Research
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is providing a team of Toledo, Ohio-based Battelle researchers with funding earmarked for wastewater virus research.
“This should give us a reflection of what’s going on in specific neighborhoods,” Battelle Principal Research Scientist Rachel Spurbeck,... Read More »
A pair of automated antibody tests created by Ortho Clinical Diagnostics to track down COVID-19 will be further developed thanks to a new partnership between the company and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
The tests are known as VITROS Anti-SARS-COV-2 Total... Read More »
In exchange for rapidly testing drugs for potential repurposing as COVID-19 treatments, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers will receive up to $3.6 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) over the next year.
All of the drugs to be tested are... Read More »
Results from a University of Oxford study found that the low-cost, low-dose steroid dexamethasone was revealed this week to have reduced COVID-19 deaths by up to one third in patients hospitalized with the disease.
This is the first time a therapy has demonstrated any ability to improve survival... Read More »
Tamr Government Solutions, based in Cambridge, Mass., has received the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) inaugural Phase 5 award to develop an international traveler screening solution.
The $813,000 funding allotment via the Silicon Valley... Read More »
Raytheon Missiles & Defense personnel are espousing the benefits of the successful initial guided release of a StormBreaker smart weapon from an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
"StormBreaker is the only weapon that enables pilots to hit moving targets during bad weather or if dust and smoke are in the... Read More »
Pharmaceutical company SIGA Technologies, Inc. gained a boost to its work toward a label expansion for TPOXX, an antiviral drug for treating smallpox caused by variola virus, thanks to an increase in funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) this week.
With the addition, DoD is now... Read More »
Biotechnology company Regeneron has begun clinical trials of its REGN-COV2 cocktail, a two-antibody therapeutic for COVID-19, with recent funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
The therapeutic proposes to inhibit SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes... Read More »
Showcasing how much more has been learned about COVID-19 since its discovery, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) added an online calculator last week that estimates the natural decay of SARS-CoV-2 in the air.
SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, is... Read More »
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, introduced a new initiative to enhance global preparedness for future pandemics like COVID-19.
The Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action (ZODIAC) seeks to establish a global network to help national... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working to develop new treatments to combat microbial infections.
Through its Harnessing Enzymatic Activity for Lifesaving Remedies (HEALR) program, DARPA seeks to use new tools and strategies to treat microbial infections. Specifically,... Read More »
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals initiated the first clinical trial of REGN-COV2, an antibody cocktail for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
The REGN-COV2 clinical program will consist of four separate study populations, including hospitalized COVID-19 patients, non-hospitalized symptomatic... Read More »
Testing of Moderna’s mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine candidate moved forward this week, with the announcement that arrangements are being made to study 30,000 subjects as part of a phase 3 study in July and manufacturing set to reach as high as 1 billion 100 microgram doses per year in... Read More »
Another SARS-CoV-2 laboratory diagnostic has caught the attention of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is teaming up with OraSure Technology, Inc. to get it United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).
This test,... Read More »
For three years, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has supported the development of Chembio Diagnostics’ DPP Zika IgM System diagnostic system, and now, the result has been approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The test detects... Read More »
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) inventors John Neilan and Michael Puckette have come up with a breakthrough to treat foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in livestock.
FMD is a disease that is extremely contagious and afflicts animals with cloven... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has earmarked $3.9 million to fund small business research for homeland security technology needs assessment.
The agency has awarded 26 competitive research contracts to 23 small businesses participating in Phase... Read More »
A highly anticipated University of Minnesota study examining the use of hydroxychloroquine among young health care workers found the drug does not prevent symptoms of COVID-19.
The randomized trial primarily examined the use of the drug on 821 young participants with a median age of 40, who... Read More »
The University of Queensland (UQ) has partnered up with CSL and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to accelerate development, manufacturing, and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate its researchers pioneered earlier this year.
In an agreement formalized this week,... Read More »
Results are in from the phase 1 human trial of the Bavarian Nordic A/S vaccine candidate MVA-BN WEV, a prophylactic meant for use against three equine encephalitis viruses, and the data paints the picture of a well-tolerated vaccine capable of spurring immune responses.
The vaccine is meant to... Read More »
A coalition of AbbVie, Harbour BioMed (HBM), Utrecht University (UU), and Erasmus Medical Center (EMC) have joined together to create a monoclonal antibody therapy that could hold the key to preventing and treating COVID-19, through its viral cause: SARS-CoV-2.
The therapeutic is based on a... Read More »
As part of an expansion to their existing partnership, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and MODERNATX, Inc. will increase the domestic manufacturing capacity of the mRNA-1273 vaccine, a candidate to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The relationship has been ongoing... Read More »
A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) examines how federal agencies use infectious disease modeling to fight outbreaks and what can be done to improve them.
The report, titled “Infectious Disease Modeling: Opportunities to Improve Coordination and Ensure... Read More »
As part of a validation study, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) publicly posted test performance data from four antibody test kits this week.
This independent performance validation effort is being undertaken alongside the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has partnered with Bharat Biotech (BBIL) and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) to develop a Chikungunya vaccine, providing as much as $14.1 million for manufacturing and clinical development.
On the line is a two-dose,... Read More »
First responders and healthcare workers stand to benefit from a new partnership between the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Evidation Health, which are sifting through data from wearable devices to create an early warning algorithm for COVID-19 symptoms.
This... Read More »
Scientists and engineers at Texas A&M University are developing a device that can rapidly identify antibodies that can neutralize infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
"The difficulty of developing therapeutics and vaccines against emerging viral threats can also be obviously... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is working with Quidel Corp. to develop to detect COVID-19 and three additional respiratory viruses.
The two will work together to develop a rapid multi-analyte diagnostic test for use on the Sofia 2 assay system to detect the... Read More »
The latest addition to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority’s (BARDA) COVID-19 countermeasure portfolio is an automated total antibody test being developed in partnership with Siemens Healthineers.
The serological, lab-based test proposes to detect two items in human... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently delivered testimony maintaining the lack of foreign drug manufacturer inspections removes critical information about the quality of drugs manufactured for markets here.
The GAO said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began postponing almost... Read More »
BAE Systems said it has completed the initial test of its APKWS laser-guided rockets from a tactical configuration ground-based weapon system.
“Our customers see the value in low-cost, precision-strike capabilities that reduce the risk of collateral damage, and they want the flexibility to... Read More »
A partnership between the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and biotechnology company Genentech will yield a phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate two investigational drugs for the treatment of severe COVID-19 cases: anti-ST2 and IL-22-Fc.
The drugs will be tested on... Read More »
More than 30 countries and international partners/institutions have rallied behind the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), a new initiative from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Costa Rica designed to make scientific tools to fight COVID-19 universally available.
The show of unity... Read More »
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials said a pair of California-based firms have been selected to participate in its Gamma Ray Inspection Technology (GRIT) program to aid medical applications.
Lumitron Technologies and RadiaBeam Technologies have initiated efforts to... Read More »
Chimeron Bio and George Mason University's National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (NCBID) are teaming up to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccine development will be based on Chimeron Bio's ChaESARTM self-amplifying RNA technology. Plus, it will integrate Mason's complimenting... Read More »
