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Johns Hopkins University is revising its safety protocols ahead of the start of the spring semester as it prepares to resume a broad range of in-person academic, research, and other activities as safely as possible amid the surge in COVID-19 cases caused by the omicron variant, university leaders said Friday.

The most noticeable change is to the university’s masking requirement: JHU will now require the use of N95s, KN95s, or a combination of a cloth mask with a surgical mask. In other words, a cloth mask alone or a surgical mask alone will no longer meet the university’s mask requirement, wrote Stephen Gange, professor and executive vice provost for academic affairs; Jon Links, professor, vice provost, and chief risk officer; and Kevin Shollenberger, vice provost for student health and well-being and interim vice provost for student affairs in a message to the JHU community on Jan. 14.

When the University of Maryland Medical Center announced the first successful transplant of a heart that was grown in a genetically altered pig earlier this week, it notched a big win for one of America’s wealthiest self-made women.

Revivicor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics–founded and led by Martine Rothblatt – supplied the heart that made the surgery possible. A former communications satellite lawyer who went on to cofound Sirius Satellite Radio, Rothblatt, 67,  has  been on a long journey to biotechnology success.  

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martine_Rothblatt

The first person to receive a transplanted heart from a genetically modified pig is doing well after the procedure last week in Baltimore, Maryland. Transplant surgeons hope the advance will enable them to give more people animal organs, but many ethical and technical hurdles remain.

“It’s been a long road to get to this point, and it’s very exciting we are at a point where a group was ready to try this,” says Megan Sykes, a surgeon and immunologist at Columbia University in New York City. “I think there’s going to be a lot of interesting things to be learned.”

Image: Surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center transplanted a genetically altered pig heart into David Bennett.Credit: University of Maryland School of Medicine

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) today announced that Fuad El-Hibri, founder and executive chairman, has decided to retire effective April 1, 2022.

“Creating and leading Emergent has been the honor of my life, and it would not have been possible without the help of our incredible team,” said El-Hibri. “I want to thank everyone at Emergent, past and present, for helping advance our inspiring mission over the past two decades. I could never have imagined the number of lives we would impact, and I will forever be proud of our accomplishments. Emergent is on track to achieving its 2024 strategic plan goals and I have utmost confidence in the executive team under the leadership of Bob Kramer and the oversight of our highly experienced and capable board. While I have been looking forward to retirement after 23 years of service, I will be rooting from the sidelines as a fan, friend, and shareholder.”

Fri, Jan 14, 2022  

New Cooperative Agreement to Aid in the Development of Therapeutics and Vaccines, Improve Access to Medication  

The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) announces a newly funded five-year cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) headed by the Co-Directors of IBBR, Dr. David J. Weber (PI) and Dr. John Marino (NIST). This award provides more than $3.3 million each year to support groundbreaking research, including technology and standards development that will impact vaccine and therapeutic discovery and development, and to improve access to life-saving treatments for addressing other crucial health challenges.  

IBBR is a joint research enterprise of the University of Maryland, College Park, the University of Maryland, Baltimore and NIST. Research born out of this new cooperative agreement will be applied to accelerating the development and manufacturing of new pharmaceutical and vaccine approaches including cell and gene therapies and mRNA vaccines.  This type of bioscience and bioengineering research will enable robust and rapid responses to pandemics and help remove obstacles to care and treatment related to rare childhood diseases and complex cancers.  

It takes more than a great idea to accomplish a great project. Our research and experience have convinced us that many worthy projects wither or are never launched because neither academic laboratories, start-up firms nor government facilities can support them.

This applies particularly to projects that would produce public goods, such as data sets or tools, that could make research faster and easier. Few research-enabling projects will be commercially viable enough to attract venture capital.

Image: Mouse neurons imaged using a method similar to one being developed as a high-throughput tool by a focused research organization. Credit: P. W. Tillberg et al./Nature Biotechnol.

— Nuvaxovid™ COVID-19 Vaccine (recombinant, adjuvanted) is the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine granted approval in South Korea

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX), a biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, and SK bioscience, Co. Limited, a vaccine business subsidiary of Korea-based SK Group, today announced that South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has approved a Biologics License Application (BLA) from SK bioscience for Nuvaxovid™ COVID-19 Vaccine (recombinant, adjuvanted) for active immunization in individuals 18 years of age and older for the prevention of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2. Nuvaxovid™, Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine also known as NVX-CoV2373, is the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine to be approved for commercial use in South Korea and will be manufactured and marketed in the country by SK bioscience.

“Novavax is proud to bring our COVID-19 vaccine to South Korea at a critical time in the pandemic as both the Delta and Omicron variants have taken hold,” said Stanley C. Erck, President and Chief Executive Officer, Novavax. “We thank our partners at SK bioscience for their commitment to this public health challenge and the MFDS for its thorough assessment of our data as we look forward to helping address major obstacles to controlling the pandemic through the additional option of our protein-based vaccine.”

January 10, 2022 by Ronald Piervincenzi  

The COVID-19 pandemic made the last year both an extraordinary and challenging time to work in health care. Development, distribution and administration of new vaccines, treatments and preventatives moved at a pace never before experienced. Pharmacists and other health care practitioners were called to the front lines of a mass vaccination effort, working to balance safety, speed and a plethora of daily demands in caring for patients and working to save countless lives. Manufacturers, regulators, pharmacists and other care providers demonstrated how cross-sector collaboration could rapidly transform cutting-edge innovation into the new standard of care, including an expanding scope of practice for many pharmacists.