Author Archives: Denise Bell
Fulgent Genetics Lands Utah COVID-19 Testing Contract
TestUtah has some new twists. Following the expiration of certain state contracts September 1, the Utah Department of Public Health has changed direction and contracted with a Los Angeles laboratory, Fulgent Genetics, to process COVID-19 testing for Utahns under the state’s coronavirus testing initiative. The test, which has received EUA from the FDA, will be […]
The Point Kick Off
On Monday, government leaders, including Lt. Governor Spencer Cox, held a press conference announcing the launch of planning efforts to redevelop the site of the Utah State Prison (The Point) in Draper. Many of our industry leaders are participating on The Point’s Education, Research and Innovation working group – Randy Rasmussen (former BioFire CEO), Gary […]
RenalytixAI Reaches Milestone of KidneyIntelX Commercial Testing with Mount Sinai Health System
Salt Lake City-based RenalytixAI, today announced the commercial launch of the KidneyIntelX clinical test reporting platform within the Mount Sinai Health System. This means that KidneyIntelX risk assessment of progressive decline in kidney function or kidney failure, including education support for treating clinicians, is now commercially available for patients with early stage diabetic kidney disease […]
President Signs New Executive Order on Drug Pricing
President Trump issued a new “Most-Favored-Nations” (MFN) executive order on September 13 that links U.S.-paid Medicare drug prices to those paid by other foreign countries. BIO President and CEO, Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, called the President’s action a “reckless scheme” that would hurt vulnerable seniors. The new order includes both Medicare Part B and Part D […]
Recursion Partners with Bayer to Accelerate Drug Discovery, Secures Series D Funding
In a double header of good news, Salt Lake City -based Recursion announced on Wednesday that the company has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Bayer to discover and develop new treatments for fibrotic diseases of the lung, kidney, heart and more. The agreement leverages Recursion’s AI drug discovery platform and Bayer’s small molecule […]
Co-Diagnostic Enters into Agreement with Arches Research to Expand COVID-19 Testing
Co-Diagnostics, a Salt Lake City company that was out of the gate early with a molecular COVID-19 test, announced this week that it has entered into an agreement with another Salt Lake City based company, Arches Research, a CLIA laboratory and subsidiary of PolarityTE to expand Arches’ COVID-19 testing services using Co-Diagnostics’ Logix Smart™ COVID-19 […]
BioUtah Member Horizon Therapeutics Named to PEOPLE’s “50 Companies That Care” List
Horizon Therapeutics has been named to PEOPLE’s 2020 “50 Companies That Care” list. Partnering with Great Place to Work, PEOPLE identified the top U.S. companies that went above and beyond in responding to the pandemic.The list, focused on employers with 1,000 or more employees, will be featured in the Sept. 14, 2020 print issue of […]
Drug Companies Pledge to Stand with Vaccine Science
The CEOs of nine pharmaceutical manufacturers working on COVID-19 vaccines – AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer, and Sanofi – signed a pledge Tuesday to “uphold the integrity of the scientific process as they work towards potential global regulatory filings and approvals of the first COVID-19 vaccines.” In the pledge, the […]
HHS Determines FDA Can’t Regulate Lab-Developed Tests Without Formal Rulemaking
HHS said yesterday that it has determined that the FDA will not require premarket review of laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) without notice-and-comment rulemaking. This means that the FDA cannot expand its authority over LDTs through guidance and other informal issuances. As reported by Genome Web, it also means that laboratories will be able to “offer LDTs […]
Recursion and University of Utah Launch Altitude Lab, Largest Life Sciences Incubator in Utah
On August 11, Altitude Lab, founded by BioUtah member Recursion and the University of Utah’s Center for Technology & Venture Commercialization (TVC), announced its first resident companies and opened applications for its unique collaborative facility and program. The incubator, a state-of-the-art 14,500 square foot lab facility, will offer resident companies workshops, mentoring, and non-dilutive funding […]
House Bill Introduced to Provide COVID-19 Economic Relief to Startups
Bipartisan legislation to help entrepreneurs and startups navigate the economic perils of COVID-19, has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill, the IGNITE American Innovation Act (H.R. 7917), introduced by Reps. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN), will allow many small companies that have not benefited from CARES Act relief to […]
At White House Roundtable, CSL Behring CEO Paul Perreault Urges Plasma Donations to Fight COVID-19
At a July 30 White House Roundtable, plasma industry leader and CSL Behring (CSL) CEO Paul Perreault, urged people who have recovered from COVID-19 to consider donating plasma to help develop a potential treatment for people with serious complications from COVID-19. Representing the plasma industry, Perreault pointed to the unprecedented CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance – an […]
