Good News Stories of the Week – Featuring Donations, Facemasks, Tests and More.

Governor Hogan Announces Acquisition of 500K Tests from South Korea

Maryland’s Governor Larry Hogan announced this week that the state had acquired 500K tests from the South Korean government. The tests were delivered to BWI on the first Korean Air plane to ever land at the airport.

The $9M test shipment means Maryland now has one test kit for every 12 residents, a major improvement in testing capacity. Governor Hogan’s wife, Yumi, who was born in South Korea, helped negotiate the deal, which took about a month to close.

The 500K tests will help the state’s effort to reach its initial goal of testing 10,000 Marylanders per day; the ultimate goal is to reach 20,000 tests per day.

BREP and Cheaspeake Limulabs Donate PPE and Cleaning Supplies to Anne Arundel Medical Center

The University of Maryland (UMD), College Park’s Biotech Research and Education Program (BREP) and Chesapeake Limulabs (CL), a leading global provider of limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) products and horseshoe crab blood, have donated personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning supplies to the Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC).

Ben Woodard, BREP’s Program Director and Co-founder of Chesapeake Limulabs and the company’s Director of Scientific Operations, spearheaded the PPE effort, along with UMD students and CL staff members who understand the importance of these materials for frontline healthcare workers and first responders. 

BREP has donated:

  • 400 pair of coveralls
  • 2600 pair of latex/nitrile exam gloves
  • 1 case of absorbent pads
  • 2 gallons of Spore-Klenz cleaning solution

Chesapeake Limulabs has donated:

  • Supplies Provided
  • 50 sleeve covers
  • 180 hair covers
  • 150 shoe covers
  • 100 hoods
  • 112 disposable lab coats (various sizes)
  • 9 boxes sterile/surgical gloves
  • 30 packs concentrated vespene
  • ¾ case absorbent pads
  • 18 isopropyl alcohol spray bottles (16 oz/ea)

“The University of Maryland, BREP and Chesapeake Limulabs appreciate the hard work and dedication of all of Anne Arundel Medical Center Foundation’s staff and personnel that are fighting the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and ensuring the safety of the

Anne Arundel County and the Maryland community at large,” stated Woodard. “We hope that these supplies will provide some measure of relief.”

Emergent Biosolutions Provides Employee Families with Face Coverings

Emergent Biosolutions, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, is not only a major regional player in the COVID-19 vaccine development effort, it is also taking action to help protect its employees and their families as they conduct essential activities at home and within their communities. 

The company recently provided employees and their families with the materials and CDC instructions to create up to eight cloth face coverings per household.

AstraZeneca Donates 3M Surgical Masks to Direct Relief

BioHealth Capital Region anchor AstraZeneca (AZ) recently announced that it has donated 3M level 1 surgical masks to Direct Relief, a nonprofit, humanitarian organization “…committed to improving the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies.” Direct Relief delivers lifesaving medical resources to communities in need.

These donated masks, which are part of AZ’s larger mask donation effort that has delivered approximately 9M masks globally to date, will be provided to health facilities with great public need. A portion of the masks will also be delivered to emergency management agencies in areas where AZ has a significant employee footprint. 

Gilead Sciences Creates $20M Fund to Support Nonprofits Impacted by Coronavirus Pandemic

Gilead Sciences, the parent company of Kite Pharma, recently announced its Gilead CARES (COVID-19 Acute Relief and Emergency Support) Grantee Fund that will help nonprofits unable to continue services or that are facing closure due to COVID-19. $20M in funding will be available to nonprofits that meet the funds criteria. Organizations that already receive grant funding from Gilead are eligible for up to $100K in emergency assistance.

In addition, Gilead has donated $1M to San Mateo County, California, where the company is based and another $1M to the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles. The company is also matching donations made by their employees to three COVID-19 relief organizations.

Gilead’s CARES fund and its individual donations to San Mateo County and the Mayor’s fund is part of the company’s broader support efforts that provided approximately $400M in cash to nonprofits across the globe last year.

Thanks and cheers to all working to make an impact.

Read more local Good News we’ve found in and round the region 👏

Have more good news to share? Reach out to adam(at)biobuzz(dot)io to be featured.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.