BEIJING – China was the first country to face serious disruptions in clinical trials caused by COVID-19, and policy advocates in the country moved quickly to identify lessons for future outbreaks and address the concerns of a biotech industry in dismay.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Heparan sulfate DAMPens acetaminophen toxicity; Study links GABA, mitochondria, social defects; Recruiting NK cells to the antitumor battle; Potassium channel blocker improves motor learning in fetal alcohol syndrome; A20s inflammation-fighting properties decoded; Brown fat activity without fat browning; Agonists selectively wake up melatonin receptor subtypes; Multistep method wrests causality from GWAS; BET on BD1 for cancer, BD2 for inflammation.

Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill., is the latest company to receive emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. FDA for a test to detect SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said it is shipping 150,000 Realtime SARS-CoV-2 tests immediately to existing customers in the U.S., with plans to produce 1 million tests a week by the end of the month.

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order enabling the Defense Production Act, which gives the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services broader leeway to conscript industrial production to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak.