Emerging Infectious Diseases
A new agreement reached between Bavarian Nordic A/S and AdaptVac for 4 million euros upfront will allow Bavarian to license AdaptVac’s capsid virus like particle (cVLP) technology for coronaviruses.
Of particular note here is that the agreement gives Bavarian global commercialization rights to... Read More »
A new program -- the National Testing Implementation Forum -- announced by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week will gather input from private stakeholders across the U.S. to inform federal testing and diagnostics efforts for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) has extended a call for proposals on COVID-19 vaccines until September, pushing for licensure, efficacy and safety in quick order: a timeframe of just 12-18 months.
The coalition is working to guarantee that manufacturing capabilities and capacities... Read More »
Up to 600 million doses of a vaccine candidate produced by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech could be acquired by the United States government under a deal penned this week.
All of this would be conditional on the vaccine’s successful manufacture and either Emergency Use Authorization or licensure... Read More »
CureVac and GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) have signed an agreement to work together on the research, development, manufacturing, and marketing of as many as five mRNA-based vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for use against infectious diseases.
By collaborating, CureVac gains access to GSK’s mRNA... Read More »
A coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University produced strong immune responses in a phase 1/2 trial of 1,077 people, scientists from the Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group reported this week, possibly heralding a safe and effective candidate.
The findings of the UK trial, which... Read More »
Several biopharmaceutical companies are working in unprecedented fashion to develop, manufacture and deliver a safe and effective vaccine to combat COVID-19 as soon as is humanly possible.
Executives from five companies developing COVID-19 vaccine candidates — AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson &... Read More »
The United States was just as dangerously unprepared to combat a coronavirus pandemic in 2020 as it was back in 2015, former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman noted in the opening remarks of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense’s virtual meeting on Tuesday, setting the tone for a critical examination of... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reissued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Quest Diagnostics for its COVID-19 test.
The Quest test is the first COVID-19 diagnostic test to be authorized for use with pooled samples containing up to four individual swab specimens collected under... Read More »
A group of U.S. Senators recently called on Congress to provide at least $5.6 billion in federal funding to support the COVID-19 vaccine infrastructure.
The funding -- needed to boost the country’s vaccine supply and distribution system -- should be included in the next coronavirus relief... Read More »
A group of Florida lawmakers recently forwarded correspondence to the Department of Health and Human Services as a means of increasing the state’s COVID-19 drug allotment.
Reps. Donna Shalala (D-FL) and Charlie Crist (D-FL) joined Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) in leading the... Read More »
Under an agreement with Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, the United Kingdom will receive 30 million doses of their BNT162 mRNA-based vaccine candidate for SARS-CoV-2, expected to be delivered over the next year.
While the drug -- four vaccine candidates operating under the broader BNT162 category... Read More »
With news that appropriations bills aimed at addressing the COVID-19 pandemic had passed out of House committees this week, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) examined and declared the bills to provide critical resources, albeit with significant gaps and inadequate funding.
This... Read More »
Recently released study findings published in The Lancet Public Health journal has determined contact tracing speed strategies to be essential to slowing COVID-19 transmission.
Contact tracing involves tracking down all of the people who have been in contact with an infected individual so they... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is calling on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and implement a COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program.
Testing wastewater has been proven as a successful method to detect viruses and... Read More »
A trio of lawmakers have introduced a bill they said requires the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to conduct a trial program to check passenger temperatures before advancing through airport security.
Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Ted Budd (R-NC) and John Larson (D-CT) said the TSA... Read More »
While treatments for COVID-19 remain under research, Novartis announced a new initiative for low- and middle-income countries this week that will supply 15 generic and over-the-counter medicines at zero-profit as a way of treating symptoms.
The policy is only meant as a hold-over until a vaccine... Read More »
Looking to inform decision making during a pandemic, COVID-Local has created a policy mapping tool and database for communities, giving them a way to measure the effects of their COVID-19-related actions against specific policies.
COVID Analysis and Mapping of Policies is meant to identify... Read More »
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), along with other infectious disease associations, are opposed to the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The decision will weaken the nation’s ability to control the... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced a deal to work with Smiths Medical to expand the domestic manufacturing capacity for safety needles and syringes.
BARDA, along with the DoD’s Joint Program Executive Office for... Read More »
The COVAX Facility -- an organization created to guarantee quick and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines throughout the world -- has garnered the interest of 75 countries and plans to support as many as 90 lower-income countries through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s Advance Market Commitment... Read More »
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation on Wednesday to strengthen public health security by bolstering the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) and boosting the domestic manufacturing of medical supplies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bipartisan Strengthening... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is requesting more funding for potential COVID-19 vaccines in any new coronavirus relief package.
“As you continue your work on critical legislation to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, I write to you today to urge your support for robust funding that will help... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories is turning to machine learning to assist COVID-19 researchers in combing through existing coronavirus studies and data.
Through a mix of algorithms, analytics, and data mining, Sandia wants to make it easy for scientists to find the data they need right at their... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. expects to begin a 30,000 participant phase 3 study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate later this month, following the publication of an interim phase 1 analysis that demonstrated a generally safe and well-tolerated reaction among a small group of healthy adults.
The results,... Read More »
Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) seek answers from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its process to determine the accuracy of COVID-19 diagnostic and serological tests.
“Public health experts have consistently called for increased access to... Read More »
The University of Queensland’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate reached a milestone as the first participants were enrolled in its Phase 1 clinical trial.
The university’s vaccine is the seventh that is part of the portfolio of vaccines funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will invest $27.1 million into the purchase of a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine for the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank.
The purchase would give the government the means to respond to outbreaks of the disease among... Read More »
While an effective COVID-19 vaccine is still being pursued, Senate Democrats released a white paper this week full of proposals to guarantee such vaccines would be provided safely, efficiently and free, while ensuring a distribution wide enough to counter the pandemic.
In all, the paper --... Read More »
The U.S. Air Force is participating in a program launched by the Department of Defense to collect convalescent plasma from COVID-19 patients to be used as a possible treatment for the virus.
“We plan to collect more than 8,000 units of plasma from individuals who have recovered from... Read More »
A group of Texas legislators recently forwarded correspondence to Health and Human Services (HHS) officials requesting increased resources in response to the Rio Grande Valley COVID-19 surge.
Reps. Filemon Vela (D-TX), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Henry Cuellar (D-TX) were joined by Sens. John... Read More »
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has derailed economics, killed more than 569,000 people, and left entire nations on lockdown, and last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the formation of an independent panel to investigate the world’s handling of the disease.
The Independent... Read More »
U.S. Reps. John Katko (R-NY) and Brad Schneider (D-IL) introduced legislation to ensure the administration and federal government are fully prepared to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and any future resurgences.
“With reports of COVID-19 spiking in most states, Central New York working... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Sichuan Clover Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. expanded their partnership last week to guarantee the rapid development and manufacturing of the company’s protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Known as S-Trimer, the vaccine is based on... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Department of Defense penned two technology investment agreements focused on boosting domestic manufacturing last week, with Retractable Technologies, Inc. (RTI) and Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD), respectively.
In both... Read More »
