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Pfizer to outsource more production as it prepares for COVID-19 vaccine

Pfizer is turning to its 200-strong network of outside contractors to make more of its existing medicines as it prepares for a potential COVID-19 vaccine., according to media reports.

The New York–based pharmaceutical giant said May 5 that it will invest at-risk to produce millions of doses of a coronavirus vaccine in 2020, boosting production to hundreds of millions of doses in 2021. Pfizer sites in Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri and Puurs, Belgium will serve as vaccine manufacturing centers — with more sites expected to be added to the list.

BioNTech — Pfizers’s partner in developing a COVID-19 vaccine — plans to ramp up production sites in Mainz and Idar-Oberstein, Germany,

The first participants in Pfizer and BioNTech’s Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the BNT162 vaccine program have already been dosed in Germany and the U.S.

“The short, less than four-month timeframe in which we’ve been able to move from pre-clinical studies …

Could AI predict COVID-19 without testing?

Researchers in England and Massachusetts have developed an artificial intelligence diagnostic that can predict the likelihood of someone having COVID-19 based on symptoms.

King’s College London, Massachusetts General Hospital and health science company Zoe have developed an AI model that uses data from the COVID Symptom Study app to help predict COVID-19 infection. It compares symptoms and the results of traditional COVID tests to help populations that have limited access to testing.

According to the researchers, more than 3.3 million people around the world have downloaded the app and are reporting daily health status.

The researchers have analyzed data from 2.5 million people in the U.S. and the U.K who have regularly been logging their health in the app. About one-third of the people logged COVID-19 related symptoms. Of the one-third, 18,374 have had a coronavirus test and 7,178 tested positive.

Symptoms associated with COVID-19 were anal…

PTI Engineered Plastics donating thousands of face shields against COVID-19

PTI Engineered Plastics has a goal of manufacturing 100,000 face shields. [Image courtesy of PTI Engineered Plastics]

PTI Engineered Plastics has collaborated with industrial designers at PTI Design to create a protective face shield that can be quickly produced using injection molding manufacturing — helping to boost the supply of protective equipment for health providers treating people with COVID-19.

The Macomb, Mich.–based company says production of the shields started last week, with a goal of manufacturing 100,000 pieces in total.

PTI Engineered Plastics is coordinating donations with hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, hospice care and dental offices. Once more critical requests are met, donations could go to first responders and law enforcement personnel, followed by grocery stores and other essential workers.

PTI turned to existing designs or reference — but also made improvements:

…

India-led research effort asks the question: How do we keep a potential COVID-19 vaccine cold?

[Image courtesy of University of Birmingham]

U.K. scientists have joined a research effort in India to help solve distribution problems around whatever COVID-19 vaccine hopefully emerges from global efforts, according to a recent news release from the University of Birmingham.

Backed by the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, experts from the University of Birmingham and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh are investigating the challenge involved in distributing a potentially temperature-sensitive COVID–19 vaccine.

The Centre for Environment Education (CEE) in India is leading the overall research, with support from commercial partners such as Zanotti (a part of the Daikin Group), Sure Chill and Nexleaf Analytics. The British researchers are exploring how integrated “Community Cooling Hubs’” can integrate food cold chains with other cold-dependent services such as community health fac…

DeviceTalks Weekly: Ep. 9 – What’s the state of the medtech job market?

In this week’s episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Tom Salemi speaks with two executive recruiters about what they see in the medtech market. Over the past month, we’ve seen several medtech companies – big and small – cutting jobs and reducing hours but what does this mean long-term.

In this podcast we’ll identify a few companies that are hiring, but we’ll talk in-depth with the recruiters about…

How bad is the current market? What’s the likelihood for recovery? What skills are in greater demand? What can people do to strengthen their hand?

Guests are:

David L. Vied, global sector leader, Global Sector Leader, Medical Devices and Diagnostics, Korn Ferry Giovanni Lauricella, VP, medtech practice-lead, The Mullings Group

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