Herpes News and Research

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Herpes is an infection caused by two different but closely related viruses — herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) or cold sores and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) or genital herpes. Both are easy to catch. They have similar symptoms (blisters or sores) and both can occur on different parts of the body. When the infection is on the mouth, it is called oral herpes. When it is on or near the sex organs, it is called genital herpes. There is no cure for herpes. Treatments are available to speed up the healing of the genital sores.

First patient enrolled in Contravir‘s FV-100 Phase 3 study to prevent shingles, shingles-associated pain

ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of targeted antiviral therapies, announced today that the first patient has been enrolled in the Company's pivotal Phase 3 clinical study, study 007, of FV-100 to prevent the debilitating shingles-associated pain known as post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN).

3 Aug 2015

Harvard Medical School scientists reveal structure of vesicular stomatitis virus protein

Viruses need us. In order to multiply, viruses have to invade a host cell and copy their genetic information. To do so, viruses encode their own replication machinery or components that subvert the host replication machinery to their advantage.

3 Jul 2015

Damon Runyon creates new award to increase number of physician-scientists

Physician-scientists are crucial to moving scientific discoveries from the lab to patients, but their numbers have been dwindling just when they are needed most, particularly in cancer research, as the number of cancer cases is projected to increase by 45 percent in the next fifteen years and elevate cancer to the leading cause of death in America.

1 Jul 2015

Spinifex Pharmaceuticals enters into agreement to be acquired by Novartis

Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company focused on the development of new drugs for the treatment of chronic pain, today announces that it has agreed to the sale of Spinifex to Novartis International AG, for an upfront cash consideration of US$200 million plus undisclosed clinical development and regulatory milestone payments.

29 Jun 2015

MIPT researchers develop ultrasensitive nanomechanical sensor to identify tumor markers

Two young researchers working at the MIPT Laboratory of Nanooptics and Plasmonics, Dmitry Fedyanin and Yury Stebunov, have developed an ultracompact highly sensitive nanomechanical sensor for analyzing the chemical composition of substances and detecting biological objects, such as viral disease markers, which appear when the immune system responds to incurable or hard-to-cure diseases, including HIV, hepatitis, herpes, and many others.

10 Jun 2015

GBD analysis shows over 95% of global population has health problems

Just one in 20 people worldwide (4·3%) had no health problems in 2013, with a third of the world's population (2·3 billion individuals) experiencing more than five ailments, according to a major new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2013, published in The Lancet.

8 Jun 2015

Anna Nele Meckler and Armelle Corpet to receive SNSF's 2015 Marie Heim-Vögtlin Prize

The biologist Armelle Corpet and paleo-climatologist Anna Nele Meckler will receive the 2015 Marie Heim-Vögtlin (MHV) Prize. This distinction rewards their remarkable scientific work supported by a MHV grant. The prize will be bestowed on 23 September 2015 at the Swiss National Science Foundation.

4 Jun 2015

Roche announces FDA 510(k) clearance for cobas HSV 1 and 2 Test

Roche announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has provided 510(k) clearance for the cobas HSV 1 and 2 Test for the direct detection and differentiation of HSV-1 and HSV-2 DNA in anogenital specimens from symptomatic patients. With dual target detection and automation, the cobas HSV 1 and 2 Test provides laboratories with the capability to report up to 94 results in significantly less time than traditional methods and provides a simplified workflow for sample handling in the laboratory.

4 Jun 2015

Baruch S. Blumberg Institute engaged to conduct study using ContraVir's new HBV therapeutic candidate

ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of targeted antiviral therapies, announced today that it has engaged the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, the non-profit research sister organization of the Hepatitis B Foundation, to conduct a series of experiments using ContraVir's hepatitis B program, CMX157.

3 Jun 2015

Talimogene laherparepvec treatment shows durable clinical responses in advanced-stage melanoma patients

Research led by Howard L. Kaufman, MD, FACS, associate director for clinical science and chief surgical officer at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and colleagues, shows advanced-stage melanoma patients have significant improvement in durable response rate and a trend toward improved survival when treated with a genetically-modified form of a herpes virus, whose native form causes the common cold sore.

2 Jun 2015

Modified cold sore (herpes) virus improves survival in stage IIIb to IV melanoma patients

It's a new weapon in the arsenal of cancer fighting treatments: utilizing genetically modified viruses to invade cancer cells and destroy them from the inside.

1 Jun 2015

Modified herpes virus improves survival in melanoma patients

University of Louisville researcher Jason Chesney, M.D., Ph.D., deputy director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, and a team of international scientists found that stage IIIb to IV melanoma patients treated with a modified cold sore (herpes) virus had improved survival.

30 May 2015

Researchers make important breakthrough in identifying major drivers of excessive coughing

Cough treatments could change dramatically after the herpes virus helped researchers discover that the respiratory tract links to two different parts of the nervous system.

27 May 2015

Roche announces FDA clearance for cobas Cdiff Test to detect C. difficile in stool specimens

Roche announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has provided 510(k) clearance for the cobas Cdiff Test to detect Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) in stool specimens.

26 May 2015

Genocea reports positive results from GEN-003 Phase 2 clinical trial for treatment of genital herpes

Genocea Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing T cell-directed vaccines and immunotherapies, today announced positive top-line data from a Phase 2 dose optimization trial evaluating GEN-003 for the treatment of genital herpes.

21 May 2015

New test could identify resistant tuberculosis faster

Tuberculosis (TB) disease rates in some parts of London are as high as in Sub-Saharan Africa, and drug-resistant strains are becoming increasingly common.

From Oxford Gene Technology 14 May 2015

UCL-led team develops new technique to find resistant TB faster

The time needed to genetically sequence the bacteria causing tuberculosis (Mtb) from patient samples has been reduced from weeks to days using a new technique developed by a UCL-led team. This could help health service providers to better treat disease, control transmission of this infection, and monitor outbreaks.

From Oxford Gene Technology 13 May 2015