (CEIRR) to aid a network of research sites investigating influenza.
These institutions cover... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released the findings of its investigation on an incident that occurred in Saraqib, Syrian Arab Republic, on Feb. 4, 2018.
OPCW’s Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) is charged with identifying the perpetrators of the use... Read More »
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines recently spearheaded an effort in which Congress received a report assessing intelligence community threats.
The endeavor examined various threats against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, great power competition, and rapidly evolving... Read More »
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has utilized the BioFlash Biological Identifier created by Smiths Detection to successfully identify airborne traces of SARS-CoV-2 inside its campus in real-time.
BioFlash is a device that collects and analyses air samples, rapidly sifting... Read More »
A phase two trial sponsored and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has begun to investigate the safety and efficacy of IC14, a lab-created monoclonal antibody meant to treat the respiratory troubles of... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a recommendation to the Department of Homeland Security regarding its plan to improve border security, including the use of personnel, barriers, and technology.
The GAO indicated its assessment of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS)... Read More »
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) engineers are espousing the benefits of a low-cost computer system connecting older public safety radios with the latest wireless communications networks.
“This NIST project aims to develop a prototype infrastructure that could be used by... Read More »
Specialty vaccine company Valneva SE has concluded recruitment of 4,131 adults for a phase three trial of VLA1553, a single-shot chikungunya vaccine candidate.
If approved, VLA1553 would be the first chikungunya vaccine to gain Biologics License Application. This would, in turn, earn its... Read More »
A mix of casirivimab and imdevimab, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s REGEN-COV, is now strongly recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for high risk COVID-19 patients that are non-hospitalized.
The drug was given a strong rate based on randomized trials, which involved more than... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced that it is expanding a pilot test of technology that improves the cybersecurity defenses for the country’s emergency communications infrastructure.
In a news release issued on Thursday, S&T said... Read More »
