Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which supports development of medical countermeasures for possible mass casualty events has agreed to provide Avita Medical additional funding to support the company in its plans for US market approval and product launch of ReCell®.
CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted that live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), also known as the "nasal spray" flu vaccine, should not be used during the 2016-2017 flu season. ACIP continues to recommend annual flu vaccination, with either the inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) or recombinant influenza vaccine (RIV), for everyone 6 months and older.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released the 2016 National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary (NHTA). The report outlines the expanding public health crisis afflicting the United States due to the use and abuse of heroin and other opioid drugs.
The Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has finalized the first operational rules for routine commercial use of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS or "drones"), opening pathways towards fully integrating UAS into the nation's airspace. These new regulations work to harness new innovations safely, to spur job growth, advance critical scientific research and save lives.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company announced that it has dosed the first subject in a Phase 2b field efficacy trial of Takedas norovirus vaccine candidate (TAK-214), the only norovirus vaccine candidate in human clinical trials.
Two pathogen reduction device technologies that may help reduce the risk of transmitting disease through blood product transfusions, including those diseases related to Zika virus, will advance in development with the support of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
Researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University are working on a project for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). Dr. Eric Petersen and Dr. Waruna Kulatilaka will spend the next five years studying chemical reaction rates and developing techniques to counteract weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
DARPA's new Prometheus program is setting out to develop the predictive capability to discover a minimal set of molecular biomarkers that would indicate, less than 24 hours after exposure to a pathogen, whether an individual will become contagious, allowing for early treatment or the initiation of other mitigating steps before a person begins infecting others.
Rigaku Analytical Devices announced a major enhancement of its Progeny ResQ handheld chemical identification. The new feature, dubbed 4C Technology, significantly increases the usefulness of a handheld analyzer used at incidents by indicating the overall threat level posed by the presence of multiple individual chemicals.
A new video produced by the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the Office for Bombing Prevention, within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Protection and Programs Directorate's (NPPD) Office of Infrastructure Protection, in collaboration with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), aims to fill the knowledge gap and bring the DHS' bomb threat checklist to life.
