The first six of what attorneys said could be more than 100 lawsuits were filed recently in Georgia against Sterigenics and Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) by people who have lived, worked or attended school near those companies’ medical device sterilization plants. The plants use ethylene oxide (EtO) to sterilize millions of devices per year and reportedly have emitted thousands pounds of the […]
Contract Manufacturing
Minnetronix Medical wins FDA clearance for neurosurgical access port
The FDA has cleared Minnetronix Medical‘s MindsEye neurosurgical access port for deep brain surgeries, the company announced today. The clearance represents an expansion beyond the St. Paul, Minn.–based contract manufacturer’s traditional offerings. “This extension of our business represents an additional way to partner with customers. We have the opportunity to offer them products they can […]
Thermo Fisher to manufacture Inovio COVID-19 vaccine candidate
Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:INO) announced that Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) will manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based Inovio said in a news release yesterday that Thermo Fisher signed a letter of intent to manufacture the INO-4800 COVID-19 vaccine candidate, joining a consortium of third-party manufacturers that aim to produce 100 million doses of Inovio’s vaccine by 2021, […]
How decontamination could solve the COVID-19 mask shortage problem
With cold and flu season rapidly approaching, public health officials worry about a resurgence of COVID-19 and personal protective equipment shortages. Protecting frontline workers will likely include decontaminating face masks. A spike in COVID-19 cases this fall and winter could leave healthcare facilities with renewed shortages of personal protective equipment — particularly masks. Hundreds of […]
Cummins is supplying material for millions of face masks against COVID-19
Cummins (NYSE:CMI) is making material for millions of face masks out of its Cookeville, Tenn., filtration plant — thanks to a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory nearby. “Because of our expertise in the automotive filtration industry, we believed we could adapt to supply the filter media used in the […]
Report: Abbott to hire 2,000 in Illinois to make rapid COVID-19 test
Abbott (NYSE:ABT) is reportedly set to hire 2,000 new employees to increase manufacturing for its rapid COVID-19 test. The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that the Abbot Park, Ill.-based company would be adding jobs at its Gurnee, Ill., facility following the FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) for its BinaxNow COVID-19 Ag Card and the subsequent announcement […]
Report: Feds to send Abbott’s rapid tests to states for school reopenings
The U.S. government is reportedly set to use rapid COVID-19 tests it purchased from Abbott (NYSE:ABT) for school reopenings. Reuters reported that the feds will send an “overwhelming majority” of Abbott’s tests to governors and state territories to support school reopenings and other critical tasks, according to a Trump administration official. The administration struck a $750 […]
HHS ends more ventilator contracts as national stockpile fills up
The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) is reportedly terminating more ventilator contracts as the national stockpile is full. The Hill reported today that HHS is throwing out some of the contracts that totaled $3 billion as the U.S. government sought to supply as many ventilators as possible during the first surge of […]
Ambu lands national single-use endoscope contract
Ambu announced that it was awarded a single-use endoscopy contract in the category of surgical disposable scopes with Premier Inc. Columbia, Md.-based Ambu said in a news release that it was also the only supplier of single-use endoscopes designated to participate in Premier’s Surpass and Ascend purchasing programs. The three-year agreement creates a single-use endoscopy […]
Ventec, GM complete HHS ventilator contract
Ventec Life Systems and General Motors announced today that they completed their government contract to produce 30,000 ventilators. The two companies kicked off mass production of Ventec’s V+Pro critical care ventilator at GM’s Kokomo, Ind., plant in April, having received a $489.4 million contract from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services to deliver […]
Philips ends ventilator distribution deal with HHS
Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG) announced today that the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Servies partially terminated its ventilator manufacturing contract. Amsterdam-based Philips received the termination notice from HHS after agreeing to a contract in April to deliver 43,000 bundled EV300 ventilator configurations to HHS through December 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. News of the contract termination […]