Archive for category: Corona News

Corona News

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MilliporeSigma Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

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MilliporeSigma, a global life science tools and equipment supplier, is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic with products and solutions for scientists to detect and characterize viruses and to develop vaccines and therapies.
“We are committed to providing researchers with the necessary raw materials, products and services that can aid the global scientific effort to fight this novel virus. We have consolidated this product offering on a dedicated COVID-19 web page https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/covid-19.html, providing a one-stop-shop of approximately 125 products and corresponding information for academic labs and biopharmaceutical companies working to combat the virus, the company said in statement.
“We are not only focused on end-product solutions during this extraordinary time. To provide this level of support for the critical measures underway to contain and treat COVID-19 and to continue providing products that support the development and manufacturing of over-the-counter drugs to complex cell and gene therapies, we are working hard to ensure minimal disruption to our supply chain while remaining committed to the safety of our employees and customers.
“Our 59 manufacturing sites around the world remain operational to ensure that our biopharmaceutical customers have the products and services they need to serve the health needs of a global population.”
The company added that along with this, their top priority remains the safety and well-being of their employees.
“At each of our sites, we have stopped travel, arranged remote working whenever possible and implemented stringent safety measures, such as social distancing and enhanced hygiene protocol. We are leveraging virtual meeting technology to continue collaborating with the global scientific community.”
MilliporeSigma noted: “To aid the ongoing scientific response to COVID-19, we continue to monitor the global situation closely, establishing protocols and guidelines to minimize the impact whenever possible to our sites and supply. We have mobilized a global task force to actively evaluate the overall supply chain of both our products and key raw materials suppliers to mitigate any potential disruption. Leveraging business continuity plans, we remain dedicated to serving our customers in all markets. In China, our suppliers continue to increase their levels of resumed operations and, as shipping lanes in and out of China continue to improve, we are actively monitoring logistic routes and transportation options to fulfil our shipping requirements.
“Throughout all of this, we are following guidance outlined by the WHO, CDC and governments of impacted countries, and our global sites have relevant and approved preparedness plans and are empowered to act per their local scenarios, as necessary.”

Cleveland Clinic study confirms no association between medications for chronic cardiac diseases and COVID-19

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Despite recent controversy suggesting that popular medications prescribed to lower blood pressure may increase the risk of infection by the novel coronavirus and lead to more severe outcomes in COVID-19, a retrospective study by Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, US, has supported the view that there is no foundation to these claims, although the researchers called for larger studies as the pandemic develops.
The medications in question are Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), both of which dilate blood vessels to increase the amount of blood pumped by the heart. The result is lowered blood pressure and increased blood flow, which helps to lower the heart’s workload and reduce the risk of heart failure. The medications are commonly prescribed in cases of coronary artery disease, heart failure, diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure).
“Our analysis found no association between ACEI or ARB use and COVID-19 test positivity,” says Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Ankur Kalra, MD, the study’s corresponding author.
“These medications are important tools in the management of coronary artery disease, heart failure, diabetes and hypertension. As there may be a risk to withdrawing these agents, our findings support current professional society guidelines to not discontinue ACEI or ARB therapy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
The Cleveland Clinic study looked at 18,472 individuals tested for COVID-19 at its locations in Florida and Ohio, with a mean age of 49 (± 21 years), and who were predominantly female (60%) and white (69%). Testing for COVID-19 was positive in 1,735 patients, or 9.4% of the total sample.
First study author Neil Mehta, MD of the Department of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, says: “Our findings with regard to clinical outcomes and measures of COVID-19 severity while on ACEI or ARB therapy give some reassurance. However, they must be interpreted with caution, due to the small sample size and the limitations of observational studies. They require replication and reanalysis in larger patient samples later in the course of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”
A secondary analysis among COVID-19-positive patients showed no association between use of these medications and risk for mechanical ventilation.

