The National Institutes of Health announced a $129.3 million plan to support scaling and manufacturing for COVID-19 tests. As part of its Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative, NIH is awarding contracts to nine companies for their technologies that include portable point-of-care tests for immediate results and high-throughput laboratories that can produce results in 24 […]
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Does plasma therapy work against COVID-19? NIH panel says data lacking
More than a week after the FDA granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the use of convalescent plasma against COVID-19, an NIH advisory panel is saying that there is insufficient data to recommend either for or against the treatment. The National Institutes of Health’s COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel said in a statement released today: […]
NIH puts $4.3M into convalescent plasma trial for COVID-19 treatment
The National Institutes of Health today awarded the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore a $4.3 million grant to test plasma in treating COVID-19. Einstein and Montefiore launched a Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of convalescent plasma in treating COVID-19 in April. The $4.3 million will support the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled […]
MedTech 100 roundup: Industry hits another mid-pandemic high
Despite a minor regression week-over-week, the medtech industry’s stocks hit another milestone as the COVID-19 rebound remains in progress. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — sat at 89.01 points at the end of last week (July 31). Overall, medtech stocks saw a -0.3% increase from the […]
NIH puts $249m into new COVID-19 tests
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today that it is investing $248.7 million in new technologies to address challenges with COVID-19 testing. The “Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics” (RADx) initiative awarded contracts to seven biomedical diagnostic companies to support lab-based and point-of-care tests that could significantly increase the number, type and availability of tests by […]
Eko lands $2.7m federal grant for heart disease detection study
Eko announced today that it received a $2.7 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Oakland, Calif.-based Eko said in a news release that the grant will be used to fund its collaborative work with Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute as they validate algorithms to help screen for […]
3M, MIT working on paper-based, rapid COVID-19 test
3M (NYSE:MMM) announced today that it is working with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers to develop a paper-based, rapid test to detect the virus that causes COVID-19, with the potential to manufacture millions of tests per day. The test would detect viral antigens and deliver “highly accurate results within minutes” via a paper-based device, according […]
Plakous lands $1.7m from NIH to develop newborn treatment
Plakous Therapeutics announced that it received more than $1.7 million in a research grant from he Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Phase I-II fast-track small business innovation research (SBIR) grant, worth up to $1.725 million, is slated to help Plakous develop novel […]
Partnership will study use of existing drugs for COVID-19 and and more
A new collaboration funded by in part by $1.1 million from the FDA is working on finding new uses for existing drugs for areas of high unmet medical need — with a pilot project focused on treatments for COVID-19. The Critical Path Institute (C-Path) this week announced the launch of the CURE Drug Repurposing Collaboratory […]
FDA tightens oversight of serological tests for COVID-19
Manufacturers of antibody tests for the COVID-19 virus must now prove the tests’ accuracy to the FDA before they can begin marketing them. And those who do not submit their validation information to the FDA within 10 days may have those tests pulled from the market. The policy reversal follows criticism of the agency’s March […]
BREAKING: FDA grants emergency use of drug to treat COVID-19
The FDA this afternoon issued an emergency use authorization for the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients. The authorization for the drug, made by Gilead Sciences’ (NSDQ:GILD), will allow both adults and children to be treated with the remdesivir, the first drug believed to have any effect on the virus that has […]