Daily Business Report-April 17, 2020
The drug repurposing collection has grown to comprise over 14,000 compounds, including drugs that are already being repurposed for a number of diseases. (Photo credit: Scripps Research Institute)
Scripps Research expands international effort
to rapidly repurpose existing drugs against COVID-19
With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to spread across the globe, Scripps Research has quickly established an international network of collaborating scientific laboratories to leverage ReFRAME, the world’s leading drug repurposing collection, to find antiviral compounds against the novel coronavirus.
Researchers at Calibr, the drug development division of Scripps Research, are teaming up with scientists from the United States, Europe and Asia to screen the vast collection of compounds for individual drugs or combinations that may be effective in treating people exposed to COVID-19.
“COVID-19 is an unprecedented public health crisis that will only be brought fully under control by effective medical therapies,” said Peter Schultz, president and CEO of Scripps Research. “Repurposing drugs that have already been approved for use in humans, or compounds for which we have ample safety data, offers the most rapid path to finding an antiviral drug or drug combination that is effective against COVID-19.”
Poised to quickly address the pandemic
Calibr established the ReFRAME collection in 2018 with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to tackle areas of urgent unmet medical need, especially neglected tropical diseases. The collection has since grown to comprise over 14,000 compounds, including drugs that are already being repurposed for a number of diseases.
Calibr also developed an open source database containing preclinical and clinical data on these drugs. With such well-characterized therapeutic properties, the compounds can be rapidly screened and advanced into a patient setting, without many of the steps typically required for new drugs to reach that stage.
ReFRAME is being leveraged as part of the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other funders. Together, Calibr and the Gates Foundation are working to establish collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies to further augment ReFRAME’s collection of antiviral compounds for future pandemic responses.
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San Diego airport forced to slash expenses,
weigh possible delay of $3B Terminal 1 project
With less than half the scheduled flights taking off here in early April and more of the same anticipated as the coronavirus scare plays out across the world, San Diego’s international airport is facing a deep dive in monthly revenues that is forcing it to slash expenses and possibly delay the start late next year of a $3 billion project to expand its aging Terminal 1.
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Recovering COVID-19 patients could
face range of brain diseases and disorders
In an article posted online April 13 in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, a trio of researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine suggest that in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus pandemic, a host of neuropsychiatric challenges may remain — or emerge — for those recovering from COVID-19 infections.
“Past pandemics have demonstrated that diverse types of neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as encephalopathy, mood changes, psychosis, neuromuscular dysfunction or demyelinating processes, may accompany acute viral infection, or may follow infection by weeks, months, or longer in recovered patients,” the authors warn.
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Carlsbad Village retail condo sells for $3.615 million
A multi-tenant retail condominium in the newly constructed Grand Madison building in Carlsbad Village has sold for $3.615 million to JJP Holdings. The seller was Grand Madison LLC.
The retail condominium includes three units located at located at 711 Grand Ave., Carlsbad. The units range in size from 1,036-1,915 square feet and feature high ceilings, extensive window lines and highly visible storefronts. The units are located on the ground floor of Grand Madison, a newly constructed, four-story retail and luxury residential mixed-use building.
Vic Gausepohl and Kirk Allison of Colliers International San Diego Region represented the seller. Jayden Park of Big Block Realty represented the buyer.
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DMV extends expiring driver’s licenses
With all field offices closed to the public during the coronavirus outbreak, the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced that it is extending driver licenses that are expiring for residents younger than 70 until May 31. The DMV had previously granted 120-day extensions for licenses of drivers age 70 and older, a group that is particularly vulnerable to the virus and is under caution to stay in their homes.
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Cal State San Marcos appoints new
provost and VP for academic affairs
Carl Kemnitz has been appointed Cal State San Marcos’ next provost and vice president for academic affairs. Kemnitz’s tenure will begin on July 1.
As provost, Kemnitz will be responsible for ensuring the integrity and excellence of academic affairs while overseeing the deans of the university as well as the division’s academic associate vice presidents and the vice provost.