Pan-European consortium established to rapidly develop vaccine

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A pan-European consortium of biotech companies announced April 23 that they will collaborate to develop and manufacture on a large scale a novel adenoviral vector-based vaccine against COVID-19.
The vaccine candidate is expected to enter clinical trials mid 2020 with vaccine production planned to start following the successful trials. If all goes according to plan, approximately 6 million doses of the vaccine are expected to be available early in 2021.
The consortium comprises Italian company ReiThera, German LEUKOCARE, and Belgian Univercells. They provide expertise in vector-based vaccine development, vaccine formulation and manufacturing, respectively. Their combined expertise is expected to enable efficient and ultra-fast vaccine development.
The vaccine technology is based on a novel, ReiThera-proprietary simian adenoviral vector with strong immunological potency and low pre-existing immunity in humans. Vaccines based on simian adenoviral vectors have been extensively evaluated in Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials and proved to be safe and immunogenic. ReiThera is currently preparing for a COVID-19 first-in-human trial to be started in Italy in mid 2020.
In parallel to its clinical development, the consortium will start manufacturing and stockpiling the vaccine. With these pilot scale processes, approximately 6 million doses of the vaccine are expected to be available early in 2021. Based on the Phase 1/2 clinical results and a path agreed with regulatory authorities, the intention with these doses will be to vaccinate the most exposed people such as medical and healthcare professionals and highly vulnerable individuals.
LEUKOCARE will contribute to the drug product development by developing a highly stable liquid vaccine formulation based on its well-established technology platform for formulations of viruses and viral vectors.
Univercells will take advantage of the previous successes of its scale-X bioreactor and NevoLine biomanufacturing platform to adapt and scale-up the technology platform and enable the mass production of ReiThera’s vaccine candidate.
Michael Scholl, Chief Executive Officer of LEUKOCARE, commented: “By combining the experience of the partners, the advanced stages of this vaccine development will allow for a swift response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing the current challenges, our approach for the fast and low-risk development of drug products with superior stability characteristics is even more important regarding timelines and social impact.”

Bedside patient monitoring system

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The Nellcor Bedside SpO2 System technology continuously monitors oxygen saturation (SpO2) and pulse rate for adult, paediatric and neonatal patients. The monitoring system gives clinicians instant access to comprehensive trending respiratory information, enabling them to detect subtle yet critical variations and respiratory complications earlier. The system features enhanced digital signal processing for precise SpO2 readings during low perfusion or other challenging conditions. It also incorporates an alarm management technology to differentiate between serious and minor events and reduce clinically insignificant oxygen desaturation alarms. The monitor further offers an intuitive, multicolour screen that is easy to read in any light and from many angles. Hospital technicians can set institutional defaults, replace the battery, perform diagnostics and generally maintain the monitor within the hospital, saving time and resources.
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Patient monitoring platform with additional measurement technologies

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The IntelliVue patient monitoring platform is now available with Masimo rainbow SET technology. Philips also offers its customers the option to add rainbow SET to existing IntelliVue monitors, and the company is working to integrate the technology into its Philips SureSigns and Philips Efficia patient monitoring platforms. In conjunction with the appropriate patient monitoring platform, Masimo rainbow SET technology analyses multiple wavelengths of light to accurately measure total hemoglobin (SpHb), oxygen content (SpOC), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO), methemoglobin (SpMet) and Pleth Variability Index (PVI) noninvasively and continuously. Continuous monitoring of rainbow SpHb on a Philips monitor at the point-of-care provides clinicians with real-time visibility to changes in hemoglobin in between invasive blood sampling. To ensure that customers have choice of SpO2 pulse oximetry measurement technology, the company continues to offer Philips FAST SpO2 pulse oximetry and Covidien’s OxiMax SpO2 pulse oximetry, depending on the patient monitoring platform.
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ndd’s new inline filters offer additional protection against COVID-19 during lung function tests

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ndd Medical Technologies (ndd), a leading provider of diagnostic technology enabling healthcare professionals in the early detection of COPD and other chronic lung diseases, has introduced new single patient-use, inline filters for its lung function testing devices, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Ensuring an added level of safety, the new filters can be used with ndd’s portable EasyOne spirometry range, including the EasyOne Air, EasyOne Pro, and EasyOne Pro LAB. EasyOne spirometers are popular among pulmonologists and medical researchers as they provide sensitive, reliable, real-time lung function results and diagnosis of chronic lung diseases, even at the point of care.
The EasyOne product line was originally designed with a strong focus on infection control with easy-to-wipe surfaces, single-use parts for anything that comes into contact with a patient’s breath, and ndd’s unique spirette and flow tube design which protects the flow sensor from cross-contamination. Now, when performing spirometry and testing of the diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (DLCO tests), the new EasyOne inline, single patient-use filters provide “double protection” for technicians and patients by keeping the ambient environment clean, without significantly affecting the EasyOne’s sensitivity.
ndd’s rigorous sensitivity tests have shown that the new inline filters do not significantly affect the device’s sensitivity and show comparable results in 24 waveform testing, (as required by ATS/ERS) and pass testing requirements. World-renowned medical research organizations – such as Johns Hopkins University, University Hospital Zurich and University of Cape Town – are partnering with ndd to assess the long-term lung damage caused by SARS-CoV-2.
Dr Trishul Siddharthan, Assistant Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, commented: “There is a lot of research underway to investigate the long-term effects of COVID-19. Our research group has been partnering with ndd thanks to the reliability of these spirometers in global settings and the ease of cleaning these devices during the pandemic to ensure safety.”
Prof. Friedrich Thienemann, General Medicine & Global Health research group, University of Cape Town and University Hospital Zurich, also noted: “In order to measure lung functions in resource-constrained settings like South African townships, one needs a device that is portable, point-of-care, easy-to-use, low-maintenance, and reliable without complicated calibration. EasyOne Pro LAB is that device.”
Incorporating ndd’s patented TrueFlow ultrasound technology, the EasyOne translates airflow into ultrasound signals which are measured by the sensors, so the patient’s breath does not come into contact with the sensors. This helps to prevent contamination and minimizes the cleaning required for safe use, while enabling a lifetime of calibration-free accuracy for flow and volume measurements.
To learn more about ndd, visit: www.nddmed.com
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Xenios sees growing demand for ECMO devices

