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NCCID to host consultation with national and international experts to discuss ways to fight superbugs

The National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCCID) is hosting a consultation with national and international experts in Winnipeg on February 10th and 11th, 2010 to discuss ways to fight the threat posed by "superbugs," or bacteria that are increasingly resistant to conventional treatment with antibiotics.

11 Feb 2010

Haitian death toll climbs to 230,000, government says

The death toll from the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti has risen to 230,000, Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, the country's communications minister, said on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

11 Feb 2010

Catalysis Foundation for Health to discover new TB biomarkers with $5M Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant

The Catalysis Foundation for Health (Catalysis), a 501 (c) (3) non-profit entity dedicated to developing sustainable diagnostics for the developing world, announced today that it has received a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant money will be used to discover new tuberculosis (TB) biomarkers that can be used to improve diagnostic tests and potentially develop more effective TB treatments.

10 Feb 2010

sanofi-aventis reports 2009 fourth-quarter and full-year net earnings

Commenting on the Group's 2009 performance, sanofi-aventis Chief Executive Officer Christopher A. Viehbacher said, "2009 was the first year of implementation of our new strategy. Major steps have already been achieved in strengthening our growth platforms and reinforcing our R&D pipeline while delivering a double-digit EPS(1) growth".

10 Feb 2010

PolyMedix provides overview of its 2010 clinical milestones

PolyMedix, Inc. (www.polymedix.com), an emerging biotechnology company focused on developing new therapeutic drugs to treat infectious diseases and acute cardiovascular disorders, provided an overview of its 2010 clinical milestones in a presentation by President & C.E.O., Nicholas Landekic at the 2010 BIO CEO & Investor Conference.

10 Feb 2010

Antimalarial medicines in African countries are substandard, says QAMSA study

The first results from a large-scale study of key antimalarial medicines in ten Sub-Saharan African countries reveal that a high percentage of medicines circulating on national markets are of substandard quality and thus may contribute to the growth of drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent form of malaria.

10 Feb 2010

Measles vaccine does not increase risk of autism in children, reveals Polish study

As a pivotal paper linking childhood vaccinations to autism is discredited, a new study finds no evidence that the measles vaccine—given alone or as part of a combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine—increases the risk of autism in children. The study appears in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal (www.pidj.com), published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

10 Feb 2010

G7 forgives Haiti's bilateral loans to support aid effort

At a press conference on Saturday, "Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he and his G-7 colleagues would forgive bilateral loans extended to poverty-stricken Haiti, which estimates it could have lost 200,000 residents in the major earthquake that hit last month," Dow Jones Newswires reports.

10 Feb 2010

Loyola University Chicago offers new research-intensive program for healthcare industry

Registration is underway for Loyola University Chicago's new infectious disease & immunology master's degree program that will prepare graduates for challenging health-related positions in government, research and private industry.

10 Feb 2010

NIAID awards Tulane University over $15M to develop Lassa fever vaccine and treatment

The National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a five-year contract totaling $15,254,919 to Tulane University for its ongoing efforts to treat and prevent Lassa fever, an often deadly viral disease that threatens hundreds of thousands of people annually in West Africa and is classified as a potential bioterrorism threat.

10 Feb 2010

OlFactor Laboratories acquires exclusive license to patented technology from UC Riverside

OlFactor Laboratories, Inc., a majority owned subsidiary of Avisio, Inc. acquired an exclusive license to patented technology from UC Riverside.

10 Feb 2010

Whooping cough vaccine may be losing its punch: study

Vaccination programs against whooping cough may not be fully effective because the bacteria that cause the disease have evolved new strains, a new study has found.

9 Feb 2010

Chi-Fu Trading to market and sell Delcath PHP Systems in Taiwan

Delcath Systems, Inc. (DCTH), a medical technology company testing its proprietary treatment system for primary and metastatic cancers to the liver, announced today the signing of its first research, distribution, sales and marketing agreement for its Percutaneous Hepatic Perfusion (PHP) System (the Delcath PHP System™). The agreement grants Chi-Fu Trading Co., Ltd. the exclusive right to market and sell the Delcath PHP System in Taiwan for hepatic malignancies and infectious disease upon Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) approval, and any other approved use, with a conditional option for Singapore.

9 Feb 2010

NIH awards over $15M for Tulane University's collaborative effort to combat VHF

Corgenix Medical Corporation, a worldwide developer and marketer of diagnostic test kits, and Tulane University, today announced a major extension of the collaborative effort to combat viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF), an effort that will generate an additional $800,000 in contract revenue for Corgenix over the life of the contract.

9 Feb 2010

Novavax announces new data from trivalent seasonal influenza VLP vaccine study

Novavax, Inc. announced today new data from a clinical study that began in May of 2009 among healthy adults 18 to 49 years of age with Novavax's trivalent seasonal influenza Virus-like Particle (VLP) vaccine. The vaccine matched the influenza strains recommended for the 2008-2009 influenza season including H1N1 A/Brisbane/59/2007, H3N2 A/Brisbane/10/2007, and B/Florida/04/2006 strains.

9 Feb 2010

Phase 1 trial of Cerus' INTERCEPT red blood system meets primary endpoint

Cerus Corporation announced today that its Phase 1 trial of red blood cells treated with the INTERCEPT Blood System met its primary endpoint, with preliminary analysis demonstrating that greater than 75 percent of treated cells continued to circulate 24 hours following transfusion. The INTERCEPT red blood cell system is a pathogen inactivation treatment the company is developing to protect against transmission of infectious diseases through red blood cell transfusions. An estimated 70 million units of red blood cells are transfused worldwide each year.

9 Feb 2010

Inovio Biomedical announces additional immunogenicity data from therapeutic cervical cancer vaccine trial

Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced today additional interim safety and immunogenicity data from its therapeutic cervical cancer vaccine (VGX-3100) trial. VGX-3100 is a DNA vaccine targeting the E6 and E7 proteins of human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 and is delivered via in vivo electroporation.

8 Feb 2010

Breakthrough research could lead to new potential treatments for malaria

Groundbreaking research done at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) School of Biological Sciences (SBS) could lead to the development of more potent drugs or a vaccine for malaria, which is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes and kills up to three million people each year.

6 Feb 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Lancet study examines childbirth practices and the relationship between these practices and maternal and perinatal outcomes in nine Asian countries, as assessed by a WHO global survey. Based on the analysis of over 107,000 deliveries, the authors conclude, "To improve maternal and perinatal outcomes, caesarean section should be done only when there is a medical indication" (Lumbiganon et al., 2/6). These findings "should help us to prioritise our strategies to reduce unnecessary interventions in childbirth," write the authors of a Lancet comment.

5 Feb 2010

New report finds low adult vaccination rates in U.S.

A new report, Adult Immunization: Shots to Save Lives, released today by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) found that more than 30 percent of adults ages 65 and older had not been immunized against pneumonia in 36 states as of 2008.

5 Feb 2010