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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 »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted this week marketing authorization of the BioFire Respiratory Panel 2.1, allowing it to become the first SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic able to be marketed past the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
BioFire Respiratory Panel 2.1 is a test by BioFire Diagnostics... Read More »
AstraZeneca announced plans this week to supply up to 500,000 additional doses of AZD7442, an under-development, long-acting antibody combination meant for use against COVID-19, modifying an existing agreement with the U.S. government.
Specifically, the agreement was reached with the Departments... 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 »
Drugmaker AstraZeneca defended the safety of its COVID-19 vaccine after three more European countries said they would suspend the use of the vaccine.
Over the weekend, Germany, Ireland, and The Netherlands announced they would stop using the vaccine temporarily over concerns about the vaccine's... Read More »
Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee unveiled a sweeping, $312 billion bill known as the LIFT America Act last week that, among other things, would invest in America’s health infrastructure.
“As our nation combats COVID-19 and a severe economic downturn, the LIFT... Read More »
Building on its efforts during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has proposed a $3.5 billion plan to reduce or eliminate future pandemic and epidemic risk through preparedness investment over the next five years.
The organization has sought... Read More »
The BioWatch Program, established by Congress in 2003, transferred to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) office in 2018 with a whopping budget averaging $76 million per fiscal year from 2018 to 2020.
According to BioWatch officials, the... Read More »
According to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the University of Utah, the costs of antibiotic resistance among diseases are growing, leading to billions of dollars in health care costs and increasing rates of infections.
According to “National... Read More »
A molecular test for COVID-19 can now be used at home without a prescription, following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) granting of emergency use authorization (EUA) to the Cue COVID-19 Test for Home and Over the Counter (OTC) Use.
A molecular nucleic acid amplification test... Read More »
New research from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis seemingly confirms scientists' and health experts' worst fear that all three of the prominent, fast-spreading variants of COVID-19 can resist vaccines and antibodies currently effective against their forebear.
Published... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Hologic, Inc. are working together to develop the Panther Fusion SARS-CoV-2/Flu/RSV assay, intended to be able to simultaneously detect and differentiate a variety of viruses from a single sample.
While SARS-CoV-2 is a major... Read More »
A team, including GE Research, the Broad Institute, DNA Script, MEDInstill, Molecular Assemblies, and the University of Washington, has been awarded a five-year, up to $41 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create a new, quicker vaccine production... Read More »
The Biden administration helped forge a deal between Merck and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to expand production of J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected to help the company deliver 100 million doses by the end of May instead of its previous June goal.
The collaboration between the... Read More »
Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) awarded up to $18 million to GSK Biologicals and its affiliate GSK Vaccines Institute for Global Health (GVGH) to develop new vaccines for two different illnesses.
One is a vaccine for Group A streptococcus... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this week that undiluted frozen vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will now be allowed to be transported and stored at conventional pharmaceutical freezer temperatures for up to two weeks.
While the preferred storage for this... Read More »
The United States will now benefit from the rollout of a third COVID-19 vaccine, following last week’s emergency use authorization (EUA) of the Janssen vaccine by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
That decision came in the wake of recommendations from an advisory panel known as the... Read More »
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech announced the beginning of an evaluation into the safety and immunogenicity of a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine last week to study the effects of a booster vaccine against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.
This will be offered to up to 144 participants from the phase... Read More »
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is holding an advisory committee meeting on Friday during which the committee is expected to recommend a single-dose Johnson & Johnson (J&J)-Janssen Biotech SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to become the third COVID-19 vaccine available for emergency use to... Read More »
A group of Senators introduced legislation supporting President Joe Biden’s efforts to rejoin the Iran Nuclear Deal, also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The Iran Diplomacy Act Full says the United States and Iran should promptly return to full compliance with all of... Read More »
A bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to ensure that the U.S. strengthens partnerships with international allies to combat cyberattacks in a unified approach.
The Cyber Diplomacy Act of 2021 (H.R. 1251), sponsored by Michael McCaul (R-TX), would also advocate for the State... 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 »
Five COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers assured Congress Tuesday that they are closely watching the emergence of new variants of COVID-19 and are optimistic the two vaccines currently approved in the United States and a third poised for approval will treat those new variants that have emerged in the... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) are urging President Joe Biden to add the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to the Defense Production Act Committee (DPAC).
The DPAC advises the President on the most effective use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to... Read More »
A public health emergency was declared in Texas this week by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Acting Secretary Norris Cochran due to recent winter storms that left millions without power.
President Joe Biden had already declared an emergency in the state last week.... Read More »
With money appropriated by Congress last year, President Joe Biden pledged a total of $4 billion to the global COVAX initiative to get poorer nations access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The announcement, made during a virtual G7 Summit, also encouraged partners within that group of wealthy nations to... Read More »
Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have seized approximately 11 million counterfeit 3M N95 respirator masks in recent weeks.
The effort resulted from a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and manufacturer 3M.
“These seizures... Read More »
Following the World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use listing of the AstraZeneca/University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine this week, the COVAX initiative announced it intends the bulk of the first deliveries to occur in March.
COVAX is finalizing the first and second quarter allocations of... Read More »
Leading health and public health organizations in the United States are seeking $4.5 billion in additional annual funding for states, localities, tribes, and territories to support public health infrastructure and workforce.
Representatives from 316 organizations sent a letter to Congressional... Read More »
Republican members of the House Committee on Homeland Security are urging Biden administration officials not to roll back border security or immigration enforcement policies.
In a letter to President Biden, the committee members warn of a surge in encounters at the border at a time when U.S.... Read More »
The United States Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Defense (DoD) will purchase another 100 million doses each of the COVID-19 vaccines offered by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. by the end of July.
President Joe Biden announced the deals last week, in a speech delivered at the... Read More »
New legislation from U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) attempts to guarantee maximized use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) during emergency response and to increase domestic production of critical medical supplies.
The Public Health Emergency (PHE) Production Act,... Read More »
A collection of four United States representatives reintroduced the Saracini Enhanced Aviation Safety Act this week in a bipartisan effort to require the installation of secondary cockpit barriers on passenger aircraft to prevent future events like those witnessed on Sept. 11, 2001.
The bill is... Read More »
Frustrated by ongoing cyber threats from the United States and abroad, members of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee said Wednesday they are developing new legislation that would expand the powers of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, currently an operational component... 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 »