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Xenios AG, a company of the Fresenius Medical Care Group, reports that it has seen a significant growth in demand for its extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) devices, which can be used for the treatment of patients who develop severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to COVID-19 infection.
Jürgen Böhm, CMO of Xenios, explained that for critically ill COVID-19 patients with acute lung failure and refractory hypoxemia – despite use of standard therapy – “our treatment often remains the last therapeutic option and has been a lifesaver for many patients”.
Xenios’s ECMO therapy bypasses the function of the lungs. The patient’s blood is freed from carbon dioxide outside the body and enriched with oxygen. The lungs are thus given time to heal. Because of the increase of critically ill COVID-19 patients, more physicians are opting for ECMO therapy, and thus the increase in demand for Xenios’s ECMO devices.
To meet the demand, the company has increased production of its ECMO devices. “We have put many measures in place to maximize the utilization of our capacity to manufacture ECMO devices as well as patient kits. Our biggest challenge right now is the availability of specific components for our products,” said Andreas Terpin, CEO of Xenios.
For more information, visit: www.xenios-ag.com
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Fujifilm’s Synapse 3D provides clinical decision support, speeds up workflow during COVID-19 emergency at Pisa University Hospital

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Pisa University Hospital has received support from Fujifilm Italia to improve and speed up the analysis of lung CT images which are important for the diagnosis of COVID-19. This has been possible thanks to an update by Fujifilm of the configuration of the Synapse 3D software used by emergency room radiologists.
The hospital says this new technological development has been useful to improving management of patients affected by COVID-19, during the emergency.
Synapse3D is a 3D medical image analysis system that uses Fujifilm’s image recognition technology to construct and analyze highprecision 3D images, compiled from tomographic images from CT and MRI. It delivers 3D visualization of medical images and has applications in image-based diagnosis and surgery simulation.
Synapse 3D delivers clinical value through fast, accurate, efficient and robust image processing for radiology, cardiology and surgical preoperation simulation.
It was developed in Japan (where it is named Synapse VINCENT) and it consists of more than 50 different processing modules.
The Synapse3D Lung Analysis/Airway module enables the analysis of density ranges in the lung in a quick, easy, objective and reproducible way.
At Pisa University Hospital the configuration of Synapse 3D was completed quickly, with the study of density ranges and a feasibility analysis carried out in a few days, meaning that this updated integrated workflow has been possible to use in the hospital since April 1.
The Pisa University Hospital had already set up three levels of assessing Coronavirus patients, and with the support of Synapse 3D software, doctors have had the ability to quickly and easily identify the stage of pneumonia, and therefore hospitalise patients accordingly:

  • normal hospitalisation for patients with mild pneumonia not requiring respiratory support
  • assessment by a pulmonologist or intensive care doctor for patients with moderate pneumonia to plan suitable respiratory support
  • intensive care assessment for patients with severe pneumonia with a view to transferring them to the intensive care unit

The density analysis provided by Synapse 3D has made it is possible to analyse the lung according to the different pixel densities of the CT images. Three groups were therefore defined based on different density ranges that allow the radiologist to evaluate the percentage of lung with lower density (emphysema), higher density (interstitial effort) and normal lung.
Dr. Chiara Romei, MD, PhD, Radiologist at the Pisa University Hospital, explained: “In a time of emergency such as this, it is crucial for us radiologists to detect accurate data as quickly as possible. Synapse 3D has enabled a quantitative analysis that is much faster and more objective than the visual analysis of the radiologist; in a couple of minutes it is possible to obtain data relating to the percentage of lung with greater and lesser density and to have a precise and objective, reproducible and shareable value.”
It is important to note that the data obtained by Synapse 3D does not replace the molecular diagnoses made through the nasopharyngeal swab (RT-PCR) and does not replace the analysis and diagnostic work by the radiologist, but instead it supports the reporting of daily exams to monitor and study the evolution of the disease, thus optimising workflow.
For medical professionals – download the take-away: https://synapse.fujifilm.eu/fujifilm-takeaway/
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Siemens offers teamplay myCare Companion flexible telemedicine solution

