News Archive

The world might be facing turmoil and uncertainty — states that Novavax Inc. knows all too well — but today, the Gaithersburg biotech has reason to celebrate.

The company has reported positive results for its late-stage clinical trial of seasonal flu vaccine NanoFlu, marking its first successful phase 3 study after two devastating failures. These latest results now open an otherwise impenetrable door with a product candidate viewed as Novavax’s last best chance for success — and its first-ever commercial product in more than 30 years of operation.

No vavax is cel e brat ing tri al re sults again four years af ter a Phase III fail ure in RSV sent their stock price off a cliff.

The com pa ny an nounced that their re com bi nant flu vac cine NanoFlu met all pri ma ry and sec ondary end points in a Phase III study of 2,652 adults old er than 65. The num bers, No vavax sug gest ed, should al low them to clear reg u la to ry hur dles and snag the biotech’s first ap proval since its found ing in 1987.

In honor of the new JLABS @ Washington, DC – a 32,000 square foot facility located on the new Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS launched the JLABS @ Washington, DC Children’s QuickFire Challenge.

Visionaries within the fields of pediatric oncology, pediatric surgery and influenza are invited to submit innovative ideas for up to $150,000 in total grant funding; one year of residency at JLABS @ Washington, DC; and mentorship.

There have been concerns about possible shortages of hospital beds and protective gear during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the biggest concern in Maryland may be not having enough medical workers.

“Staffing might be more of a constraint than beds and supportive equipment,” said Bob Atlas, president and CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association. The group represents all of the state’s hospitals.

Heather Phillips was supposed to be getting ready to join her extended family at its annual pumpkin carving celebration in Clarksburg, but instead she was still at work at Lung Bioengineering in downtown Silver Spring. It was late on a Saturday morning in October, and she’d been working all night. Now she stood inside the loading dock of the two-story building awaiting, for the third time in 12 hours, the delivery of an insulated cardboard box filled with ice and a pair of human lungs.

Image: Specialists Sam Popa (left) and Erin Larrabee prepare a set of lungs in a Lung Bioengineering operating room. Photo by Lisa Helfert