Emerging Infectious Diseases
The Jack Ma Foundation recently awarded four research teams at Columbia University $2.1 million for their efforts to identify potential antiviral drugs and antibiotics for use against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
The Chinese-based foundation awarded the funds to Columbia with the... Read More »
A bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate last week that would create a permanent fund to respond more quickly to public health emergencies.
The Public Health Emergency Response and Accountability Act (S. 3309) would provide automatic funding for the existing Public Health Emergency Fund based... Read More »
According to Dr. Amos Danielli, of the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering at Bar-Ilan University, 15 minutes may be all it takes to diagnose cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), thanks to a new diagnostic technology.
While existing methods of diagnosing COVID-19 take around one hour,... Read More »
A group of Senate Democrats expressed concerns to Trump Administration officials about the relative lack of resources to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.
The request follows the release of the Trump Administration’s new budget proposal, which suggested cutting public health and... Read More »
In March, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) and the International Alliance for Biological Standardization (IABS) will co-host a Brussels-based meeting on the licensing of vaccine platform technologies, to consider the potential benefits of the new registration procedure.
This, the... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has announced it is teaming up with Sanofi Pasteur to mix the authority’s expertise and funds with Sanofi’s egg-free, recombinant DNA platform to try and produce a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-TX) and David Schweikert (R-AZ) sent a letter to both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the development of medicine to combat Valley Fever.
Valley Fever is a fungal infection that can cause fever,... Read More »
A new milestone in the fight against Ebola was achieved last week with the announcement that Merck’s injectable vaccine, Ervebo, has been licensed for use against Ebola in four nations: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi, Ghana, and Zambia.
Additional registrations of the... Read More »
As part of the response to the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak worldwide, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week outlined its efforts to facilitate diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of the disease, keep an eye on the medical product supply chain and maximize the... Read More »
Officials at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) authored an article in The Journal of Infectious Diseases that updates the institute’s progress on tuberculosis (TB) research.
Specifically, the article summarizes recent progress in improved TB diagnostics,... Read More »
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators recently called on the Department of Health and Human Services to set guidelines for how state and local governments will be reimbursed for costs incurred while assisting the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak.
“Many state and local health... Read More »
Since the rapid outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on Wuhan, China, and beyond, numerous governments have restricted travel to and from China, but a new university-run study reminds one and all that the effectiveness of travel bans remains unknown.
While the World Health Organization... Read More »
Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, is also a production hub for pharmaceutical ingredients for the United States. As the virus spreads throughout China, the U.S. drug supply remains vulnerable to reduced production and export of essential materials. There are 400 drug... Read More »
With the growing weight of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) felt at home and abroad, members of the Senate have grown increasingly uncomfortable with a nearly two-year-old vacancy for a national senior public health security expert -- and last week, 27 of them pushed for a change.
The vacancy... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) said the federal government must strengthen its capacity to produce pharmaceuticals to fight the novel coronavirus.
“For years, I have fought to ensure that funds are available in case of a public health emergency, and I was assured the Administration has the... Read More »
While the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has prompted a public health emergency declaration in the United States and renewed global concerns over pandemics, the White House 2021 budget would cut programs that help prevent infectious disease outbreaks and earned the ire of the Infectious Diseases... Read More »
Over the course of a two-day forum this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) brought together leading health experts and major research funders to discuss COVID-19.
They addressed the novel coronavirus from all angles: assessing current knowledge, identifying gaps, and collaborating on the... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) intends to add a new layer to its relationship with Janssen Research & Development as part of efforts to contain COVID-19 -- the 2019 novel coronavirus -- through shared R&D costs on the company's investigational vaccine.
The Biomedical... Read More »
Fearing for the pharmaceuticals, food, and medical supplies coming from China amid the novel coronavirus, U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CN) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) implored the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action this week.
In a letter to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, the senators... Read More »
The National Governors Association (NGA) received a briefing on the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus, which was officially renamed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization this week, during its winter meeting this week, from representatives of the White House-appointed Coronavirus Task... Read More »
In the wake of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, policymakers and the public are asking what more could have been done to prevent the spread of that disease.
Public health officials participated on Monday at the Hudson Institute in a panel discussion to answer that question. The talk,... Read More »
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma received a $730,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) last week, to aid their investigations of emerging diseases -- research made all the more timely by the emergence of the Chinese novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
The... Read More »
Faced with a novel coronavirus outbreak that has taken the world by storm, U.S. Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) recently highlighted lax pandemic funding from the Trump administration.
The group of Democrats pressed the administration... Read More »
National health security advocates argue the U.S. government is not fiscally prepared to address the possible spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus in the United States, and it must take rapid steps to ensure funding is in place to head off potential threats.
In Feb. 7 letters addressed to... Read More »
Faced with more than 28,000 cases of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) worldwide and more than 550 deaths confirmed so far, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) called on Senate committees this week to guarantee response funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
As of this month, HHS... Read More »
University of Cincinnati (UC) engineers have developed a portable lab that plugs into smartphones and can be used to diagnose health conditions and infectious diseases including HIV, Lyme disease, malaria, depression, anxiety and coronavirus.
The lab is the size of a credit card and connects... Read More »
No longer will health professionals have to send samples of potential novel coronavirus cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for testing -- beginning this week, diagnostic test kits allowing qualified labs to test themselves are out for shipping.
This, the CDC says, will... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is accepting abstract submissions for potential funding for the development of coronavirus molecular diagnostics.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary... Read More »
Dr. Eric Toner, a senior associate at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in its Bloomberg School of Public Health, argued in a op-ed in The Hill on Wednesday, Feb. 5 that as the world looks at a potential pandemic, the U.S. needs to prepare, and to do so, it needs to guarantee funding for... Read More »
The second wave of Americans arrived in California on Wednesday, traveling from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic. They will spend days on military bases in quarantine as public health officials determine if there are any cases of the virus and to treat those... Read More »
Following a classified briefing of his staff by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of National Security (ONS), U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) reiterated that the novel coronavirus appears to pose no immediate threat to the United States.
Where concern remains is for... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) that will allow use of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Diagnostic Panel by any CDC-qualified lab in the United States when dealing with cases of the novel coronavirus.
That authorization,... Read More »
An existing relationship between the U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will be extended under a new arrangement to develop a treatment for the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
"Emerging infectious diseases can present... Read More »
Pattern Bioscience was awarded $6.8 million in funding to develop a test to diagnose drug-resistant infections quickly.
The rapid identification and antimicrobial susceptibility test (ID/AST) will provide health professionals with information about which pathogen is causing the infection and... Read More »
Forty-eight members of Congress recently sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asking the agency to quickly distribute its rapid diagnostic test for coronavirus to state and local officials nationwide.
Currently, samples must be sent to the CDC in Atlanta for... Read More »