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Siemens is bringing a new and flexible telemedicine solution to the market with its teamplay myCare Companion software. The software enables remote care for patients with chronic diseases. The teamplay myCare Companion allows healthcare providers to design their own telemedicine programs and flexibly adapt the underlying technology to their needs.
The solution has initially been used at the German Heart and Diabetes Center in Bad Oeynhausen for the care of patients with chronic heart failure.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the occupational health and safety medical center at Mannheim University Hospital has been using teamplay myCare Companions’ documentation and communication components as a “coronavirus diary” for clinical. The staff records their health status every day and medical officers can respond quickly to any changes.
“Previously we used to receive piles of diaries in paper form, but now everything is nicely arranged for software to analyse”, said Dr. Margit Eisenbarth. medical officer. “Employees can enter their data conveniently via an app or website. That saves them valuable time, and we get an immediate overview.”
Wido Menhardt, Executive Vice President Digital Health at Siemens Healthineers, said: “Thanks to state-of-the-art telemedicine solutions like teamplay myCare Companion, a large number of patients can be cared for with a relatively low use of employee resources, and the number of unscheduled hospital visits can be reduced. That can substantially lower costs and is also conducive to better quality of life for chronically ill patients. Additional uses for the program that make life a little easier for medical officers and clinical employees in the current situation show just how flexible this software is.”
Teamplay myCare Companion basically consists of two components: an intuitive smartphone app for patients and a special workstation for medical care providers. Patients use the app to report their health status, wellness, the medications they’re taking, and their vital parameters to the nursing staff. Among other things, the program helps employees quickly identify patients whose state of health may have worsened. The attending doctors can then decidewhether a scheduled hospital visit should be moved forward or if more intensive remote medical care would be beneficial.
Siemens Healthineers supplies the software and supports healthcare providers with the design, installation, and operation of their own telemedicine centre. In addition, the company can assist with procurement of the measuring devices needed to monitor patients’ vital parameters at home (such as scales and blood pressure devices).
This telemedicine solution was developed in a partnership between Siemens Healthineers, the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), and TELBIOMED Medizintechnik und IT Service in Austria. The partners agreed to set up a global sales and development partnership at the beginning of 2020.
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ASST Vimercate Hospital installs Fujifilm’s REiLI Artificial Intelligence to speed up workflow during COVID-19 emergency

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Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale (ASST) Vimercate Hospital in Italy has implemented Fujifilm’s REiLI artificial intelligence system to assist healthcare practitioners on the frontline in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to the pandemic, operations and workflows in Italian hospitals were disrupted, which significantly increased workloads. As a consolidated partner of Vimercate, Fujifilm wanted to ensure its cutting-edge tools were available to reduce the impact caused by the rapid spread of COVID-19 by assisting in speeding up workflows.
REiLI’s processing of CT scans and chest x-rays provides important support for radiologists, offering them an extremely rapid, quantitative and objective assessment of the various zones of the lungs. The chest x-ray, in particular, is the best example of applying the new AI technology, in that it produces a quick and simple examination which provides a large amount of useful information for evaluating the presence of the pulmonary parenchymal consolidation caused by the virus.
The data obtained from artificial intelligence does not replace the molecular diagnoses performed using the nasopharyngeal swab (RT-PCR), nor does it replace the analyses and diagnoses performed by the radiologist. The data, however, does provide support in reporting on daily examinations conducted to monitor and study the development of the disease, and constitute a second opinion for the operators.
Commenting on the REiLI artificial intelligence system, Marcello Intotero, Head of Radiology Structure and Diagnostic Services Department at ASST Vimercate Hospital, said: “REiLI’s support has allowed our radiologists to report examinations with greater speed and efficiency. This new technology has given great support to the workflow; all images that the artificial intelligence system identified as suspected COVID-19 were subjected to processing by the radiologist in a faster and more urgent manner.”
REiLI is integrated with the Lunit Insight CXR module for the analysis and detection of the main types of pulmonary disease. The Lunit Insight CXR3 module was updated to provide support in specifically identifying the pulmonary parenchymal consolidation caused by the virus.
Giovanni Delgrossi, Head of the IT Department at ASST Vimercate noted that during the health emergency, more than 80 chest x-rays of patients were analysed each day at the hospital. “If no priority is set for the examinations to be reported, it may take hours to identify a particular x-ray which may require prompt, immediate action from doctors. In an emergency like the current one, we need to react and act even more quickly,” he said.
Discussing Fujifilm’s REiLI AI system, Nicola Bilibio, Clinical Specialist Medical Informatics (CSE) Fujifilm Europe GmbH explained that AI is a new operating concept projected towards collaborative intelligence between machine and man. “This is a fundamental tool for optimizing workflow and for screening patients for COVID-19. During the emergency, we promptly made our most advanced technologies available to make a concrete contribution to the crisis.”

  • For more information, visit: http://reili.fujifilm.com
  • About REiLI on YouTube: https://youtu.be/M6ISuRmvQbY

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