Houston's economic diversity Thread .. (Sugar Land, Pearland: living in, centers, to move)

[Jack Lance]

A Houston based private space company, that we have posted about before, is teaming up with Space X to ferry Astronauts to the International Space Station and eventually to their own privately owned space station. Increasing humankinds access to space and Greater Houston's economic diversity.

Axiom Space is looking to make history by sending three passengers on a round-trip journey to the International Space Station for the low, low price of $55 million.

The Houston [CENTER][/CENTER]-based, venture-backed company has signed a contract with SpaceX [CENTER][/CENTER] for a Crew Dragon flight which will transport a commander trained by Axiom along with three private astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

The mission is set to launch in the second half of 2021 and will allow the three-person crew to live on board the ISS for and “experience at least eight days of microgravity and views of the Earth that can only be appreciated in the large, venerable station,” according to a statement from the company.

For company chief executive, Michael Suffredini, the trip is an extension of his previous work as a previous manager of the ISS for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

“This history-making flight will represent a watershed moment in the march toward universal and routine access to space,” Suffredini said in a statement. “This will be just the first of many missions to ISS to be completely crewed and managed by Axiom Space – a first for a commercial entity. Procuring the transportation marks significant progress toward that goal, and we’re glad to be working with SpaceX in this effort.”
Pictured is a rendering of the Earth observatory that will be part of Axiom Space's commercial space station. While that commercial space station is being built, Axiom Space will help fly private astronauts and professional astronauts from other countries to the International Space Station.Photo: Axiom Space

https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/05/ax...st-55-million/

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...photo-19152004

[ParaguaneroSwag]

With Andrew Levy's Houston Air Holdings in plans to begin this year, one looks at the aviation industry's downturn and wonders if he should still move forward.

From my economic perspective, I think it's the perfect time to invest. He has, as reported, accumulated $125M in startup, this would be the best time to spend that money accumulated in new planes, etc.

[Jack Lance]

A Houston based medical rental and supply company is helping hospitals treat victims of communicable diseases and helping to diversify the Greater Houston economy.

US Med-Equip’s storage facility in Jersey Village resembles a Costco warehouse. But rather than pallets of M&M jars and bulk flour bags, the company stocks infusion pumps wrapped in plastic bags and incubators for premature babies.

A veritable candy store for hospitals looking for pricey equipment, when a customer calls US Med-Equip looking for a monitor for vital signs, for example, its team checks if it has the piece, puts it on a company vehicle and delivers it to the hospital — often within three hours of the request.
Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer


US Med-Equip closed out 2019 with $63 million in revenue, Salario said, twice what it saw three years ago. In April 2019, the company announced its acquisition of Medical Support Products, part of a $100 million investment in its nationwide expansion. It expects to build out hubs and more facility locations along the East Coast over the next four years.

The company stocks approximately 40,000 pieces of equipment, ranging from cardiograph machines that track heart muscle activity to parts to fix broken defibrillators. It works with roughly 150 Houston-area health care providers and more than 2,200 nationwide, nearly 35 percent of the hospitals in the country.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...photo-19163694

[Jack Lance]

A Houston biotech company has fast-tracked testing of a drug that could help people infected with coronaviruses, including the virus causing today’s COVID-19 outbreak.

Photo: Chris Ryan, Contributor / Getty Images

Moleculin Biotech, which predominantly develops cancer drugs, had been pursuing how one of its drugs could slow the spread of a virus in the body and give the immune system a better shot at fighting it. But this research took on new urgency with confirmed COVID-19 cases topping 200,000 worldwide.

“All of the sudden the stakes are higher,” said Walter Klemp, chairman and CEO of Moleculin. “We were moving at one speed when we thought this was secondary to our cancer treatment agenda. But once coronavirus hit the scene and we thought we had the ability to impact that, it moved up the priority list.”

Moleculin this week announced an agreement with the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to test its drug called WP1122 — which the company initially began evaluating for cancer but has since found could prove useful against viruses — against coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that’s causing the COVID-19 disease.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-biotech-company-fast-tracks-testing-of-15143627.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=emai l&utm_campaign=HC_AfternoonReport&utm_term=news&ut m_content=headlines#

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

A Houston biotech company has fast-tracked testing of a drug that could help people infected with coronaviruses, including the virus causing today’s COVID-19 outbreak.

Photo: Chris Ryan, Contributor / Getty Images

Moleculin Biotech, which predominantly develops cancer drugs, had been pursuing how one of its drugs could slow the spread of a virus in the body and give the immune system a better shot at fighting it. But this research took on new urgency with confirmed COVID-19 cases topping 200,000 worldwide.

“All of the sudden the stakes are higher,” said Walter Klemp, chairman and CEO of Moleculin. “We were moving at one speed when we thought this was secondary to our cancer treatment agenda. But once coronavirus hit the scene and we thought we had the ability to impact that, it moved up the priority list.”

Moleculin this week announced an agreement with the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to test its drug called WP1122 — which the company initially began evaluating for cancer but has since found could prove useful against viruses — against coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that’s causing the COVID-19 disease.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-biotech-company-fast-tracks-testing-of-15143627.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=emai l&utm_campaign=HC_AfternoonReport&utm_term=news&ut m_content=headlines#

They hit jackpot if they're the first approved

[AcresHomes44]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

They hit jackpot if they're the first approved

I expect approval to speed up, given the current COVID-19 situation. The potential issue could be making enough for everyone affected.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

1/3 of 3D energy drinks is owned by Alphalete Athletics, which is a Houston based fitness company. They've made a lot of strives and are now nation wide. In Houston, you can find them in GNC, HEB, and vitamin shops throughout.

[As Above So Below...]

It’s unpopular to say but the fastest way to increase economic diversity is to shed oil and gas jobs. That’s probably around the corner for us so with new companies coming in other industries, Houston’s economy will diversify, just not in the way we’d hope for.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

It’s unpopular to say but the fastest way to increase economic diversity is to shed oil and gas jobs. That’s probably around the corner for us so with new companies coming in other industries, Houston’s economy will diversify, just not in the way we’d hope for.

This will happen in due time. In the meantime, other economic activity is diversifying the economy at a slower rate. Which has had some success just, slowly but steady. Comparing today’s economy to the 80s is a whole different thing.

[Jack Lance]

A Houston company is developing a drug that could protect people in close contact with patients who have COVID-19 from contracting the illness caused by the new coronavirus.

The drug, delivered as an aerosol known as PUL-042, was created by biopharmaceutical company Pulmotect, MD Anderson Cancer Center and Texas A&M, which have worked together to develop the drug for more than a decade. While PUL-042 has been tested on mice and had limited human trials in the United Kingdom, it is still at least a year away from approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Brenton Scott, chief operating officer of Houston-based Pulmotect, works in the company’s lab.Photo: Courtesy of Pulmotect

But if approved, it could provide short-term immunization for doctors, nurses and people in close proximity to COVID-19 patients until a proper vaccine is developed.

Researchers estimated the trial could be completed within the year with just $5 million in funding, if not sooner given the jump in cases worldwide.

“At the rate cases are happening,” Dickey said, “you could be seeing in a few weeks if it’s effective.”
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...ntent=briefing

Houston biotech co.'s coronavirus treatment candidate to undergo clinical trials
https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...treatment.html