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FREDERICK, Md. and BRISBANE, Australia, Jan. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Digital diagnostics company Ellume today announced that the QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB test (QIAreach QFT), developed with Ellume technology, and designed to advance the control of tuberculosis (TB) in areas with limited infrastructure, has been approved by the Global Fund’s Expert Review Panel for Diagnostics.  Approval of QIAGEN N.V.’s battery-operated QIAreach QFT means the product will now be available to public health programs and institutions in more than 100 countries that qualify for Global Fund and/or UNITAID resources, as well as through the Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility (GDF). This development comes after the QIAreach QFT product was launched in October 2021, following CE marking.

Johns Hopkins researchers Nickolas Papadopoulos, Ken Kinzler and Bert Vogelstein have spent their careers working on ways not just to treat cancer but to detect it before it becomes a threat. The goal: a blood test for the earlier detection of cancer incorporated into routine medical care. Their dream is closer to reality thanks in part to a $2.15 billion acquisition of their company, Thrive Earlier Detection Corp., one year ago by Exact Sciences Corp., a global leader in cancer-detection testing.

The heart of the researchers’ work is the liquid biopsy, a test done on a blood sample to look for signals derived from cancer cells circulating in the blood. In 2011, they invented SafeSeqS, a next-generation gene sequencing technology that simultaneously and individually analyzed millions of DNA molecules to identify mutations in the bloodstream more accurately than other methods.

Blockchain and “connected health” technology are two trends hospitals should not rush to adopt, according to two hospital innovation executives.

Discussions of blockchain have been increasingly prominent in the technology industry in recent years, and it shows potential for healthcare applications. However, it can be tricky for hospitals to figure out how to deploy the technology, Michelle Stansbury, vice president of IT innovation at Houston Methodist, told Becker’s.

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Feb. 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Arcellx, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACLX), a biotechnology company reimagining cell therapy through the development of innovative immunotherapies for patients with cancer and other incurable diseases, today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 8,250,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $15.00 per share. The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses payable by Arcellx, are expected to be approximately $123.8 million. In addition, Arcellx has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,237,500 shares of common stock at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. All of the shares of common stock are being offered by Arcellx. Arcellx’s common stock is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on February 4, 2022, under the ticker symbol “ACLX.” The offering is expected to close on February 8, 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

BofA Securities, SVB Leerink, Barclays and William Blair are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County has received a Carnegie Classification, the nation’s highest designation for research universities.

Two other universities in Maryland – Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland – share the classification.

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education ranked UMBC in the R1 category, which signifies “very high research activity.”

UMBC is one of only 146 R1 institutes nationally, including 107 public universities and 39 private universities.

“This is an amazing accomplishment by faculty, staff, and administrative leaders who have built a research culture that nurtures undergraduate and graduate students,” said UMBC president Freeman Hrabowski in a news release.

Image: Photo via the University of Maryland, Baltimore County

ROCKVILLE, MD. (PRWEB)  FEBRUARY 02, 2022

Data from a Total of Five Patients Demonstrates Critical Markers of the Company’s HIV Cure Gene & Cell Therapy American Gene Technologies (AGT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company working to cure HIV, announced that it has reached another important milestone for its HIV cure program. Five participants were treated with AGT103-T and are stably engrafted with genetically modified cells.

Laboratory studies confirmed substantial increases in virus-specific T cells consistent with improved immunity against HIV in all participants. The early data addresses key trial endpoints and is aligned with the objective of restoring natural immunity against HIV.

“These latest laboratory studies of clinical material are extremely encouraging,” said AGT CEO Jeff Galvin. “To see these markers in all five trial participants indicates that prospects are bright for a potential one-and-done therapy to functionally cure HIV. This milestone brings us another step closer to our goal of returning people living with HIV to a normal life without the side effects of ART and having no further consequences of HIV.”

Emmes, a global, full-service Clinical Research Organization dedicated to supporting the advancement of public health and biopharmaceutical innovation, today announced its role as a Data Coordinating Center on a team whose work has accelerated pediatric COVID-19 research through the Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, and Safety Profile of Understudied Drugs Administered to Children per Standard of Care (POP02).  The team, led by the Pediatric Trials Network at Duke University, also includes the Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Center (DRC) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

POP02 is one of several cohort studies within the Collaboration to Assess Risk and Identify LoNG-term outcomes for Children with COVID, known as CARING for Children with COVID.  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiated the CARING for Children with COVID program to collect clinical data and samples that would advance the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infections in children.  The program seeks to provide information to help healthcare providers and parents make informed decisions when caring for children infected with either COVID-19 (acute coronavirus disease) or who have MIS-C (multisystem inflammatory syndrome).