News Archive

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.  

Under pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic, multitudes of clinical trials of new medications and treatments have moved to a decentralized model, bringing them to the patients rather than having patients come to a central trial site such as an urban medical center.(1) At the same time, recent research shows a worrying lack of patients’ informed consent to the treatment they are undergoing.(2) “This,” says Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, founder and CEO of Jeeva Informatics, “is not an acceptable situation. The extent to which patients comprehend the consent they grant is essential to the ethical conduct of medical research.”

Image: http://www.prweb.com

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ —

• ASCENTTM, a Phase III clinical trial conducted in partnership with AbbVie, is expected to enroll patients in the United States and Canada
• Pivotal trials expected to support BLA submission for RGX-314 in 2024

REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX) today announced the initiation of ASCENTTM, the second of two Phase III pivotal trials to evaluate the efficacy and safety of subretinal delivery of RGX-314 in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). ASCENT, the first trial to be initiated by REGENXBIO under the eye care collaboration with AbbVie, is currently active and screening patients. RGX-314 is being investigated as a potential  one-time gene therapy for the treatment of wet AMD.

A Biologics License Application (BLA) is expected to be submitted to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2024 based on two pivotal trials, ASCENT and the ongoing ATMOSPHERE trial.

Leiden, May 27, 2021 – MIMETAS, the global leader in human-relevant organ-on-a-chip models, has just opened their Phenotypic Screening Center. The center facilitates large-scale screening campaigns on Organ-on-a-Chip models, a powerful technology that improves the human physiological relevance of cultured tissues by utilizing microfluidic techniques. In contrast to other Organ-on-a-Chip platforms, the MIMETAS OrganoPlate® technology offers the scalability and the throughput needed for drug discovery studies.

Image: https://www.mimetas.com