Encephalomyelitis, Equine

Pictured: Syringe drawing from a series of vials/iStock, NikiLitov Danish biotech Bavarian Nordic announced on Wednesday, as part of its preliminary 2023 financial results, that it would halt any future work on its cancer vaccine program. According to Bavarian Nordic, its cancer vaccine TAEK-VAC has reached a stage where more investments are required. The company would also have faced stiff competition in the cancer vaccine space as big names such as BioNTech, Merck and Moderna are making progress on their respective cancer vaccines. The TAEK-VAC program will stop with no plans to invest in an immune-oncology vaccine. The company’s website details the TAEK-VAC vaccine, which sought to use the body’s immune system to find and eliminate cancer cells. A Phase I trial of the vaccine was ongoing with the first stage of the study completed while stage two was open for enrollment. Bavarian Nordic said it will instead focus on infectious diseases through “product improvements” and new vaccine development to stay competitive. The company is working on a vaccine for the chikungunya virus and equine encephalitis, a rare mosquito-borne disease. For its chikungunya vaccine, Bavarian Nordic is currently conducting a Phase III trial. The results, which were posted in August 2023, showed that 98% of patients who took the vaccine had a strong induction of chikungunya-inducing antibodies. In addition, 97% of patients in the study had antibodies induced within two weeks of vaccination. Separately, an equine encephalitis vaccine has finished a Phase I trial and is being developed via a contract with the U.S. government. Bavarian Nordic disclosed that the development costs were DKK 850 million ($149 million) in 2023, with nearly half of those costs related to its chickungunya program. Bavarian Nordic’s preliminary 2023 results show the company secured revenue of over DKK 7 billion ($1 billion) compared to 3.1 billion ($449 million) in 2022. The biotech said that the spike in revenue was caused by a rise in sales of smallpox/mpox vaccines following an outbreak in 2022 and growth in the travel health business after an acquisition last year. Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The award-winning Agtech startup will provide the first real-time mosquito surveillance to support CDC's recent initiatives around vector control and mosquito suppression RIVERSIDE, Calif., Aug. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, agtech startup FarmSense, announces that it has been awarded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funds in the amount of $275,000, with potential expansion of up to $2 million for the creation of an end-to-end platform for digital mosquito surveillance. The project will support the vital work of vector control and mosquito suppression efforts, targeting the reduction of diseases like West Nile, Eastern Encephalitis, Zika, and Malaria. This development comes in the wake of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issuing a health advisory for multiple cases of malaria in the US for the first time since 2003. The success of FarmSense's FlightSensor™ in providing real-time pest monitoring for commercial agricultural operations is now expanding its technology into the realm of public health. Current mosquito monitoring primarily relies on mechanical traps that require frequent in-person attendance and are labor and time intensive. FarmSense's technology will enhance both the time, accuracy, and ease of insect surveillance — thus bolstering mosquito suppression efforts, while reducing associated labor costs and the volume of pesticides that are used. "FarmSense is honored and excited to be part of such a crucial public health project," said Dr. Leslie Hickle, FarmSense co-founder and CEO. "I'm confident that the capabilities of our technology and FlightSensor device will provide the necessary data to effectively serve both the commercial agriculture industry as well as provide important public health information. This is one of those rare opportunities where technology benefits both agriculture as well as public health, generally separate markets, to enhance precise measures for insect suppression." Beyond area-wide surveillance and advancing mosquito suppression efforts, developments from this project will also provide researchers with valuable tools for better understanding mosquito-vectored diseases, measuring the effectiveness of attractants and repellents, new treatments, developing new technologies in mosquito control, and reducing overall pesticide use that will hopefully result in improved environmental protection. [Source] FarmSense's FlightSensor™ utilizes patented technology, computational entomology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and real-time analytics to improve insect monitoring methods. To partner with or learn more about FarmSense and their FlightSensor technology, visit About FarmSense: Founded in 2016, FarmSense helps farmers simplify pest management and take the guesswork out of insect monitoring. The company's patented FlightSensor™ technology provides real-time insect counts and classifications, giving immediate access for farmers to make mission-critical decisions on crop and pest control. As an award-winning startup, FarmSense has already been awarded more than $2 million in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding for the development of biosecurity measures against native and invasive pests. With the potential expansion of the latest SBIR, this total could grow to over $4 million. FarmSense has garnered numerous media features, participated in several notable agriculture and climate focused conferences, and received awards and grants from entities such as Microsoft, Google, US Department of Defense, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, and more. Media Contact: Grady Moore [email protected] (949) 264-2347 SOURCE FarmSense