Kemnitz comes to CSUSM from San Jose State, where he has served as senior vice provost for academic affairs since 2015. In his role at San Jose State, Kemnitz is responsible for an academic budget of $300 million and for the recruitment, retention and development of faculty, department chairs and staff. Among Kemnitz’s accomplishments was helping to establish a plan called Four Pillars of Student Success, which resulted in a 15-point increase in graduation rates at the university.
Before joining San Jose State, Kemnitz served in a variety of faculty and administrative roles at Cal State Bakersfield.
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Salk scientist Ronald Evans receives
2020 Distinguished Scientist Award
Salk Professor Ronald Evans, Howard Hughes Medical investigator and director of Salk’s Gene Expression Laboratory, has been awarded a 2020 NOMIS Distinguished Scientist and Scholar Award by the NOMIS Foundation, a Swiss foundation that supports high-risk basic research.
The award, which totals $2.5 million, recognizes scientists for their “outstanding contributions to the advancement of science and human progress through their pioneering, innovative and collaborative research,” according to NOMIS. The award will enable Evans to decode how different parts of the body, including the brain, endocrine glands, gut, liver, immune cells and the microbiome, cooperate to maintain health.
Evans is a member of Salk’s NOMIS Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis, which was launched in 2008 as part of what is today a longstanding alliance with the NOMIS Foundation. The center aims to shed light on the molecular mechanisms that cause infectious diseases.
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Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt
fighting back against the deadly coronavirus
By MC1 Chris Liagat, USS Theodore Roosevelt
NAVAL BASE GUAM — Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt are pushing hard and making progress toward keeping their fellow sailors safe and returning their ship to sea.
Following routine naval operations in the South China Sea the Sailors of USS Theodore Roosevelt are face-to-face with a new, silent and invisible enemy, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). They are fighting back, and the crew is now winning.
In the beginning, fighting the virus resembled a damage control scenario, similar to fighting a fire or flood. Capt. Dan Keeler, executive officer aboard Theodore Roosevelt, established a command center akin to damage control central in a ship casualty, in the executive officer’s conference room. Cmdr. Jennifer Huck, Theodore Roosevelt’s combat directions center officer, was appointed as the initial officer in charge.
“We have two tasks, taking care of sailors and cleaning the ship,” said Huck. “We are focused on taking care of the sailors’ health and ensuring the ship’s crew is following all centers for disease control and prevention guidelines to include personal protective equipment (PPE). Our medical department is doing great work testing, isolating and treating sailors. We are going to thoroughly clean the ship. We have already started and are about finished.”
Sanitizing the ship has become an all hands effort, including a roving cleaning team that is constantly transiting the ship, cleaning along the way. Each day begins and ends with what the crew now refers to as “bleach-a-palooza.”
Theodore Roosevelt’s supply department has worked tirelessly to ensure the crew has all the tools they need to fight this new enemy. “We supply gloves, rags, bleach, buckets and any other items needed to support the mission,” said one of the sailors. “It’s important to make sure every department gets what they need while also supporting the cleaning task force who clean all day.”
The cleaning task force is led by Cmdr. Chad Hollinger, Theodore Roosevelt’s weapons officer, who the crew has taken to calling “Mr. Clean,” and Master Chief Aviation Ordnanceman Patrick Maxie, Theodore Roosevelt’s weapons department leading chief petty officer. The team’s mission is to fully sanitize the ship.
“We have cleaned over 2,000 spaces so far and have cleaned over 80 percent of the ship,” said Hollinger. “I couldn’t be more proud to take on the task of leading this team and I couldn’t have asked for a better team to get this done. It hasn’t been easy; it’s hard work, but we are fighting through it. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we are going to get there.”
While the crew cleans the ship, the first round of sailors that left after testing positive for the virus are completing their own recovery said Capt. Carlos Sardiello, Theodore Roosevelt’s commanding officer.
“It’s a journey, but supporting each other is how we get through this,” said Sardiello. “We are extremely thankful for the overwhelming support from the local government here on Guam, in cooperation with Joint Region Marianas in the fight against COVID-19.
“I look forward to giving the conning officer permission to order, all ahead 2/3, out the breakwater of Apra Harbor to the Pacific Ocean. There is a saying, no ship sails on yesterday’s wind. We move forward by what we do here and now.”
