Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its supplemental Biologics License Application to expand the label of BioThrax to include post-exposure prophylaxis of disease following suspected or confirmed Bacillus anthracis exposure when administered in conjunction with recommended antibacterial drugs.
In this information age, national security analysts often find themselves searching for a needle in a haystack. The available data is growing much faster than analysts' ability to observe and process it. Sandia National Laboratories' Pattern Analytics to Support High-Performance Exploitation and Reasoning (PANTHER) team has made a number of breakthroughs that could help solve these problems.
To validate how the Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot can be used for the decontamination of facilities, vehicles, and equipment affected by a natural or intentional outbreak, Xenex Disinfection Services tested its disinfection device against live Ebola virus and Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) spores in collaboration with the biosafety level 4 laboratory at Texas Biomedical Research Institute.
In November 2015, HomeAid recognized Homelessness Awareness Month as a critical time to focus on challenges faced by many of today's combat veterans. As a leading nonprofit provider of housing, HomeAid is committed to providing veterans with the resources they need to lead a stable life. Among HomeAid's key partners in this mission is Bank of America.
During the G-20 Leaders' Summit in Antalya, Turkey, President Obama announced that the United States and 30 partner countries have made a commitment to work together to achieve the targets of the Global Health Security Agenda, a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration took major steps to prevent foodborne illness by finalizing rules implementing the bipartisan Food Safety Modernization Act that, for the first time, establish enforceable safety standards for produce farms and make importers accountable for verifying that imported food meets U.S. safety standards.
To better protect public health in an anthrax attack, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response will add two types of anthrax antitoxin drugs for the Strategic National Stockpile as options to treat inhalational anthrax.
PositiveID Corporation announced that it has completed a new sample preparation breadboard system which complements, and works in conjunction with the Company's Firefly Dx polymerase chain reaction breadboard prototype pathogen detection system. PositiveID's Firefly Dx is designed to provide real-time, accurate diagnostic results in less than 20 minutes from a handheld device, thereby leading to treatment scenarios at the point of need.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske announced his decision to expand CBP's camera review, including the integration of new body-worn camera testing into law enforcement operations such as checkpoints, vessel boarding and interdictions, training academies, and outbound operations at ports of entry, as well as mobile camera options in vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) new study of Colorado's devastating 2012 Waldo Canyon wildfire demonstrates that prompt and effective action can significantly change the outcome of fires that occur in areas where residential communities and undeveloped wildlands meet.