BOSTON and PANAMA CITY, Panama, Aug. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), the leading horizontal platform for cell programming and biosecurity, and the Government of the Republic of Panama's Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies, today announced that they have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with the intent to develop and implement new biosecurity capabilities in Latin America. Ginkgo, through its biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, aims to support the Gorgas Institute as it builds Panama's foundational bioeconomy that will serve not only the country, but also the surrounding region. These efforts will bolster Panama's biosecurity infrastructure, giving the country key tools to detect, identify, and monitor current and future pathogens. It will also be Concentric's first Latin American program, as the company continues to expand operations internationally. As part of the program, Concentric will collaborate with the Gorgas Institute to strengthen their current surveillance infrastructure for COVID-19, as well as other respiratory and enteric pathogens, leveraging Concentric's expertise in wastewater monitoring, lab enablement, and bioinformatics analysis and decision support. The program is expected to operate in strategic locations that can help bolster both national and regional public health and security throughout Panama. These include, but are not limited to, wastewater surveillance in major urban centers like Panama City, as well as at ports-of-entry, including the border crossing in the Darien National Park and Tocumen International Airport (PTY). By establishing these monitoring programs, Panama will become a critical node in Concentric's global network that collects data to help public health and national security officials detect and respond to emerging biological threats. The information captured from these programs is expected to play a key role in strengthening not only Panama's COVID-19 and novel pathogen detection infrastructure, but also provide key data for regional pandemic preparedness. "We're honored to collaborate with the Republic of Panama to strengthen the region's health security capabilities through pathogen threat detection in Panama City and the Darien region," said Matt McKnight, General Manager, Biosecurity at Ginkgo Bioworks. "Robust bio-surveillance in Panama is critical not only for the health of the country, but also for the security of the Western Hemisphere, and I am confident this partnership will strengthen health security in the region and the world." "These detection and monitoring programs are an important aspect of Panama's public health initiatives. We are excited to collaborate with Concentric on these important biosecurity programs," said Dr. Juan Miguel Pascale, General Director of Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies. About Ginkgo Bioworks Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo's biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, is building global infrastructure for biosecurity to empower governments, communities, and public health leaders to prevent, detect and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and concentricbyginkgo.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as Twitter (@Ginkgo and @ConcentricByGBW), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks and @ConcentricByGinkgo), or LinkedIn. About the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies Gorgas Memorial Institute is the national reference laboratory and research institute of Panama, and the support arm of the Ministry of Health. Founded in 1928 in memory of Dr. William C. Gorgas who implemented public health measures that allowed the control of malaria and yellow fever enabling the construction of the Panama Canal, its research has been centered in the study of tropical diseases: leishmaniasis, malaria, yellow fever, Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya among other arbovirosis as well as the surveillance of Influenza and respiratory viruses and endemic agents such as Hantavirus, Venezuelan and Eastern Equine Encephalitis. During the last decade it has also been involved in HIV surveillance and in research of non-communicable diseases in the country. For more information, visit Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of the partnership and Ginkgo's biosecurity platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business, (ii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, (iii) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (iv) the unpredictability of the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the demand for COVID-19 testing and the commercial viability of our COVID-19 testing business, (v) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, (vi) our ability to realize the expected benefits of merger and acquisition transactions, (vii) the outcome of any legal proceedings against Ginkgo, including as a result of recent acquisitions, (viii) our ability to realize the expected benefits from and the success of our Foundry platform programs, (ix) our ability to successfully develop engineered cells, bioprocesses, data packages or other deliverables, and (x) the product development or commercialization success of our customers. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on May 10, 2023 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations. GINKGO MEDIA CONTACT: [email protected] GINKGO INVESTOR CONTACT: [email protected] REPUBLIC OF PANAMA MEDIA CONTACT: [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks