Blue Steens in October 2020
Catch up on Blue Steens articles and venture further
This month on Blue Steens
Quo vadis?
Career support is often readily offered to young people. What about mature career changers? I feel that we don't make enough use of cross-disciplinary and intergenerational wisdom.
Beyond Blue Steens
Coronavirus
⊳ Testing
India approved paper-strip COVID-19 easy-to-use, point-of-care kit. The test works with nasopharyngeal swabs, and relies on CRISPR technology to amplify the genetic viral material in the sample. This greatly enhances its sensitivity. It sounds like the original idea was tested and published by MIT (USA).
BD launches assay for COVID-19 immune assessment in Europe. The multi-colour test identifies and enumerates T-cell subtypes to help inform the clinical course of action for the patient.
Breathonix develops one-minute breath test detecting exhaled Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), which can indicate changes in a person’s breath profile due to disease.
⊳ Treatment
Gilead’s Remdesivir (Veklury) gained FDA approval for 12+-year old hospitalised patients. However, WHO Solidarity preliminary study results are sobering. The trials tested remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir-ritonavir and interferon. Overall, no improvement of survival or time spent in hospital.
GSK to widen COVID-19 antibody treatment trial after initial positive safety evaluation.
⊳ Vaccination
Whilst a few vaccine trials have seen progress, some of the more advanced ones have been put on hold - Eli Lilly, J&J (since resumed) and Inovio, or delayed - Novavax. After a previous pause (see Aug/Sep edition), AstraZeneca is resuming its US trial arm. It has been suggested that the various trial delays instil some public trust in the thoroughness of the development process. Then, why not also cover the manufacturing process? - Vaccine makers going for EUA can skip FDA plant inspections.
Russia Fast-Tracks Second Coronavirus Vaccine & China in talks with WHO over assessing its COVID-19 vaccines for global use - Why does this feel like another ‘space’ race?
CEPI establishes global network to compare COVID-19 vaccines. Different labs will use the same testing reagents and follow common protocols to analyse trial samples.
Biotech
Combination of lipid vesicles and ultrasound waves can provide highly site-specific drug delivery.
Out and about
1 Oct: HUG Standards. Global Collaboration and Harmonization for Digital Transformation in Health Care, Science Digital @ UNGA 75 [general resources]
7 Oct: IEEE Healthcare: Blockchain & AI Kick-off [replays]
13 Oct: MediLedger Webinar #7: An Implementation Walkthrough of a Blockchain-based Solution for Chargebacks in Life Sciences [replay]
13 Oct: BRG Webinar - Enterprise Applications: Ethereum & Baseline Protocol [replay]
15 Oct: Episode 008 Enterprise DLT Live, Philip Baker, RemediChain [replay]
27 Oct: Blockchain in Use: Internet of Things (IoT), BerChain [replay]
28 Oct: How Public Blockchains Will Reshape Industry Supply Chains & Competition [replay, slides, case study]
30 Oct: ConsenSys Health with Mike McCoy, Memphis Blockchain Distributed Ledgers [replay tbc]
31 Oct: Discussion on Enterprise Blockchain Governance, GBA UAE [replay tbc]
*** If you made it down to this point, thanks for reading this far! Just a wee heads-up; there’s not going to be a November edition, as I’ll be too busy to give it the attention it requires. I’m also contemplating the future of this newsletter thereafter. ***
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In this newsletter I share personal views and observations only. For more information and the privacy policy visit Blue Steens.