Research
According to a new study from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), at least a few months of protection may be granted against reinfection to those with SARS-CoV-2.
As part of the National Institutes of Health, NCI worked with healthcare data analytics companies HealthVerity and Aetion, Inc. and... Read More »
A Phase 1B clinical trial of Lassa fever vaccine INO-4500, developed by INOVIO, began dosing its first patient this week in Ghana.
The vaccine is a first on several fronts: the first candidate for Lassa fever to begin human trials and the first to have trials conducted in West Africa, where the... Read More »
A pair of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) developed by Regeneron have shown promising signs against the coronavirus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in a phase one clinical trial that marked the first such test conducted on people.
In all, the National Institute of Allergy and... Read More »
Specialty vaccine company Valneva has initiated a Phase 3 study for its single-shot chikungunya vaccine candidate, VLA1553.
VLA1553 is the only chikungunya vaccine candidate in Phase 3 clinical trials. Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV).... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) personnel said the agency is aiding the scientific community and government decision-makers in proactive African Swine Fever approaches.
“Just because a disease isn’t currently present in the United States,... Read More »
In an effort to meet global supply demands, Sanofi has agreed to support the manufacturing of a COVID-19 vaccine made by Janssen Pharmaceutical NV and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., both of which are part of Johnson & Johnson.
The Janssen candidate has been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug... Read More »
Lauretta AI, LLC, a start-up based in Arlington, Mass., has secured a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) phase one funding award of $199,950 to aid the development of self-screening Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints.
The initiative is supported through the DHS's Science... Read More »
Following positive results from preclinical testing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham last year, the Altimmune Inc. COVID-19 vaccine candidate AdCOVID is set to start a phase one clinical trial this week.
Efforts will begin with patient enrollment, now that the U.S. Food and Drug... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Luminex Corporation announced a collaboration on advanced development support of a single test to rapidly detect and differentiate between COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Prevalent pathogens all,... Read More »
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are working to determine if, after a terrorist bombing, the bomb maker can be identified by skin proteins left on bomb components.
As a means of conducting the research, personnel from LLNL's Weapons Complex Integration (WCI) and Global... Read More »
In tests conducted by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), a new screening technology from Smiths Detection broke new ground in efforts to find and contain COVID-19: the capability to detect the virus SARS-CoV-2 in the air.
The BioFlesh Biological... Read More »
Building off a 2020 research and development agreement for coronavirus therapies, GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. announced a binding agreement this week to expand that collaboration into new therapies for flu and other respiratory viruses.
The pair will work together on... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a $1.4 million grant to scientists at West Virginia University (WVU) to develop therapeutics to treat infections prone to antibiotic resistance.
Mariette Barbier of the WVU School of Medicine will lead the research effort. Barbier and her team will present... Read More »
A new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security addresses the status of SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, sequencing, and the three emerging variant strains, establishing four policy recommendations to identify and manage them.
“Staying Ahead of the Variants: Policy Recommendations to... Read More »
A joint document recently released by the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA) and Partnership for Global Security (PGS) defines a comprehensive domestic strategy to advance nuclear power development.
“Clean energy technologies, including advanced nuclear energy, are essential to meet mid-century... Read More »
Another four COVID-19 therapeutics for those with mild to moderate symptoms moved further up the pipeline this week, with the announcement of enrollment for Phase 2/3 testing in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) ACTIV-2 trial.
ACTIV, or the Accelerating COVID-19... Read More »
BAE Systems has been awarded a $184 million contract option via the Marine Corps, covering production, fielding, and support costs for the Amphibious Combat Vehicles personnel carrier (ACV-P) variant.
The firm was awarded the initial full-rate production contract option in December for the... Read More »
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security introduced a new website last week known as the COVID-19 Testing Toolkit to provide essential information on available tests, testing services, how they work, and how accurate they are for any interested organizations.
“For a lot of organizations,... Read More »
Through a letter of intent released this week, AstraZeneca and IDT Biologika pledged to increase COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing in Europe and guarantee long-term supply capacity.
While the details are still up in the air, both companies also intend to invest in drug substance capacity.... Read More »
Following preliminary data that showed the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine to have minimal effect in preventing mild to moderate cases of a South African variant, the global COVAX initiative has nevertheless stressed the need to assess its efficacy against more severe illness.
Preliminary... Read More »
The National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) this week began enrolling participants for an international phase three clinical trial of AZD7442, an antibody combination developed by AstraZeneca to treat those hospitalized with COVID-19.
The trial is part of ACTIV-3, a... Read More »
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials said the organization has executed contract options to continue the Manta Ray project, which seeks to demonstrate technologies toward unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV).
“Manta Ray performers have each taken unique approaches to... Read More »
Where and when COVID-19 transmission rates are high, a new study published in The Lancet Public Health journal last week asserts that weekly testing and two week isolation periods for positive cases remain the most cost-effective ways to control spread.
This will remain the case until vaccines... Read More »
GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) and CureVac N.V. announced a €150 million ($180,639,000) collaboration last week focused on developing mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 and its emerging variants.
Their goal is a multi-valent candidate capable of fighting COVID and its iterations at the same time. This... Read More »
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency officials said a review of hacking exploits by cybersecurity researchers proved the value of System Security Integration Through Hardware and Firmware (SSITH) program.
“Knowing that virtually no system is unhackable, we expected to discover bugs within... Read More »
World Health Organization (WHO) officials have joined UNICEF, the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, and the Vaccine Alliance in touting COVAX’s first COVID-19 vaccine interim distribution forecast.
Building on the publication of the 2021 COVAX global and regional... Read More »
The results of Phase 3 clinical trials of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and South Africa were released this week in The Lancet, proving the vaccine to be safe and effective, including preventing any severe cases for at least 22 days after the first dose.
All told,... Read More »
An experimental, intranasal influenza vaccine developed by Emergent Biosolutions, Inc. passed a years-long test this week, showcasing strong immune responses among a small group of volunteers in a phase one study.
The results, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, showed that after... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) will invest $268,000 to develop standards for Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems used by public safety agencies.
The research project will seek to... Read More »
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) has been meeting with subscribers in the Nashville area and some surrounding areas that experienced outages after a Nashville bombing.
The Dec. 25, 2020 bombing of a Nashville AT&T building did not impact FirstNet network infrastructure... Read More »
In its first-ever global assessment of country health information systems, released this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that while two-thirds of low-income countries have some form of system to report causes of death, there is a widespread need for improvement.
This has been... Read More »
Visby Medical, Inc. was awarded a Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) this week that will allow it to expand efforts surrounding the Visby Personal PCR Test, a COVID-19 test seeking to add the capability to distinguish between influenza cases.
The test is meant to be... Read More »
Avails Medical, a Menlo Park, California diagnostics company, has secured an award worth up to $2.5 million from CARB-X to develop an electronic antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) device.
The innovation would expedite healthcare providers’ ability to determine the most effective... Read More »
With fears growing over mutated strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that have spread from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil, Innova Medical Group, Inc. provided some relief this week with confirmation that its antigen test kits are capable of identifying all three.
"As these dangerous... Read More »
Novartis signed an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech to leverage its manufacturing capacity and capabilities to support the production of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine.
Through this agreement, Novartis will use its aseptic manufacturing facilities at its site in Stein, Switzerland. Through... Read More »
