Research
Although it already has a successful COVID-19 vaccine in circulation, Moderna is developing a vaccine designed to address the troubling South African variant of the disease (B.1.351), and as of last week, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) began a phase one trial to evaluate it.
Known as... Read More »
Clinicians have created a portable test -- dubbed NIRVANA -- capable of detecting and sequencing COVID-19, its variants, and other viruses in mere moments, according to data published in the journal Med.
Primarily, the test cuts out the need for extra diagnostics and middlemen.
"This is a... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) announced this week that it will invest up to $200 million into promising vaccine candidates for SARS-CoV-2 and Betacoronavirus, following a call for proposals.
This funding will carry candidates through to clinical proof of concept and forms one... Read More »
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) officials said the agency has provided funding for studies evaluating the therapeutic potential of aCT1 eye drops in models of sulfur mustard corneal injury.
BARDA officials said the effort is via its Division of Research, Innovation... Read More »
Over the next year, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will lead a study of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness on health workers, thanks to a $4.9 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Participants in what is being called the PREVENT (Preventing... Read More »
Even as the United States reels from a year under the thumb of COVID-19, a new analysis from the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, released this week, warns that without action, the nation remains dangerously vulnerable to another pandemic or biological threat.
The report, Biodefense in... Read More »
Moderna, a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, announced Monday that it has shipped the 100 millionth dose of its COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. government.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 67 million doses of the... Read More »
Faced with an already mutating SARS-CoV-2 virus, the world has found itself needing to adapt its countermeasures -- and a team of scientists from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has responded with a new test capable of detecting even mutated strains.
The VaNGuard test, as it is... Read More »
A total of five national laboratories are now a part of the Accelerating Therapeutics for Opportunities in Medicine (ATOM) consortium, assisting public-private efforts to develop an artificial intelligence(AI)-driven drug discovery platform.
The latest labs to join this week were the U.S.... Read More »
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) have offered thoughts regarding the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) update of its January 2016 report assessing firearms trafficking from the United States to Mexico.
Meeks and Durbin provided input regarding how the report... Read More »
According to a new study from the Galveston National Laboratory, published last week in Nature Communications, combining monoclonal antibodies and the antiviral remdesivir can make for a potent defense against the lethal Marburg virus (MARV).
Conducted at the University of Texas Medical Branch... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is reemphasizing the federal government needs to proceed with greater urgency to bolster cybersecurity initiatives across the board amid rapidly evolving threats.
Per the GAO, the government needs to take 10 actions to address four major challenges... Read More »
Moving quickly to tamp down concerns raised by the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) this week, AstraZeneca announced today that primary analysis of its AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine’s phase three trial confirmed 76 percent efficacy against symptomatic cases.
“The primary analysis... Read More »
Cipla Therapeutics, and SIGA Technologies, Inc, announced Tuesday that they would be entering into a strategic partnership to deliver innovation and access to novel antibacterial drugs, particularly to fight biothreats.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), anti-microbial resistance... Read More »
Northrop Grumman Systems and Lockheed Martin have been awarded Department of Defense (DOD) contracts supporting the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) program.
NGI is an advanced interceptor designed to protect against intercontinental ballistic missile attacks. The DOD would ensure the overall... Read More »
A recently released Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health report is calling on the United States to address COVID-19 health misinformation and disinformation.
The call for a national strategy stems from the findings in "National Priorities to Combat... Read More »
Topline results from a phase three trial of the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. COVID-19 antibody treatment, REGEN-COV, are in, demonstrating 70 percent reductions in hospitalization or death and shortened symptom durations.
The results were not overly affected by dosage. Across three dosage... Read More »
Encouraged by its success against SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses in test-tube studies, Pfizer Inc. has launched a phase one study of healthy adults to determine if multiple ascending doses of an oral antiviral therapeutic could be effective against COVID-19.
PF-07321332 is a protease... Read More »
The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded $959,305 to the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory this week to create testing criteria for a COVID-19 digital contact tracing app.
The award was granted through the Silicon... Read More »
A Stewardship and Access Plan Development Guide for countering the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs was developed and released this week by CARB-X, some of its leading funders and major antibacterial researchers.
The Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Tina Smith (D-MN) and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced a bill that would improve coordination among government agencies when studying animal and human health to prevent disease outbreaks.
Specifically, the Advancing Emergency Preparedness Through One Health Act would require the... Read More »
U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel recently joined Connecticut and New York law enforcement and police departments in aiding the Connecticut State Police (CSP) with drone detection testing.
“If you want to fully neutralize the threat from a drone, you need to locate... Read More »
As the debate over AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine rages in Europe, the results of a phase three trial in the United States have shown the vaccine to be 79 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and 100 percent effective at preventing severe cases and hospitalization.
The... Read More »
Two Georgetown University infectious disease experts maintain vaccines alone may not be enough to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
Angela L. Rasmussen and Saskia V. Popescu, faculty affiliates of the university's Center for Global Health Science and Security, noted that protecting against the... Read More »
Pointing the finger firmly at China in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Republican leaders on the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee have written to the National Institutes of Health, urging its experts to join them in an independent investigation of the disease’s origins.
As the... Read More »
Warning that antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest public health threats of the age, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and several partner organizations wrote to House leaders last week urging them to create a comprehensive One Health approach to counter the rising... Read More »
Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Department of Justice (DOJ), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel have released an unclassified summary assessing domestic violent extremism.
The National Counterterrorism Center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and DHS... Read More »
The FBI's recently released 2020 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) annual report, the top three crimes reported by victims in last year were phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and extortion.
Authorities indicated the report stems from 791,790 complaints of suspected internet... Read More »
Moderna announced Tuesday that it has started its study of the COVID-19 vaccine in children.
Called the KidCOVE study, Moderna began Phase 2/3 of its study by administering the vaccine in children from 6 months to less than 12 years of age. The study is being done in collaboration with the... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security personnel recently joined the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in assessing findings regarding federal election integrity.
The findings from a joint report to the President issued... Read More »
Roche recently announced the launch of a new cobas SARS-CoV-2 Variant Set 1 Test to detect and differentiate between viral variants, recognizing the growing prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as those first seen in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil.
“Viruses naturally evolve... Read More »
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that until the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) fully implements its organization plan, it may put the country at risk for identifying and responding to cyberattacks.
The GAO said legislation in 2018 elevated... Read More »
Stefanie Tompkins is the new Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) director.
Tompkins, who possesses nearly eleven years of DARPA service, is the 23rd person to hold the post, noting the former Army military intelligence officer has an exceptional understanding of the agency’s... Read More »
Sanofi Pasteur and Translate Bio launched a Phase 1/2 clinical trial last week for an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate known as MRT5500, hoping for interim results in the third quarter of 2021.
The united efforts of the vaccine and mRNA therapeutics companies include parallel preclinical studies... Read More »
The first candidates were dosed this week as part of a phase one study of mRNA-1283, a new mRNA COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna, Inc.
Unlike its predecessor, which has proved highly effective against the original strain of the virus, this new vaccine candidate is meant to solve a major hiccup to... Read More »
