Novavax said today it will file for FDA approvals in the third quarter for its COVID-19 vaccine NVX-CoV2373, after it showed 90.4% overall efficacy, and 93% efficacy against the five most prevalent SARS-CoV-2 variants “of concern” and eight more variants “of interest,” in a Phase III trial.
“Today, Novavax is one step closer to addressing the critical and persistent global public health need for additional COVID-19 vaccines,” Novavax president and CEO Stanley C. Erck said in a statement.
Starting immediately, miRecule, Inc. is looking for a Laboratory Technician to join its rapidly growing team in Gaithersburg, MD on the development of next generation RNA therapeutics to treat cancer and other diseases.
Job description:
As a Laboratory Technician at miRecule, you will be responsible for supporting antibody development platforms in our lead therapeutic programs. Your responsibilities will include:
ROCKVILLE, Md. (WDVM) — More opportunities to come for college students in Maryland who are interested in STEM-related fields.
Montgomery County is playing a big role in creating new opportunities for those in science education. Since the pandemic, the focus has shifted as creating vaccines against COVID-19 was critical.
“It was a great convergence of the University System plus Montgomery College, plus the private sector, the people who have to bring jobs here,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich.
A memorandum of understanding was signed to grant students from across Maryland internship and job opportunities to gain work experience in research with Montgomery county’s top industry leaders.
The life sciences sector is hot, and that’s led to a rising interest among building owners in converting assets to lab, research and biotech space.
For instance, Rock Creek Property Group transformed 13.1 acres of what was originally zoned for up to 175 townhomes and 400,000 square feet of office space at 700 Quince Orchard Road in Gaithersburg, Md., into a Class A, life sciences project suitable for manufacturing, lab and office space.
Image: DAN HACKETT. PHOTO: BY CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD
GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX), today announced that NVX-CoV2373, its recombinant nanoparticle protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, demonstrated 100% protection against moderate and severe disease, 90.4% efficacy overall, and met the primary endpoint in its PREVENT-19 pivotal Phase 3 trial. The study enrolled 29,960 participants across 119 sites in the U.S. and Mexico to evaluate efficacy, safety and immunogenicity, with an emphasis on recruiting a representative population of communities and demographic groups most impacted by the disease.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about how the BioHealth Capital Region’s (BHCR) biotech sector is booming. Advanced biomanufacturing, cell and gene therapy, vaccine development, and the medtech industries have all seen record growth over the past few years.
Biotech innovation is accelerating. There are over a thousand cell and gene therapies in the clinical pipeline. Big Data, automation, and gene editing technologies like CRISPR — in addition to the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine in less than a year—are revolutionizing drug development and forcing the industry to reimagine what’s possible.
The Gaithersburg biotech expects more data on its latest vaccine trial within days.
Image: Novavax’s future headquarters is located at 700 Quince Orchard Road in Gaithersburg. SARA GILGORE / WBJ
Maryland universities, Montgomery County government and the private sector are teaming up to capitalize on local momentum in life sciences created over the past year as the pandemic catapulted companies in the region to the global stage — and as the need for research and innovation continues.
Montgomery County, the University System of Maryland and Montgomery College signed a memorandum of understanding Friday at the Universities at Shady Grove’s Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Building in Rockville. The collaboration between academia and industry, called the Montgomery/Maryland Life Sciences Education and Innovation Partnership, will aim to create job opportunities for local students and, in doing so, build a talent pipeline for the county’s companies.
Image: Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich speaks at a press conference as the county, the University System of Maryland and Montgomery College signed a memorandum of understanding Friday at the Universities at Shady Grove’s Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Building in Rockville. HANNAH DENHAM
Novavax, a small American company buoyed by lavish support from the U.S. government, announced on Monday the results of a clinical trial of its Covid-19 vaccine in the United States and Mexico, finding that its two-shot inoculation provides potent protection against the coronavirus.
In the 29,960-person trial, the vaccine demonstrated an overall efficacy of 90.4 percent, on par with the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, and higher than the one-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. The Novavax vaccine showed an efficacy of 100 percent at preventing moderate or severe disease.
The Biden administration today began to flesh out a proposal for a new agency—modeled on the military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—that would seek to speed the development of medical treatments by funding risky, innovative projects. The agency, dubbed ARPA-Health (ARPA-H), would be housed at the National Institutes of Health and have a 2022 budget of $6.5 billion, according to a White House spending request released today.
