For ‘approximately a quarter of the price of traditional ventilators’ Maingear is known for building custom, high-end gaming PCs, but it’s responding to the novel coronavirus pandemic in a noble way by developing ventilators to help patients who suffer from COVID-19. It has allocated a portion of its manufacturing capability specifically to aid New York…

The COVID-19 pandemic has left hospitals in short supply of personal protective equipment and medical supplies. As patients develop severe respiratory symptoms, there is another concern: if hospitals will have enough ventilators to support them all. Dr. Charles Robertson, an assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, has built about 170…

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. – The Bayer Corporation in St. Louis is getting into the personal protection equipment market in the fight against the spread of COVID-19, as the division that produces agricultural products is now making face shields for healthcare workers. Engineers and designers at Bayer’s Technical Discovery Center in Chesterfield are making quick work in…

Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG) announced today that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. government to double its ventilator production by May in order to better support the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The Amsterdam-based company also plans to quadruple production by the third quarter in order to deliver tens of thousands of ventilators to the…

Gaithersburg, Maryland-based biotech Novavax Inc. reports early success with its experimental coronavirus vaccine, and has accelerated its timetable for human trials. Its vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, was shown to be highly immunogenic in animal models for antibodies that block the binding of the virus to cells. It reports virus neutralizing antibodies were observed after a single immunization.…

Five healthcare experts—including former top government healthcare officials Scott Gottlieb and Farzad Mostashari—have proposed a plan to build a  national COVID-19 surveillance system. A system to effectively track and trace COVID-19 is a prerequisite for gradually reopening the economy, the healthcare leaders said in a recent paper issued by the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. “We need…

Being flexible, having a mission control center and technology tools, and making a quick transition to telehealth have helped health care leaders who are developing strategies to fight the novel coronavirus respond to rapidly increasing patient volumes. “We have to be nimble, flexible, adaptable in this incredibly changing environment,” Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, executive vice president…

Although the FDA approved the anti-malaria, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus medications hydroxychloroquine sulfate and chloroquine phosphate for emergency treatment of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), physician groups and medical experts are concerned about their use. In late March, FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for hydroxychloroquine, already approved to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis, for patients who are…

We need the capital and creativity of the private sector to take on the coronavirus. The rapid spread of the coronavirus has revived a decades-old debate over pharmaceutical policy, with both sides doubling down on long-held views. Advocates for broader drug access insist that pharmaceutical companies must not be allowed to reap large profits from…