Data from a study published in the journal Lancet showed that repeated mass administration of the drug ivermectin, a treatment for parasite infections, resulted in a 20% reduction in the incidence of malaria in children age 5 and younger in Burkina Faso. The 18-week trial, conducted during the country's 2015 rainy season to assess ivermectin's safety and efficacy, was financed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The World Health Organization said sustaining efforts to contain the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo will take additional donations of $148 million over the next six months. The CDC announced plans to send experts to provide training.

Researchers conducted a trial to test direct-acting antivirals in cancer patients with hepatitis C virus infections and found that sofosbuvir-based therapies are safe and effective to use in this patient population, making them eligible to participate in chemotherapeutic studies. Research findings were published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

HTG Molecular Diagnostics has agreed to sell $40 million of its common stock to or through Cowen. HTG intends to use net proceeds as working capital, for general corporate purposes and potentially for investments or acquisitions.

Personal Genome Diagnostics announced that its PGDx Elio Plasma Resolve liquid biopsy test has been given the CE mark. The test uses next-generation sequencing to detect amplifications, rearrangements, small insertions and deletions, and microsatellite instability in circulating cell-free DNA from plasma samples to help in cancer patients' therapy selection.

Roche Holding and Chugai Pharma UK announced that Hemlibra, or emicizumab, a treatment to prevent bleeding episodes in patients with hemophilia A with factor VIII inhibitors, was approved by the European Commission for treatment of patients with severe hemophilia without factor VIII inhibitors.

AABB will host an eCast, "Serious Hazards of Transfusion: Lessons Learned," on Wednesday, March 20, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. In this program, Paula Bolton-Maggs, DM, FRCP, former medical director of the UK National Haemovigilance Scheme, Serious Hazards of Transfusion (SHOT), will discuss the origins of the SHOT program and describe how hemovigilance efforts have made transfusions safer. Bolton-Maggs will also explore the types of transfusion errors that persist and explain the importance of the bedside checklist in preventing transfusion errors.