Science: House spending panels give NIH big increase to deal with COVID-19 impacts
“This week, spending panels in the U.S. House of Representatives began voting on bills to fund the government, and a few of them made use of an emergency mechanism to beef up research budgets. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the national laboratories funded by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science were the big winners, receiving a combined additional $11.25 billion. But to date, the other federal research agencies have come away empty-handed…” (7/7).

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Commits $2 Billion for Covid-19 Vaccine, Drug Supplies
“The federal government awarded $2 billion to two drugmakers to support development and manufacturing of an experimental drug and a potential vaccine against Covid-19. Novavax Inc. said it would receive $1.6 billion from the federal government to fund clinical studies of its experimental coronavirus vaccine and establish large-scale manufacturing of doses. With the funding, Novavax said it would deliver 100 million doses of its vaccine for use in the U.S., possibly by the end of this year. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it has received a $450 million federal contract to manufacture thousands of doses of its experimental Covid-19 treatment that the government will distribute at no cost to the public if the drug is authorized for use by regulators. … Operation Warp Speed is a federal initiative to accelerate the development and manufacturing of drugs and vaccines for Covid-19. The government also is backing vaccines developed by Moderna Inc., AstraZeneca PLC, and Johnson & Johnson…” (Loftus/Walker, 7/7).

Additional coverage of federal funding for coronavirus vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics is available from The Hill and Wall Street Journal.