Research
In new data released by Eli Lilly and Company, a cocktail of neutralizing antibodies bamlanivimab and etesevimab reduced COVID-19 related hospitalizations and deaths by 70 percent among more than 1,000 high-risk patients.
According to the report, which was based on the BLAZE-1 phase three... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has announced a $36.5 million funding opportunity for a new DHS Center of Excellence (COE).
The COE's focus would be Engineering Secure Environments from Targeted Attacks (ESE). DHS is soliciting center lead... Read More »
Although well-tolerated, Merck’s two COVID-19 vaccine candidates -- V590 and V591 -- have been discontinued due to immune responses well below those provided by natural infection or other vaccines.
“We are grateful to our collaborators who worked with us on these vaccine candidates and to... Read More »
A recent report from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science finds that prescription use of opioids has fallen 60 percent since its peak in 2011.
Changes in clinical use, regulatory and reimbursement policies, and progressively more restrictive legislation have led to the reduced use, the... Read More »
The development and deployment of an effective vaccine for COVID-19 could be the turning point in the fight against the deadly pandemic, and companies involved in the process must make specific business and public health considerations simultaneously to help ensure a successful outcome, experts... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions and Humanigen have signed a contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services agreement to accelerate the manufacturing of the drug lenzilumab.
Lenzilumab is an anti-human granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) monoclonal antibody designed to prevent... Read More »
In a manuscript posted to a preprint server, Moderna Inc. addressed Monday the results of in vitro neutralization studies of sera from people vaccinated against emerging strains of SARS-CoV-2, which produced lesser, though still protective, results.
Specifically, the variants being fretted over... Read More »
COVAX announced last week that a new purchase agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech will secure up to 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for rollout, offering the potential to deliver at least 2 billion doses of vaccines, equitably, by year’s end.
“Today marks another milestone for COVAX:... Read More »
The Oklahoma Pandemic Center for Innovation and Excellence (OPCIE) officially opened in Stillwater, Okla., this week, presenting a new lab, genetic biorepository, and science lab to address public health concerns.
The facility is meant to serve as a frontline of defense against future... Read More »
Chalmers University of Technology researchers have determined that significant genetic transfer between bacteria in our ecosystems and humans may be linked to pathogenic bacteria in humans developing resistance to antibiotics.
"In recent years, we've seen that resistance genes spread to human... Read More »
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis has determined Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to develop a jam-resistant GPS capability for the military called M-code has been delayed, causing ripple effects.
Per the GAO, modernized satellites are in space, but receiver equipment needed... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will award nearly $20 million in funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act to increase data sharing between health information exchanges and immunization information systems.
“These CARES Act funds will... Read More »
ConserV Bioscience Limited (CBL) and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) agreed to collaborate this week in creating a universal coronavirus vaccine capable of protecting against coronavirus pathogens of human and animal origin, as well as new mutations, researchers said.
CBL, a... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) hosted a virtual forum last week to identify knowledge gaps and set research priorities for vaccines against COVID-19.
At the forum – attended by more than 2,800 scientists from 130 countries – the participants discussed the safety and efficacy of existing... Read More »
With £2.5 million in funding from UK Research and Innovation, an arm of the government, the G2P-UK National Virology Consortium has been founded to study the threats posed by new SARS-CoV-2 variants increasingly cropping up across the world.
The effects of these mutations have yet to be fully... Read More »
The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $69.3 million to CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals Inc. last week to support the development of domestic production capability for critical medicines using integrated continuous manufacturing (ICM) technology.
ICM is a... Read More »
Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS), which the company developed with the Army, would proceed with low rate initial production (LRIP).
The action stems from a successful Milestone C decision for the program, which the Department of... Read More »
The Rockefeller Foundation seeks to boost vaccination efforts in the United States with a $30 million new advance market commitment (AMC) with Thermo Fisher Scientific to procure and stock COVID-19 tests.
The investment will provide guaranteed demand to test manufacturers. In return, the stock... Read More »
The Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation has awarded two projects a total of $1.5 million to address homeland security threat detection and 3D mapping technologies.
The BIRD Homeland Security (HLS) program is a joint initiative funded by the Department of... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) will be able to purchase more than 2 million additional COVID-19 antibody treatments due to modifications to an existing agreement with Eli Lilly and Company.
The therapeutic in question,... Read More »
As DiaSorin Molecular LLC works to create a combination diagnostic for differentiating between influenza A/B and COVID-19, it will receive funding, technical assistance, and the expertise of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
The announcement, made this week,... Read More »
A Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) and Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) report has determined a blueprint for identifying high-risk or illicit nuclear trade activities at scale.
Signals in the Noise: Preventing Nuclear Proliferation with Machine Learning & Publicly Available... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is working with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to improve the detection of synthetic opioids.
Specifically, as part of this initiative, DHS and PNNL will assess the performance of field... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has partnered with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) to develop firefighter tracking technology.
The effort would allow first responders to locate team members in burning buildings more accurately.... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. will expand its vaccine efforts with three new development programs targeting mRNA vaccines for HIV, Nipah, and four seasonal flu viruses.
The company also intends to expand its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine program to older adults.
This is thanks to the... Read More »
As a new, more infectious strain of SARS-CoV-2 spreads further from the United Kingdom and across the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising that its impact on molecular tests will likely be low, with three approved tests currently affected.
The variant, known as... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is exploring the development of next-generation night-vision goggle (NVG) technology.
The Enhanced Night Vision in eyeglass form (ENVision) program allows the DSO seeks to create lightweight NVGs offering a... Read More »
Both Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) DRIVe and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) put out a call this week for comments on potential evaluation criteria and testing protocols for an improved mask design challenge.
Input will help... Read More »
A collaboration and services agreement united Bayer and CureVac N.V. this week in support of CureVac’s new class mRNA-based medicines, particularly its COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV.
Under the agreement, Bayer will support development, supply, and key territory operations through its... Read More »
A new report from the LaJolla Institute for Immunology has revealed that almost all survivors of COVID-19 have the immune cells necessary to fight re-infection.
Based on analyses of blood samples from 188 COVID-19 patients, the findings suggest that the immune system learns to fight specific... Read More »
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) has launched a multi-year research effort officials said is designed to automate broad-area search of multi-source satellite imagery.
The Space-based Machine Automated Recognition Technique (SMART) program detects, monitors, and... Read More »
Under a $13.5 million contract, Bavarian Nordic A/S announced this week that it would provide supplies of its IMVANEX smallpox vaccine to three European governments in the first half of 2021.
“We are pleased to expand our sales of smallpox vaccines to other countries,” Paul Chaplin,... Read More »
ACTIV-2, a study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has begun phase 2/3 trials to evaluate two monoclonal antibody therapies that could help those with mild or moderate cases of COVID-19.
The twin antibodies are known as BRII-196 and BRII-198, both... Read More »
A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) report assessing the 2020 calendar year detailed the implementation of modifications across more than 440 federalized airports nationwide amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2020, the agency screened a total of approximately 324... Read More »
Laura McGill has been named Sandia National Laboratories deputy labs director and will lead its nuclear deterrence programs to support safety, security, and reliability excellence.
“I’m honored to join Sandia Labs and the tradition of serving the national security mission,” McGill said.... Read More »
