News Archive

One of the questions I get asked the most is when I think the world will get back to normal. I understand why. We all want to return to the way things were before COVID-19. But there’s one area where I hope we never go back: our complacency about pandemics.

The unfortunate reality is that COVID-19 might not be the last pandemic. We don’t know when the next one will strike, or whether it will be a flu, a coronavirus, or some new disease we’ve never seen before. But what we do know is that we can’t afford to be caught flat-footed again. The threat of the next pandemic will always be hanging over our heads—unless the world takes steps to prevent it.

Image: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/its-too-soon-start-thinking-next-pandemic-bill-gates/

Novavax electrified investors last night by announcing that its COVID-19 vaccine NVX-CoV2373 showed efficacy of 89.3% in the company’s first analysis of data from a Phase III trial in the U.K., where a variant strain (B.1.1.7) accounted for about half of all positive cases.

However, NVX-CoV2373 achieved only 60% efficacy in a Phase IIb trial in South Africa, where that country’s escape variant of the virus (B.1.351, also known as 20H/501Y.V2) was seen in 90% of cases, Novavax said.

“NVX-CoV2373 is the first vaccine to demonstrate not only high clinical efficacy against COVID-19 but also significant clinical efficacy against both the rapidly emerging U.K. and South Africa variants,” Stanley C. Erck, Novavax’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

Patient engagement platform GetWellNetwork announced it has acquired patient-messaging company Docent Health for an undisclosed sum.

As part of the deal, GetWellNetwork will be able to offer Docent Health’s tool as a combined offering with its other services. The messaging service uses artificial intelligence to message patients about their care. Additionally, its platform is able to collect patient data and, in turn, triage patients and find them the right place of care to seek.

Image: https://www.mobihealthnews.com

The Johnson & Johnson one-shot coronavirus vaccine is expected to be a game-changer in fighting COVID-19 — and it will be made in Baltimore.

Earlier this month we posited the idea that 2021 could be the year of quantum computing-led drug discovery and predicted that partnerships like those of Google and European pharma giant Boehringer Ingelheim would be more common with more quantum hardware makers tying the knot with drug manufacturers.

2020 was an interesting year for the biotech industry and the BioHealth Capital Region as we adjusted to continue moving forward during the COVID-19 Pandemic. While the biggest stories in terms of dollars were related to the Coronavirus and funding to create a vaccine in record time, that didn’t stop other biotech companies from working hard to develop their research, science, and/or devices. 

Oxford, UK – Vaccitech Ltd announces that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has today recommended the conditional marketing authorisation of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford with its partner AstraZeneca. Distribution will begin across all 27 member states once the decision is ratified by the European Commission. The vaccine was co-invented by Vaccitech and The University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute.

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 29, 2021 – Connected DMV’s COVID-19 Strategic Renewal Task Force held its seventh meeting on Thursday, adopting a recommendation to proactively address climate change through the establishment of a regional Hydrogen Center that affirms Greater Washington as a leader in the hydrogen economy. Task Force members agreed that collaboration across borders and disciplines to tackle climate change, using hydrogen energy, is a national and regional imperative, and by utilizing the significant assets of the DMV region, an achievable goal.