Tapeworm, Vertigo and Pancreatitis Drugs Are Being Trialled As COVID-19 Treatments
Included in this news roundup is UF startup Algernon Pharmaceuticals's trials with ifenprodil, a drug used to treat vertigo and bird flu. Algernon is testing the drug's efficacy in preventing lung damage and increasing survivability in patients with COVID-19.
New Resident Client at Sid Martin Biotech to Pave Way for Post-COVID Therapy, Regenerative Medicine Research
The inflammation COVID-19 patients suffer during and post-COVID-19 infection (AKA "Post-COVID Syndrome") will be one of many focuses of a new resident client that recently joined the UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech, the world-recognized leader in biotechnology incubation. Neobiosis, which produces regenerative tissues, cells, and extracellular vesicles for research and clinical trials to help the body heal itself—without surgery—will operate a laboratory at the biotech center, located in Alachua.
Algernon Pharmaceuticals Receives Green Light from DSMB to Conduct Phase 3 Study of Ifenprodil for COVID-19
UF startup Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc., formerly known as Breathtec Biomedical, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical development company, announced that the external Data and Safety Monitoring Board (“DSMB”) has completed its latest review of the Phase 2b part of the Company’s Phase 2b/3 human study of NP-120 (Ifenprodil) for the treatment of COVID-19, and has provided approval for the company to continue on with the Phase 3 part of the study.
Oragenics Enters Into Material Transfer Agreement With Adjuvance Technologies for COVID-19 Vaccine Adjuvant
UF startup and UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech graduate company Oragenics, Inc., a leader in the development of new antibiotics against infectious diseases and effective treatments for oral mucositis, announced entering into a material transfer agreement with Adjuvance Technologies Inc. for use of the adjuvant TQL1055 in the Company’s Terra CoV-2 vaccine against COVID-19.
Smell Tests Evaluated As Potential Tool To Identify COVID-19
A team of University of Florida neuroscientists will analyze two different smell tests under a National Institutes of Health grant aimed at developing inexpensive, at-home tests to help identify new cases of COVID-19 and provide a warning sign of a community outbreak in time to thwart it.
COVID-19 Fighting Antibodies Developed in Alachua Sent to Clinical Trials
Supporting our troops: an Alachua company works to keep our soldiers safe from COVID-19. Here's what UF startup and UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech alum Ology Bioservices Inc., a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), is doing on the front lines of the pandemic.
UF Health in Gainesville Begins Vaccinating High-Risk Health Care Employees Against COVID-19
University of Florida Health clinical caregivers who are most at risk of being exposed to the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 began receiving vaccinations at the UF Health Shands Cancer Hospital, just two days after the first vaccinations in the state were administered at UF Health Jacksonville
Ology Bioservices Signs Built-to-Suit Lab Space, Adding 43,000 Square Feet to Headquarters
Avison Young facilitated a 42,500-square-foot lease agreement between Concept Companies and Ology Bioservices, a UF startup and UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech alum, for a new built-to-suit lab space on the heels of a federal government contract for the company to expand production capabilities, including vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19 once finalized.
PanVent Emergency Ventilator Created to Fill Urgent Need During COVID-19
Dr. Samsun Lampotang has spent his career engineering solutions to medical problems. At the start of 2020, Lampotang’s focus was on designing, building and validating mixed reality guided intervention simulators to train physicians and nurses in medical procedures without putting patients at risk. But then COVID-19 changed all this.
UF Health Jacksonville CEO Believed to Be First in Florida to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine
The CEO of UF Health Jacksonville is believed to be the first person in the state of Florida to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.