Lifeboat Foundation

Actemra (tocilizumab) – an interleukin-6 inhibitor – has already been approved in China for the treatment of patients infected with the novel coronavirus disease, who have developed serious lung damage and also have elevated levels of IL-6 in the blood.

It was first cleared by the FDA as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and has also subsequently been approved in juvenile idiopathic arthritis, giant cell arteritis and CRS associated with CAR-T cell therapies for cancer.

Plans to initiate trial in early April.

Astronomers may have one less (satellite) constellation to worry about.

Late Friday, OneWeb announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a New York court. In a statement, the company said it had been in “advanced negotiations” since the beginning of the year to raise a new round of funding needed to complete its broadband satellite constellation. The company said it was close to completing that deal, but “the financial impact and market turbulence related to the spread of COVID-19” kept it from closing the deal.

OneWeb had just started large-scale deployment of its constellation, with Soyuz launches in early February and again March 21 each placing 34 satellites into orbit. Future launches are now on hold—launch services provider Arianespace was the largest single unsecured creditor identified in OneWeb’s bankruptcy, at $238 million—and may never resume, depending on who buys the company’s assets in a planned sale and their intentions for them.

THIS could be straight out of “Big Bang.” 😄.

Australian Dr Daniel Reardon ended up in hospital after inserting magnets in his nostrils while building a necklace that warns you when you touch your face.

Amazon, the e-commerce giant that has fared well financially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is facing a bevy of worker strikes. Today, warehouse workers on Staten Island in New York walked off the job in protest of Amazon’s treatment amid the crisis.

#BREAKING: Over 100 Amazon employees at JFK8 warehouse walk off the job over @amazon’s dangerous response to protect workers from COVID19 in Staten Island.

📦 #AmazonStrike #WhatWeNeed pic.twitter.com/z0mrUWmPfw

Scientists are using 3D printing to create bioengineered body parts such as eyes, ears, teeth, hearts, skin, bone, and even ovaries.

Pluristem Therapeutics, a Haifa-based regenerative-medicine company, has treated its first three coronavirus patients in Israel with its placenta-based cell-therapy product.

“In this time of emergency, we are honored to be taking part in the global effort to support patients and healthcare systems,” Pluristem president and CEO Yaky Yanay said. Pluristem said its PLX cells are “allogeneic mesenchymal-like cells that have immunomodulatory properties,” meaning they induce the immune system’s natural regulatory T cells and M2 macrophages. The result could be the reversal of dangerous overactivation of the immune system. This would likely reduce the fatal symptoms of pneumonia and pneumonitis (general inflammation of lung tissue).

The company dosed three patients in two different hospitals in Israel under a compassionate-use program for the treatment of COVID-19. It was approved by the Health Ministry.

Continue reading “Israeli company uses placenta cells to treat critical COVID-19 patients” »

This is really cool. In times of adversity. Intelligence often offers innovation. If you have a 3D printer get to making some masks.

A team at the Medical University of South Carolina came up with an idea for anyone with a 3D printer to make a protective mask.

MedFetUK said it was “scandalous” that it was “being sought out as last-resort supplier” for Britain’s health service during the coronavirus crisis.

The coronavirus crisis has pushed schooling on to remote platforms. It’s an opportunity to rethink how education should work.