Should the U.S. government be in the business of manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines? Several prominent Democratic senators and representatives would say yes.

Henley Ion Inc. is encouraged by early testing of a COVID-19 protection device. Henley’s Ion Virus Defender technology uses micronized electrostatic precipitation (mEP) to remove infectious bioaerosols from both inhaled and exhaled air. The company said initial tests of the prototype removed 99.8% of SARS-CoV-2 bioaerosols under Biosafety Level 3 testing conditions.

Shanghai-based Everest Medicines Ltd. has won exclusive global rights to a set of viral 3C-like (3CL) protease inhibitors from Singapore's national drug discovery platform, the Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC), in a deal worth up to $214.5 million.

Following Philip Morris International Inc.’s controversial takeover of respiratory drug firm Vectura plc, British American Tobacco plc (BAT) is also making inroads into medical research with U.K.-based Kbio Holdings Ltd., a biotech focused on plant-based medicine.

In a speech on Jan. 13, President Joe Biden revealed plans to purchase an additional 500 million at-home COVID-19 tests, bringing the total number the administration expects to provide for free to American households to 1 billion. In addition, Biden said the administration would distribute free “high quality masks.” On Wednesday, the administration said it would provide 5 million rapid COVID-19 tests and 5 million lab-based PCR tests to schools each month to support screening testing and test-to-stay programs.