Defense Production Act Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Biden announces plans to buy, distribute 500M at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests

[Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash]The White House today announced a COVID-19 response plan that includes a large effort to increase at-home rapid testing.

President Joe Biden’s plan includes the opening of new federal testing sites to increase capacity and the distribution of 500 million at-home, rapid tests to Americans.

The Biden administration plans to purchase a half-billion rapid tests this winter with intentions to distribute them for free to those who want them. The initial delivery is slated to begin in January 2022, with the administration planning to put up a website for Americans to request their at-home tests.

Additionally, according to a news release, new federal testing sites will be set up around the U.S., with the first set to go up in New York City this week.

Biden also said the plan includes utilizing the Defense Production Act to accelerate production, making sure the U.S. is “producing as many tests as quickly as po…

Feds to order 61M more at-home coronavirus tests, build surgical glove factories

Nitrile surgical glove (Image from Cardinal Health)

Just days after ordering 8.5 million at-home tests from Ellume, the Biden administration announced today that it’s in talks with six other at-home coronavirus test manufacturers.

In an online briefing, Tim Manning, the national supply chain coordinator for COVID response, told reporters that these companies could produce another 61 million at-home tests by the end of the summer. Manning declined to identify the manufacturers, citing ongoing contract negotiations, but said more information would be available in the next few weeks.

Get the full story on our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing.

Pandemic Emergency Manufacturing Act would supplement DPA

(Photo by Louis Velazquez on Unsplash)

A rewritten pandemic manufacturing bill was introduced to both houses of Congress yesterday to enable the federal government to manufacture or contract with existing manufacturers to make products to fight COVID-19.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), builds off the COVID-19 Emergency Manufacturing Act, introduced in 2020 to enable the federal government to manufacture or contract with existing companies to manufacture personal protective equipment, prescription drugs and other medical supplies necessary for the pandemic.

Get the full story on our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing.

Biden’s COVID-19 response will make manufacturers busy

(Image courtesy of Biden for President)

Manufacturers of vaccine supplies and personal protective equipment can expect more work as the new Biden administration rolls out its plans to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

In one of his first official acts as president, Joe Biden announced a plan to “fully use” the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of testing supplies, masks, face shields and other PPE, with an eye toward boosting American manufacturing to reduce reliance on other countries. The president also announced his intention to invest $25 billion in a vaccine manufacturing and distribution plan that will provide vaccines to all Americans, free of charge.

Get the full story on our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing.

Biden’s COVID-19 response will make manufacturers busy

[Image courtesy of Biden for President]

Manufacturers of vaccine supplies and personal protective equipment can expect more work as the new Biden administration rolls out its plans to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

In one of his first official acts as president, Joe Biden announced a plan to “fully use” the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of testing supplies, masks, face shields and other PPE, with an eye toward boosting American manufacturing to reduce reliance on other countries. The president also announced his intention to invest $25 billion in a vaccine manufacturing and distribution plan that will provide vaccines to all Americans, free of charge.

Get the full story on our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing.

MedTech 100 roundup: Ringing in the New Year with another high

For the third time in the past four weeks, stocks within the medtech industry climbed to never-before-seen heights as 2021 reared its head.

Previous highs have largely been a result of the FDA granting Moderna emergency use authorization for its vaccine candidate and its subsequent rollout to the U.S., joining the one made by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX), which began to be administered last month.

With the industry plugging along, MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — finished last week at 104.67 (Jan. 1), marking its highest-ever total and a 1% uptick from the 103.63 points registered at the end of the week prior (Dec. 25, 2020).

A slight downturn came after the index hit a new high (100.75) on Dec. 4, 2020, beating the mark of 100.65 set on Nov. 9 and setting a new all-time high since the index started being recorded on Jan. 1, 2001. However, stocks have continued to rise …

Report: Ventilators are piling up in government stockpiles

(Image courtesy of Ventec)

As the COVID-19 pandemic roars on, the government stockpile of once-in-demand ventilators has reportedly turned into a collection of unused devices.

The Washington Post reports that, following the panic caused by an anticipated ventilator shortage and subsequent rush to add to the stockpile after President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, the approach to treating COVID-19 changed and continued efforts to produce ventilators may come too late.

According to the report, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it distributed 15,057 ventilators as of last Friday, with 95,713 ventilators remaining in the stockpile, among which 94,352 had come from contracts signed since the pandemic began.

When the pandemic began, ventilators were highly sought after, but, more than five months in, The Washington Post said medical experts claim intubation for COVID-1…

Report: New U.S. reshoring agency may loan billions for manufacturing

The head of the newly formed U.S. International Development Finance Corp. (DFC) said this week that the agency could provide tens of billions of dollars in financing to return manufacturing to the United States, according to a report by Reuters.

One of the projects it may finance is a $12 billion semiconductor plant from Taiwan, DFC CEO Adam Boehler told the news agency.

Working with the Department of Defense, the DFC recently launched a request for proposals from companies seeking financing under the Defense Production Act, which prioritizes government orders amid a war or national crisis. The defense department announced on June 22 that it will dedicate $100 million authorized by the CARES Act to boost medtech and pharmaceutical manufacturing in the U.S. The Trump administration has been pushing to return U.S. manufacturing to this country from China.

Boehler told Reuters that the new finance agency has received a lot of attention from companies, and t…

Report: Trump fundraiser tried to cash in on N95 masks

N95 respirator [Image from the FDA]

The co-founder of a political action committee that has raised funds for President Donald Trump may have attempted to profit from N95 respirators made by 3M (NYSE:MMM), according to a report by CBS News.

The report said that, shortly after Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to obtain 3M’s respirators, Great America PAC (which raised more than $40 million in support of Trump) co-founder Eric Beach formed Colt International, touting connections with 3M despite having no known experience in supplying medical goods.

CBS News cited a letter sent to prospective customers and signed by Beach that claimed Colt International would work directly with 3M and its distributors and offering Beach’s contact information. Another letter claimed that Colt’s ties to 3M would provide local governments, hospitals and first responders access to a stock of “sever…

DOD launches $100m initiative to return COVID-19-related medtech, pharma manufacturing to the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced today that it will dedicate $100 million authorized by the CARES Act to boost medtech and pharmaceutical manufacturing in the U.S.

Working with DOD, the newly formed U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) launched a request for proposals from companies seeking financing under the Defense Production Act, which prioritizes government orders amid a war or national crisis.

The Trump administration has invoked the Korean-War-era law to require certain manufacturers to produce critically needed ventilators and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the president ordered General Motors in March to start producing ventilators for COVID-19 patients. In April, the defense department awarded $133 million in N95 respirator contracts to 3M (NYSE:MMM), Owens & Minor (NYSE:OMI) and Honeywell (NYSE:HON) under the act.

In the latest initiative, eligible projects should help …

Report: U.S. may invoke antitrust law to keep medical supplies available amid pandemic

U.S. officials are reportedly set to invoke a law that would protect companies from antitrust regulations to keep medical supplies available during pandemics.

The Associated Press reported that the government began formal discussions with private industry representatives yesterday, the subject of those discussions centering around a five-year agreement that would ensure supplies of protective materials, medical equipment, medicine and vaccines.

According to the report, the agreement involves a provision of the Defense Production Act that President Trump invoked recently in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The provision enables competitive businesses and the government to discuss price and supply without flouting antitrust regulations, Federal Emergency Management Agency senior official Joel Doolin told the AP.

Over the course of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there have been numerous reports of equipment shortages and insufficient supplies as healthcar…