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Merck reports $342 million net income for 2010 third quarter

Merck & Co., Inc. today announced financial results for the third quarter of 2010. The company reported non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) earnings per share (EPS) for the third quarter of $0.85, which excludes purchase accounting adjustments, restructuring costs, merger-related expenses and a $950 million legal reserve.

29 Oct 2010

ImmuneRegen's Homspera enhances survival of animals vaccinated with experimental melanoma vaccine

ImmuneRegen BioSciences, Inc.®, a wholly owned subsidiary of IR BioSciences Holdings, Inc., today announced that treatment with its lead compound, Homspera®, improved the survival of animals vaccinated with an experimental melanoma vaccine.

29 Oct 2010

China CDC signs collaborative agreement with Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center today formalized an ongoing relationship by signing a collaboration agreement. It marks the first such agreement between the China CDC and a U.S. cancer research center.

29 Oct 2010

Research on sheep population could help explain variation in vaccine protection

Strong immunity may play a key role in determining long life, but may do so at the expense of reduced fertility, a Princeton University study has concluded.

29 Oct 2010

Scientists identify potential new treatment for Nipah and Hendra viruses

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have identified a potential new treatment for the Nipah and Hendra viruses, two lethal and emerging viruses for which there is currently no treatment or vaccine available. The approach could also lead to new therapies for measles, mumps and the flu. The new research appears in today's edition of the prestigious journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Pathogens.

29 Oct 2010

Emergent BioSolutions completes Trubion acquisition

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., following a majority vote to approve the merger by Trubion stockholders at a special meeting conducted at Trubion's Seattle headquarters on October 28, 2010. The acquisition provides Emergent with multiple, advanced stage candidates in the key disease areas of oncology and autoimmunity as well as access to novel and versatile protein therapeutic platforms.

29 Oct 2010

New nationwide initiative to conduct research on human immune system

A new nationwide research initiative has been launched to define changes in the human immune system's response to infection and vaccination using human rather than animal models, which could lead to better vaccines and other treatments. Baylor Research Institute (BRI), along with five other U.S.-based Human Immune Phenotyping Centers, will receive a total of $100 million over five years to conduct the research.

28 Oct 2010

NMA/NBNA releases new consensus report on RSV

Today, the National Medical Association (NMA) and the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) released a consensus report on RSV. Concerned that recent clinical guidelines published by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee of Infectious Disease (AAP/COID) may leave some infants unprotected from RSV, the NMA/NBNA RSV Consensus Panel recommended that additional research be conducted to ensure that physicians provide the maximum protection to infants and children at risk of RSV.

28 Oct 2010

Even most vulnerable infants can transition to breast-feeding: Study

Pediatric researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia describe a successful program in which nurses helped mothers attain high rates of breast-feeding in very sick babies--newborns with complex birth defects requiring surgery and intensive care.

28 Oct 2010

New findings suggest way to treat lung diseases

A new study of an exotic, infectious virus that has caused three recent outbreaks in the United States reveals clues to how the virus might damage lungs during infection. The findings also suggest possible new ways to treat lung diseases in humans.

28 Oct 2010

Vical to present preclinical results of HSV-2 vaccine program at Keystone Symposium

Vical Incorporated today announced that the company's Vice President of Clinical Development, Richard T. Kenney, M.D., is presenting preclinical results from the company's herpes simplex type 2 (HSV-2) vaccine program in a poster session Friday morning at the Keystone Symposium on Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination (Seattle, October 27 – November 1).

27 Oct 2010

Study: lncRNA are involved in host response to viral infection

Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that a certain class of RNA (known as long non-protein-coding RNA [lncRNA]) are involved in the host response to viral infection. These findings, published today in the online journal mBio-, could greatly change the way scientists look at the body's response to viral infection.

27 Oct 2010

University of Padua Professor wins Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize

Frankfurt am Main. The chemist and biologist Professor Cesare Montecucco, 62, of the Department of Biomedical Research at the University of Padua, Italy, has won the 100,000 euro Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize 2011 for his contribution to research in the field of bacterial diseases, including tetanus, botulism, anthrax and Helicobacter pylori associated diseases.

27 Oct 2010

MacroGenics, Pfizer enter global research collaboration and license agreement for DART products

MacroGenics, Inc., a leader in next-generation antibody platforms and therapeutics, announced today that it has entered into a global research collaboration and license agreement with Pfizer Inc. to discover, develop and commercialize Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting (DART) products directed at two undisclosed cancer targets.

27 Oct 2010

Boehringer Ingelheim and MacroGenics enter global antibody-based therapeutics alliance

Boehringer Ingelheim and MacroGenics today jointly announced that they have entered into a global alliance to discover, develop and commercialize antibody-based therapeutics which may span multiple therapeutic areas, including immunology, oncology, respiratory, cardiometabolic and infectious diseases.

27 Oct 2010

Long non-protein coding RNAs respond to SARS virus infection, says study

For the first time, scientists have discovered that a poorly understood class of RNA produced in a mammal's cells during a respiratory virus attack may affect the outcome of the infection. Their findings are reported today in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

27 Oct 2010

New tools could help detect wildlife disease outbreaks

Two new tools that enable the public to report sick or dead wild animals could also lead to the detection and containment of wildlife disease outbreaks that may pose a health risk to people.

26 Oct 2010

MDI and Westburg enter exclusive distribution agreement for Detect-Ready MRSA panel in Benelux region

Molecular Detection Inc. (MDI), a company developing Detect-Ready™ tests designed to increase the speed and accuracy of infectious disease diagnosis, and life sciences and diagnostics distributor Westburg BV today announced that they have entered into an exclusive agreement for distribution of MDI's Detect-Ready MRSA panel in the Benelux region.

26 Oct 2010

IDC grants MedImmune global rights to GLA adjuvant

Immune Design Corp. (IDC), a privately held biotechnology company developing novel vaccines and immunotherapies for infectious disease and cancer, announced today that it has entered into a license and development agreement with MedImmune for the use and commercialization of IDC’s proprietary Glucopyranosyl Lipid Adjuvant (GLA) as a component in vaccines for select infectious diseases.

26 Oct 2010

Knowledge gaps and unjustified fear common among caregivers of children with MRSA

Knowledge gaps and fear - some of it unjustified - are common among the caregivers of children with a drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA, according to the results of a small study from the Johns Hopkins Children Center. These caregivers thirst for timely, detailed and simple information, the researchers add.

26 Oct 2010