President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. is set to provide $4 billion to the COVAX Facility to support access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Money appropriated by a December 2020 Congressional vote will comprise an initial $2 billion contribution to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for the COVAX advance market commitment (AMC) covering 92 […]
Contract Manufacturing
Retractable Technologies lands $54.2M federal contract for syringes
Retractable Technologies (NYSE:RVP) announced that it received a government contract worth more than $54.2 million for its syringes. Little Elm, Texas-based Retractable Technologies’ contract and purchase order was made by the U.S. Health & Human Services Dept. (HHS) with a base price of $54,217,800 for a five-month period between Feb. 15, 2021, and July 14, 2021. […]
Feds order 200M more vaccine doses from Pfizer, Moderna
U.S. government agencies announced that they purchased a total of 200 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA). The orders of 100 million doses from each of the only two FDA-authorized vaccines in the U.S. were made by the U.S. Health & Human Services Dept. (HHS) and the Defense Dept. (DoD). The […]
J&J CEO says getting a COVID-19 vaccine could be an annual ritual for years
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) CEO Alex Gorsky said people may need COVID-19 vaccines annually, like flu shots, over the next several years. Speaking to CNBC, Gorsky cited the mutations and variants of the disease, several of which have already landed in the U.S., as the driving force behind differentiating capabilities of the vaccine to fight off antibodies. Previous […]
Report: Pfizer speeding up vaccine production
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) is reportedly expecting to trim the time needed to produce COVID-19 vaccine batches to speed up production. The company, which along with BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX) developed one of two COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized in the U.S., is slated to cut the amount of time it takes to produce a batch of the vaccine from 110 […]
WellAir acquires UV Innovators, former TransEnterix CEO appointed to corner office
WellAir announced today that it has acquired UV Innovators in a deal that combines WellAir’s FDA-cleared portable air cleaning system with UV Innovators’ medical-grade handheld UVC disinfection technology. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Todd Pope, who has been executive chairman of Cary, N.C.–based UV Innovators since 2017, has been appointed CEO […]
Schivo acquires Supreme Screw Products
Contract manufacturer Schivo (Waterford, Ireland) announced today that it has acquired Supreme Screw Products (SSP), a supplier of precision machining, laser processing and assembly services for the medical device market. The acquisition will strengthen Schivo’s development and manufacturing footprint, enhance its technical capabilities, and deepen customer partnerships, according to the acquiring company. SSP will complement […]
Feds to order 61M more at-home coronavirus tests, build surgical glove factories
Just days after ordering 8.5 million at-home tests from Ellume, the Biden administration announced today that it’s in talks with six other at-home coronavirus test manufacturers. In an online briefing, Tim Manning, the national supply chain coordinator for COVID response, told reporters that these companies could produce another 61 million at-home tests by the end of […]
Pandemic Emergency Manufacturing Act would supplement DPA
A rewritten pandemic manufacturing bill was introduced to both houses of Congress yesterday to enable the federal government to manufacture or contract with existing manufacturers to make products to fight COVID-19. The bill, introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), builds off the COVID-19 Emergency Manufacturing Act, introduced in 2020 to […]
Ford designs clear mask to aid hearing-impaired
Ford Motor Company announced that it is ramping up new initiatives to help protect people from COVID-19, including mask development. Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford designed a patent-pending, clear respirator in the hopes of benefitting those with hearing impairments. It expects the respirator to certify to N95 standards of virus protection. The transparent, low-cost, reusable respirators allow […]
Altaris ups investment in Minnetronix
Minnetronix Medical announced today that healthcare investment firm Altaris Capital Partners has acquired the majority share of the company. Altaris, which actively manages $4.9 billion of equity capital, had been a minority investor in Minnetronix since 2015. The St. Paul, Minn.-based contract manufacturer declined to reveal the amount of the new investment. “Throughout our relationship with […]
