NEW YORK – Liquid biopsy firm Creatv MicroTech is developing a diagnostic platform that measures the amount and size of specific circulating stromal cells called cancer-associated macrophage-like cells (CAMLs) to identify traces of cancer in a patient’s bloodstream.
The Potomac, Maryland-based company initially plans to commercialize the method, called LifeTracDx, to predict immunotherapy response in stage II to III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cancer patients.
Researchers from AstraZeneca, the University of Oxford, and its spinout company Vaccitech today published preliminary Phase I/II data showing their closely-watched COVID-19 vaccine candidate AZD1222 (formerly ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) to have an acceptable safety profile, and favorable immunogenicity against the virus.
“A single dose elicited both humoral and cellular responses against SARS-CoV-2, with a booster immunization augmenting neutralizing antibody titres. The preliminary results of this first-in-human clinical trial supported clinical development progression into ongoing phase 2 and 3 trials,” the researchers concluded in Safety and immunogenicity of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2: a preliminary report of a phase 1/2, single-blind, randomised controlled trial, published today in The Lancet.
“5 Questions With……” is a weekly BioBuzz series where we reach out to interesting people in the BioHealth Capital Region to share a little about themselves, their work, and maybe something completely unrelated. This edition features Sara Nayeem, M.D., a Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
Sixteen finalists are announced in the “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” special COVID-19 edition competition presented by the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI). Representing innovations in COVID-19-related pediatric medical devices, the finalists will compete in a virtual pitch event held on July 20,2020. Winners will receive grant awards of up to $50,000.
As we embark on our third fund at LionBird, we believe that proactively thinking deeply about what will drive the next decade of healthcare will help us both filter through the noise of digital health, and quickly identify the right investment opportunities. We believe that 2020 represents an unprecedented inflection point in digital health (due to both the COVID-19 global pandemic, as well as many other factors) and we aim to define the trends for the coming decade and their implications for our investment strategy.
Facial temperature detection, campus heatmaps: They’re among the tools in a collection of apps created by teams from within the University System of Maryland over the last month to help limit the spread of COVID-19 — and navigate a society that has changed quickly in the pandemic.
In all, six apps were selected as winners of the USM COVID App Challenge, which was issued at the end of May to galvanize the creation of new tools to respond to the pandemic.
Image: AnTech, developed by Andrew Karam of University of Maryland College Park. (Screenshot via YouTube/AnTech)
Altimmune Inc. is making progress on its Covid-19 vaccine more than four months after jumping into that arena.
The Gaithersburg biopharma said Monday it has emerged from preclinical trials with positive results, positioning the clinical-stage company to start manufacturing the candidate, called AdCovid, in the third quarter of this year and start a phase 1 clinical trial in the fourth quarter.
Image: Dr. Vipin Garg is president and CEO of Altimmune. COURTESY ALTIMMUNE
The search for a cure for Covid-19 is lining the pockets of some landlords.
While the pandemic wreaks financial havoc on hotels and retailers, landlords who cater to biotech and pharmaceutical tenants are seeing increased demand as companies research treatments for the coronavirus, according to the Wall Street Journal. The work of those tenants, too, is more difficult to replicate in a work-from-home setup than the typical office employee.
Drugmakers around the world are scrambling to develop a COVID-19 shot, and Emergent BioSolutions has already signed on to help produce doses for some major players. Now, the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based biopharma has scored a contract update to deploy future vaccine doses for a wholly different kind of health crisis.
Image: Emergent launched a phase 3 trial on NuThrax in March last year; that study is on track to finish by the year’s end. (FiercePharma) – https://www.fiercepharma.com
NEW YORK — The US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Monday approved a roughly $5.5 billion increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health in fiscal 2021, with budget increases for every institute and center.
The committee recommended a total of $46.96 billion in NIH funding for FY 2021, representing a nearly 13 percent increase over its current $41.68 billion budget. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump called for trimming the NIH’s FY 2021 budget to $38.37 billion.
