As health care workers face critical shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, 3D printing companies, medical device manufacturers and other organizations are stepping up to produce face shields, ventilators and other needed supplies. For its part, Rehovot, Israel-based Stratasys Ltd. has assembled a coalition of more than 150 companies and universities to produce 3D-printed visors and clear plastic face shields. The coalition aims to produce up to 16,000 face shields per week by the end of next week.

COVID-19 has disrupted science in the way it has disrupted everything else. In the short term, universities have largely closed shop as a way to maximize social distancing, and lots of science – or at least, lots of bench work – is not getting done.

The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) determined it would not take an inter partes review petitioned by Advanced Bionics Inc., in a patent dispute with Med-El Elektromedizinische. The precedential PTAB decision notes that it had invoked a two-step process for declining to take the petition as seen in a patent dispute involving Becton Dickinson and Co., and affirming that this will be the standard for addressing prior art in such appeals going forward.

Cerus Corp., of Concord, Calif., is teaming up with several collaborators in its home state, with an eye toward optimizing convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19 patients.

It has been predicted that the COVID-19 pandemic would cause business disruption. Now, it has claimed a casualty with Second Sight Medical Products Inc., of Sylmar, Calif., which has been forced to wind down operations, citing the pandemic and the impact it will have on the company’s ability to secure financing. Second Sight, which makes the Argus II retinal prosthesis system, said that effective March 31, 84 of its 108 employees will be laid off.

Disaster Management Group (DMG), of Indiantown, Fla., has launched a 15-minute screening tool for COVID-19 that can be administered at drive-thru testing sites. The DMGtest, which is being offered under an FDA waiver, first rolled out in Florida and will soon be available in other parts of the U.S.

Spry Health Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., a company that focuses on health management technologies and remote patient monitoring, reported the launch of Loop Signal. This solution is a new clinician-led monitoring service using the U.S. FDA-cleared Loop System that aims to reduce avoidable hospital visits and improve at-home monitoring of patients who either have, are suspected of having or at risk for COVID-19.

More than a dozen robotics researchers expressed the need for robots to play a greater role in managing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as well as in future preparedness. They pointed to three broad medical areas where robots can make a difference: clinical care with applications such as telemedicine and decontamination; logistics for delivery and handling of medical waste; and reconnaissance such as quarantine enforcement.

The stimulus bill passed by the U.S. Senate March 26 on a vote of 96-0 does more than throw $2.2 trillion into the war against COVID-19. “This is not … a stimulus package. It is emergency relief,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor before the vote.