The urgent need to have at least a few proven COVID-19 therapies approved in the U.S. before the pandemic’s expected resurgence in the fall has become biopharma’s Manhattan Project – a coming together of industry, researchers and government agencies to take on a single global enemy.

DUBLIN – The Swiss biotech sector raised about CHF1.2 billion ($$1.2 billion) in equity investment in 2019, a significant downward dip on the last two years, but well ahead of its average annual raise of CHF800 million over the past decade, according to the newly published Swiss Biotech Report 2020.

PERTH, Australia – The Australian Government is providing AU$13 million (US$8 million) to fast-track research into treatments for COVID-19, and a number of promising candidates are about to enter the clinic.

The U.S. FDA has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to New Haven, Conn., startup Vent Multiplexor LLC for its emergency rescue co-ventilation device. Developed in collaboration with Yale New Haven Hospital, the Vent Multiplexor enables individualized mechanical ventilation of two adults on a single ventilator – lessening demand for more critical care machines in the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

The COVID-19 pandemic has moved rapidly over the past few weeks, and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Inc. is doing its part to help during the crisis. To that end, the Raritan, N.J.-based company has worked to successfully secure an emergency use authorization (EUA) for its total antibody assay for COVID-19, the Vitros Immunodiagnostic Products Anti-SARS-CoV-2 total reagent pack and calibrators.

HONG KONG – South Korea’s Osang Healthcare Co. Ltd. became the first Korean company to receive the U.S. FDA’s emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 test kit. In a letter dated April 18, 2020, the FDA informed Osang of its authorization for the company’s Genefinder COVID-19 Plus Realamp Kit.