India’s Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) researchers are conducting serosurveillance of armed forces population in the Indian city of Pune, reported The Indian Express. The three-month study will detect circulating IgG antibodies only in the city’s armed forces population. Around 500 personnel of age from 20 to 55 years and posted at AFMC will take part in the study. Blood samples are being collected to check whether they have tested positive for antibodies against Covid-19.
Thermo Fisher Scientific has signed a letter of intent (LoI) to manufacture INOVIO’s DNA Covid-19 vaccine candidate, INO-4800. INOVIO has plans to have 100 million doses of INO-4800 manufactured in 2021. INO-4800 is administered via INOVIO’s proprietary CELLECTRA smart delivery device. INOVIO received $71m in funding earlier this summer from the US Department of Defense (DoD) for large-scale manufacture of the company’s proprietary CELLECTRA 3PSP and the procurement of CELLECTRA 2000 devices.
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Israel is set to build a new laboratory that will allow researchers to study Covid-19 and future life-threatening viruses. The lab will operate out of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It is expected to begin operations by the end of this year. The Israel Ministry of Defense (MOD), the Ministry of Finance, and the university will finance the lab, which will cost NIS4m ($1.2m). Directorate of Defense Research and Development (Mafat) research and technological development unit Nadav Cohen was quoted by calcalistech.com as saying: “It will be an especially well-guarded facility that will enable researchers to conduct tests on live coronavirus samples and study the virus’s behaviour. The lab will serve Israel’s scientific and defence community.”
