News Archive

GSK has reached an agreement in principle with Novavax and the UK Government Vaccines Taskforce to support manufacturing of up to 60 million doses of Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine candidate (NVX-CoV2373) for use in the UK. GSK will provide ‘fill and finish’ manufacturing capacity at its Barnard Castle facility in the North East of England beginning as early as May 2021, with a rapid technology transfer between the two companies beginning immediately. The parties will negotiate a final agreement to include additional terms and conditions.

As the supply of Covid-19 vaccines begins to widen toward meeting the immense demand, some observers have proposed that policy makers put college students close to the top of the list.

Christopher R. Marsicano, head of the College Crisis Initiative at Davidson College, argued in a recent op-ed that vaccinating college students would help protect everyone. “The broader principle in administering vaccine shots equitably is to diminish the risk for those who are most at danger to spread the virus,” he wrote. “Vaccinating college students is an effective way to lower that danger, for two major reasons: College students are mobile and spread Covid-19 with them whenever they travel, and they live in congregate living facilities where infection rates are much higher than in other housing setups.”

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The region has been at the forefront of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine race, and it is rapidly becoming a center for advanced manufacturing. The BHCR cell and gene therapy ecosystem is thriving, and the area boasts one of the richest and most diverse tapestries of life science talent and workforce development programming. What’s more, Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia are home to several dynamic university systems that keep the talent and tech transfer pipeline humming and full.

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The National Institutes of Health provides significant funding for drug development research to universities, companies, and organizations. Over the course of 2020, the NIH provided a significant amount of funding to the BioHealth Capital Region.

The top recipients of NIH funding in the BHCR were research universities, with Johns Hopkins University topping the list with $807,432,003 in financing for different research programs. The top 10 recipients of NIH funding in the BioHealth Capital Region secured more than $2.18 billion in financing. Life sciences organizations within the state of Maryland secured $2.3 billion in NIH funding, an increase from the $1.9 billion granted in 2019.

“I’m delighted by GSK’s investment, which shows the strength of UK manufacturing, and will further boost our vaccine rollout. The Vaccines Taskforce has worked hand in glove with business to successfully deliver vaccines to the whole of the UK, and this agreement will continue to support our approach. We remain on track to offer a first jab to all over 50s by 15 April, and all adults by the end of July, and I want to once again encourage everyone to come forward for a vaccine when you’re called,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

TCR² Therapeutics Inc., based in Cambridge, is a clinical-stage company that develops T-cell therapies for patients with cancer. In a statement, TCR² said it signed a long-term, full-building lease for an existing 85,000 sq. ft. facility. The company will build-out the space to be used for quality control laboratories and offices as well as clinical and commercial production of gavo-cel, the company’s lead product targeting solid tumors. According to a federal form, 15 years is the initial term for the lease at 9950 Medical Center Drive.

Development of Countermeasures for Viral Diseases

The best defense against viral infectious diseases are safe and effective medical countermeasures that function at level of prevention of infection (prophylaxis) and treatment of disease (therapeutic). These include microbicides and vaccines, direct acting antivirals, and immunotherapies. This fireside chat will focus on features and characteristics of effective countermeasures, how they defend against viral infection and disease, and the preclinical development pathways to advance them from bench to bedside.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TCR2 Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: TCRR), a clinical-stage cell therapy company with a pipeline of novel T cell therapies for patients suffering from cancer, today announced that it has signed a long-term, full-building lease with Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE) for an existing 85,000 square foot cell therapy manufacturing facility in Rockville, Maryland which is ready for Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) build-out. The site will support clinical and commercial production of gavo-cel with a capacity to treat several thousand cancer patients annually. The facility is expected to accelerate the Company’s commercial-scale manufacturing timelines with production anticipated in 2023.

BioFactura, Inc. today announced a contract option activation of over $13 million by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as part of BioFactura’s prime contract valued at up to $67.4 million for the advanced development of a smallpox biodefense therapeutic.