Research
The Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA) is working with Hememics Biotechnologies to develop a rapid antigen and antibody test to identify the COVID-19 coronavirus in 60 seconds.
The test will be designed to detect the SARS-CoV-2 antigen, which causes COVID-19, from nasal... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that a recent collaboration including U.S. Cotton, UnitedHealth Group, Quantigen, and the Gates Foundation has resulted in further COVID-19 testing option expansion.
Officials said the determination that spun synthetic swabs, with a design... Read More »
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has forwarded correspondence to President Donald Trump, encouraging efforts to provide COVID-19 patients the right to try hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in the course of their diagnosis.
Johnson is seeking to have the president issue a directive to remove the Food and Drug... Read More »
Moderna is working toward U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensure on an mRNA vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus that causes COVID-19 -- with a $483 million award from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
“Vaccines are a critical tool for saving lives... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is partnering with the American Red Cross (ARC) to recruit blood donors who have recovered from COVID-19.
BARDA and the ARC are working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to collect convalescent plasma for use as a... Read More »
National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists maintain N95 respirators can maintain functional integrity for up to three uses when decontaminated effectively.
The findings stem from a study conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. The results are not yet peer-reviewed but are being shared... Read More »
Harried by an ongoing shortage of personal protective equipment for some of the emergency responders who need it most amid the COVID-19 pandemic -- firefighters and EMS workers -- the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is pitching a survey they hope to present directly to President... Read More »
Efforts begun on a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in February are moving closer to fruition for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Sanofi Pasteur, with the announcement of pending non-clinical studies and a Phase 1 clinical trial.
These trials will determine the initial... Read More »
Researchers and engineers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Carle Health launched an effort to produce face shields for health professionals responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It stems from a personal protective equipment (PPE) design initiative led by The Grainger... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is working with Vela Diagnostics USA to develop a rapid diagnostic test for the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rapid diagnostic test would be for use on two instrument platforms, which is needed to test as many people as possible and... Read More »
The push for convalescent plasma and hyperimmune globulin immunotherapies to use against COVID-19 continues at the federal level, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) touting collaboration with non-governmental entities to see it done.
These immunotherapies could... Read More »
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) officials said a new $2.5 million State of Maryland funding allotment would aid in initiating a broader COVID-19 testing initiative expanding testing capability.
"The state is in dire need of increased coronavirus testing, and the School of... Read More »
Rutgers University gained emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week for a new test utilizing saliva to detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The test comes from Rutgers’ RUCDR Infinite Biologics, the world's largest... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) will pump approximately $180,000 into a new partnership with DiaSorin, Inc. to create a clinical lab test capable of identifying people infected with and recovered from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes... Read More »
The United Nations Foundation is awarding $10 million to CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
This award is through the UN Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization (WHO). The fund was set up to raise funds for... Read More »
One of the major problems facing governments and healthcare professionals alike in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has been the undetected, asymptomatic cases throughout the world, but the National Institutes of Health (NIH) now aims to track the previously unnoticed.
A study to be conducted... Read More »
The malaria and arthritis drug much-touted by President Donald Trump, hydroxychloroquine, is getting its chance under the microscope now, with the beginning of a clinical trial by the National Institutes of Health to determine its potential as a COVID-19 therapy.
Testers hope the drug could have... Read More »
Every day during the COVID-19 pandemic seems to bring word of a new potential vaccine, treatment or diagnostic being considered or pursued, but the vaccine R&D team at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has made them easier to track.
In a new analysis published in Nature... Read More »
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers maintain when tested in mice a potential vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, produces antibodies for potential neutralization.
The study findings detailed via eBioMedicine, which is published by... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is seeking participants for its third 2020 GPS Testing for Critical Infrastructure (GET-CI) event later this year.
“Accurate and precise position, navigation and timing (PNT) information is vital to the... Read More »
Actemra, a drug more commonly used to treat moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, will undergo a Phase 3 clinical trial for its potential to help patients suffering from COVID-19, under an expanded partnership between Roche’s Genentech and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development... Read More »
Global healthcare company Grifols is collaborating with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to collect plasma and create a COVID-19 treatment based on it.
The effort is based on previous government calls for... Read More »
The federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is working with OraSure Technology to develop a test for the coronavirus (COVID-19) that could bring testing closer to the patient.
OraSure’s point-of-care test will be available at home and in clinical settings. It... Read More »
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Vir Biotechnology will collaborate to research and develop solutions for coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The partnership will leverage Vir’s proprietary monoclonal antibody platform technology to identify new anti-viral antibodies... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) intends to purchase the ID NOW COVID-19 rapid point-of-care test developed by Abbott Diagnostics Scarborough Inc., to expand the supply of diagnostics available to state, territorial and tribal public health labs.
Designed for the ID NOW... Read More »
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced the creation of the COVID-19 Community Tracing Collaborative (CTC) to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in Massachusetts.
This collaboration with Partners In Health focuses on tracing the contacts of confirmed positive COVID-19 patients and... Read More »
As part of ongoing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) efforts to promote reliable COVID-19 information, it has modified its existing surveillance systems to form a weekly new report known as COVIDView, which will summarize and interpret data each Friday.
The first COVIDView... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stepped in to fast-track development of and access to two more investigational therapies for COVID-19 based on convalescent plasma and hyperimmune globulin from human blood.
By using blood donated from those who have recovered from the SARS-CoV-2... Read More »
Novartis will initiate a Phase III clinical trial in collaboration with Incyte to evaluate the drug Jakavi for the treatment of severe immune overreactions caused by the coronavirus.
The reaction – called cytokine storm -- can lead to life-threatening respiratory complications in patients... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions is working with the U.S. government to develop a therapy for patients diagnosed with coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.
The partnership is through a $14.5 million grant from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop a COVID-Human Immune... Read More »
A research tool known as VirScan will be able to detect evidence of coronavirus from a single drop of blood.
Geneticist Steve Elledge, who helped develop VirScan, has added the virus, formally known as SARS-CoV-2, to VirScan's library of pathogens. This action could potentially help researchers... Read More »
SAb Biotherapeutics, Inc. is now among those companies rushing to produce a COVID-19 treatment, and both the Department of Defense (DoD) and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) have partnered with it to make it happen.
SAb’s product is called SAB-185 and pushes for... Read More »
Science and technology firm Battelle said its CCDS Critical Care Decontamination System (CCDS) would decontaminate N95 respirator masks at the State University of New York at Stony Brook on Long Island.
The effort would protect frontline healthcare workers by decontaminating up to 80,000 masks... Read More »
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) is urging Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of the Health and Human Services (HHS) officials to provide plans addressing COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.
McCaul recently sought feedback from FDA Commissioner Stephan Hahn and HHS Secretary Alex Azar on... Read More »
According to a journal report published by members of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) this week, SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus which causes COVID-19 -- uncovers the advances and ongoing stumbling blocks in vaccine development.
Other outbreaks and epidemics have helped lead... Read More »
