Recreation and Parks will extend “cooling center” hours until 9:00 pm on Wednesday, September 17th

Veronica Hendrix, Public Information Officer in the Emergency Management Department, Communications Division, with the City of Los Angeles, today told Etopia News that open hours at the eight “cooling centers” set up to help people cope with the on-going heat wave, “will be extended one more day, Wednesday, September 17 until 9:00 pm at the 8 selected sites.” 

She mentioned that “We haven't pushed out that bulletin yet, you are among the first to know.”

Ms. Hendrix also said that, according to the Department of Recreation and Parks, they played host to “232 people among all the extended hours sites” on Sunday, September 14^th.     

Sarepta issues statement on AVI-7537 anti-Ebola compound DoD funding freeze

Tony Plohoros, Principal at 6 Degrees, and a spokesperson for Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Sarepta Therapeutics, has provided Etopia News with a detailed and informative statement recounting the story of AVI-7537, a potential treatment for the Ebola virus.  Here’s what he had to say:

“Given the unpredictability of Ebola outbreaks and the associated obstacles in conducting clinical trials during an outbreak, especially in a foreign country, Sarepta’s Ebola compound, AVI-7537, has been developed according to the FDA’s Animal Rule, thus relying on an animal model to demonstrate efficacy. Significant efficacy has been demonstrated in five independent studies conducted in nonhuman primates (rhesus monkeys) challenged with lethal viral inoculums (approximately 1000 PFU/monkey) of Ebola virus (Zaire). Typical survival ranged from 60-80% versus 0% survival in untreated animals. 

“AVI-7537 has been shown to be safe and well tolerated in a completed Phase I single-ascending dose study.  In addition, since the company’s Ebola drug and Marburg drug share an identical backbone chemistry and preclinical, clinical, safety, toxicology, and pharmacokinetics indicate they behave similarly, Sarepta believes the Phase I multiple ascending dose study results for its Marburg drug candidate can be extrapolated to AVI-7537 to optimize the safe and efficacious dose and to better understand its expected outcomes with its use during an emergency. 

“In October 2012, DoD suspended development of AVI-7537 due to government funding constraints. Here’s a link to that announcement.

“Sarepta has been in contact with a number of government offices and with the WHO and has made clear that the company is committed to making the AVI-7537 it has on hand available to patients who might benefit from it as part of the U.S. government’s and any international efforts to respond to the outbreak.”

Gates Foundation contributes $1 million to fight Ebola, is considering “future investments” in anti-Ebola efforts

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, long active in the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis in Africa, has contributed $1 million to combat the recent outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, and is considering making “future investments” in support of anti-Ebola efforts, according to an e-mail received today by Etopia News.

The Media Relations team at the Foundation wrote:

“On July 18, 2014 the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a $1 million grant to the US Fund for UNICEF in response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. These funds will be used to support UNICEF’s response in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal and Mali.

“The current Ebola outbreak is a serious health challenge that must be addressed in partnership with others. We are working with organizations like the WHO to understand the dynamics of the current epidemic and identify tools and strategies that can help global partners respond effectively to this and future outbreaks. These consultations will inform any future investments we might make.”

Democratic Representatives ask Republican Chairman to hold a hearing on Ebola

Three leading Democratic U.S. Representatives have asked the Republican chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee to hold hearings about Ebola and the capability of the U.S. health care system to meet any threat from this rapidly-proliferating virus.

Those asking for the hearing are:  Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Frank Pallone, Jr, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health; and Diana DeGette, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

You can read their letter here.

Needless to say, they are worried about an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. and eager to find out more about the country’s state of preparedness for this eventuality.

Attempts to contact U.S. Representative Fred Upton, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and ask him if he will hold these hearings, are on-going.

Read the original press release from the Democrats on the House Energy & Commerce Committee here.

UCLASS RFP will have to wait for a review at the highest level

Here’s what the U.S. Navy had to say this morning about the delay in issuing the final request for proposal (RFP) for the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) airframe to the four eligible contractors (General Atomics, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing) who want to build it:

“Defense officials will be including UCLASS in its ISR portfolio review to be conducted in conjunction with the normal budget review process this fall.  Determination regarding the release of the UCLASS RFP will be made based on the results of this review.”

One school of thought holds that the UCLASS should be primarily an ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) vehicle, while an opposing group believes that it ought to be a fully-weaponized, stealth, and penetrating one, capable of meeting the challenges posed by China’s increasingly-robust coastal defenses.

Now, what capabilities to ask for in the final UCLASS RFP will be determined within the context of the Pentagon’s overall intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance portfolio of systems and of that department’s overall budget.

News of this development were first reported on Friday, August 29^th, by USNI News, a web site operated by the very well-connected United States Naval Institute, in an article entitled “UCLASS RFP Delayed Again Following Pentagon Meeting."

A spokesperson for the Navy told Etopia News that one issue to be considered during the review would be “affordability.”

A more-capable UCLASS would cost considerably more than one dedicated primarily to ISR.  The Department of Defense is in the process of down-sizing itself, and so can’t really pursue the development of both types of UCLASS, nor can it decide to build a more-capable attack version without taking its overall spending limits, and limits on its spending on naval aviation, into account.

Inquiries for additional comment from the Navy, and for comment from U.S. Representative Randy Forbes, who is on record calling for a more robust model of UCLASS, and from Northrop Grumman, one of the four contractors who will eventually get the classified RFP, had not been answered as of the time this paragraph was written, at 4:22 pm on Tuesday, September 2, 2014.

There hasn’t yet been much public discussion of the issue of how capable to make the UCLASS, which has significance within the context of planning for any military confrontation with China, for example over the status of Taiwan.  The development by China of anti-ship ballistic missiles means that carrier groups, the heart of U.S. offensive power, need to stay further than they might like from possible combat zones.  A stealthy, weapons-rich UCLASS airframe might provide capabilities central to success in an anti-access/area denial scenario (A2/AD) that might develop during a U.S.-China confrontation over Taiwan.