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Published on January 11, 2022
Israel-based immune response diagnostics company MeMed announced Monday it had closed a $93 million private financing round. Proceed will be used to build manufacturing capacity, accelerate commercialization of its diagnostic kits and platform, and to broaden the company’s product lines. In total, MeMed has raised more than $200 million including…
Published on August 25, 2021
Back in 2015, when Bill Gates famously declared we were “not ready for the next outbreak,” few people could have predicted how true his words would be and what kind of global impact that next outbreak would have. But the COVID-19 pandemic has not only altered most of our lives…
Published on June 28, 2021
Engineers at MIT and Harvard University report they have designed a novel face mask that can diagnose Covid-19 within about 90 minutes. The masks are embedded with tiny, disposable sensors, based on freeze-dried technology. These sensors can be fitted into other garments and could also be adapted to detect other…
Published on May 10, 2021
As more people become vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, there is movement to resume normal every day activities. But many things still remain uncertain about the virus. Will it be tamed by the current array of vaccines? Or will these vaccines fail to keep pace with fast-evolving…
Published on May 3, 2021
Today, Ginkgo Bioworks announced a collaboration with Quest Diagnostics to provide COVID-19 testing services for every K–12 student in the United States, every week. This announcement comes just one month after Ginkgo announced a partnership with Helix to provide testing to K–12 schools across the western United States. Although the…
Published on April 23, 2021
As the COVID-19 pandemic enters a new phase in the U.S., the way testing is being used is also changing and moving more towards a pooled and serial rapid test model with a view to reducing costs and minimizing community transmission. During 2020, tests for SARS-CoV-2 had to develop as…
Published on April 23, 2021
Sense Biodetection has completed a $50 million Series B financing, with the molecular diagnostics company saying it will use the proceeds to accelerate the launch of its Veros COVID-19 test, and further develop a portfolio of instrument-free, rapid molecular tests. Those tests will be based on Sense’s Veros platform, which…
Published on April 21, 2021
One of the odd aspects of the U.S. fight against COVID-19 has been how far behind the country has lagged in sequencing. Countries such as the U.K. and Iceland have led the field, tracking the disease’s spread and the emergence of variants. Now the Biden administration is stepping into the…
Published on April 20, 2021
A U.K.-based study using multi-omic techniques reveals that asymptomatic and mildly affected patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus have high levels of immune cells—antibody-producing B cells and T helper cells—that are not seen in those with more severe COVID-19. Notably, the research showed that patients with severe disease had not…
Published on March 24, 2021
San Diego-based bioinformatics firm ROSALIND, formerly known as OnRamp Bio, has launched an online platform to monitor the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants and help test manufacturers assess whether the accuracy of their tests will be impacted by them. ROSALIND developed its new diagnostic monitoring system with funding from the…
Published on March 2, 2021
Diagnostics giant Quidel has achieved a second FDA approval for a COVID-19 antigen test, this time one that can be carried out at home within 10 minutes. The first approval the San Diego-based firm achieved was in December 2020 for its QuickVue SARS Antigen Test, that was only certified for…
Published on February 10, 2021
The FDA last night granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a 700 mg dose of bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555) in combination with a 1400 mg dose of a second Lilly antibody candidate, etesevimab (LY-CoV016), for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients aged 12 and older who are at high risk for progressing…
Published on January 19, 2021
Mammoth Biosciences will apply its DETECTR platform, and IDbyDNA its proprietary pathogen database and algorithms, toward the development of CRISPR-based diagnostics and biosurveillance technologies against varied disease threats for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Mammoth and IDbyDNA are among subcontractors under a four-year, up-to-$36.7 million CRISPR diagnostics contract inked…
Published on January 15, 2021
Researchers have developed a PCR-based test to quickly identify secondary infections in COVID-19 patients, who have double the risk of developing pneumonia while on ventilation than non-COVID-19 patients. Normally, confirming a pneumonia diagnosis requires growing bacterial samples from patients in a lab, which is time-consuming. The new test uses multiple…
Published on January 4, 2021
Last week, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced the commencement of the Phase III trial (NCT04611802) of the Novavax investigational COVID-19 vaccine. The trial will evaluate the effectiveness, immune response, and safety of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate called NVX-CoV2373, and is estimated to complete data collection…