The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and Defense Dept. agreed to a $1 billion deal for a vaccine candidate from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). HHS and DoD announced the agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutical, as the J&J subsidiary is set to offer large-scale manufacturing and the delivery of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, with the federal […]
Contract Manufacturing
Steris ticks up on Street-beating Q1
Steris (NYSE:STE) shares ticked up as the market closed today after reporting first-quarter results that beat the consensus forecast. The Dublin, Ireland-based sterilization and surgical products company posted profits of $88.1 million, or $1.03 per share, on sales of $668.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020, for a 3.9% bottom-line gain despite a […]
Dems seek to force EPA action on ethylene oxide monitoring
Democrats in both houses of Congress have introduced legislation that would force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to better monitor emissions of ethylene oxide (EtO) from plants that manufacture the toxic gas or use it to sterilize medical devices. The Public Health Air Quality Act of 2020, sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester […]
Protolabs stock takes a hit despite beating The Street for Q2
Shares in Protolabs (NYSE: PRLB) dropped by nearly 9% today on news of second-quarter medical device sales that would have been worse had it not been for orders that came in response to COVID-19. The Maple Plain, Minn.-based rapid manufacturing company reported profits of $12.6 million or $0.47 per share, on sales of $106.58 million for the three […]
How a top research lab pivoted to fight COVID-19
A top medtech research site, the Boston-based Karp Lab has responded to COVID-19 with a virus-fighting nasal spray, better mask straps and much more. COVID-19 completely disrupted the work at Jeff Karp’s medical engineering lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. One company that was planning to do […]
HHS, DOD invest $7.6m in Hologic COVID-19 test samples
The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Defense Dept. (DoD) announced a $7.6 million contract for COVID-19 testing from Hologic (NSDQ:HOLX). Marlborough, Mass.-based Hologic will receive the contract with a ceiling of $7.6 million so it can expand production of custom sample collection and processing consumables for COVID-19 testing, according to a news […]
Vizient to distribute WishBone Medical’s pediatric ortho implants
WishBone Medical announced today that it entered into a national agreement with Vizient to provide orthopedic implants to pediatric patients. Warsaw, Ind.-based WishBone said in a news release that Vizient’s membership base includes more than 50% of the nation’s acute care providers, allowing WishBone’s “Just-In-Time” supply of single-use sterile kits for children with orthopedic issues […]
Inovio to scale up production of smart delivery device for potential COVID-19 vaccine
Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:INO) announced that it received $71 million from the U.S. Defense Dept. to support its Cellectra 3PSP smart device. Funding from the DoD is set to support large-scale manufacturing for the Cellectra 3PSP and the procurement of Cellectra 2000 devices, which are used to deliver its INO-4800 COVID-19 vaccine candidate directly into the skin. […]
HHS taps Pfizer to produce millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses
Two U.S. government agencies today announced an agreement with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) for production and delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, along with the U.S. Defense Dept., agreed to the large-scale production and U.S. delivery deal once Pfizer’s vaccine is successfully manufactured and approved. In addition to […]
Boston researchers have created a potential N95 mask alternative
Brigham & Women’s Hospital says it is developing a new, sustainable alternative to N95 respirator masks that are in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. A team of bioengineers and clinical experts at the Boston-based hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working on the “injection molded autoclavable, scalable, conformable” iMASC system for providing […]
U.S. paying Novavax $1.6b to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing
The U.S. Health and Human Services Dept. and Defense Dept. announced a joint agreement with Novavax (NSDQ:NVAX) worth $1.6 billion to scale the manufacturing of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Gaithersburg, Md.-based Novavax’s commercial-scale manufacturing is expected to produce 100 million doses of the investigational vaccine that would become available for use in clinical trials or, should the […]