Infectious Diseases News and Research

RSS

Hemispherx Biopharma second-quarter net loss decreases to $3.67 million

Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. announced its financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2010. The net loss (including non-cash expenses) for the 2nd fiscal quarter was approximately $3,676,000 or $0.03 per share compared to a loss of approximately $3,870,000 or $0.04 per share for the same period in 2009.

7 Aug 2010

Multiple tattoos increase risk of contracting hepatitis C: Study

Youth, prison inmates and individuals with multiple tattoos that cover large parts of their bodies are at higher risk of contracting hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases, according to a University of British Columbia study.The researchers reviewed and analysed 124 studies from 30 countries, including Canada, Iran, Italy, Brazil and the United States, and found the incidence of hepatitis C after tattooing is directly linked with the number of tattoos an individual receives. The findings are published in the current issue of the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

7 Aug 2010

Equatorial Guinea, ECCAS partner to form network to fight H1N1, HIV

Equatorial Guinea (Republica de Guinea Ecuatorial) and the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, along with several Central African States, have partnered with the Economic Community of Central African States to form a network to fight H1N1 and HIV. The purpose of the network's recent forum was to share knowledge and best practices, and to collect data and prevention procedures among military health professionals in the region.

7 Aug 2010

Fidaxomicin, CDA1/CDB1 effective for treating CDI : Report

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, in first- and second-line treatment of Clostridium difficile infection, nearly 70 percent of surveyed infectious disease specialists and internists will use Optimer's fidaxomicin and nearly half will use Medarex/Merck's CDA1 and CDB1, one year after the launch of these agents. The lower recurrent/relapse rate associated with fidaxomicin and CDA1/CDB1 is the most influential attribute surveyed clinicians cite in their decisions to prescribe these emerging agents for CDI.

6 Aug 2010

Nanosphere reports net loss of $13.8M for second-quarter 2010

Nanosphere, Inc., a leader in the development and commercialization of advanced molecular diagnostics systems, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

6 Aug 2010

Research on human disease origins to predict, prevent next outbreak

Most infectious diseases infect multiple host species, but to date, efforts to quantify the frequency and outcome of cross-species transmission (CST) of these diseases have been severely limited.This lack of information represents a major gap in knowledge of how diseases emerge, and from which species they will emerge.A paper published this week in the journal Science by a team of researchers led by Daniel Streicker of the University of Georgia has begun to close that gap.

6 Aug 2010

Scientists to develop new antibiotics to tackle infection-causing bacteria

Detailed pictures published today reveal how a new type of experimental antibiotic can kill bacteria that are already resistant to existing treatments. The findings could ultimately help scientists to develop new antibiotics to tackle the bacteria responsible for many hospital and community-acquired infections.

5 Aug 2010

Elusys awarded second contract to develop Anthim for treatment of anthrax infection

Elusys Therapeutics, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it has been awarded a second contract year of funding valued at $40.6 million for the advanced development of Anthim for the prevention and treatment of anthrax infection following a biowarfare attack. This funding is in addition to $16.8 million already received under this contract and is part of a potential five year contract award totaling up to $143 million if all options are exercised by the Government.

5 Aug 2010

TapImmune inks smallpox vaccine Research and Technology License Option Agreement with Mayo Clinic

TapImmune Inc. announced that it has signed a Research and Technology License Option Agreement with Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, for the development of a smallpox vaccine technology. Research will be conducted by Gregory Poland M.D., at Mayo Clinic, to evaluate novel peptide antigens together with TapImmune's proprietary TAP technology. TapImmune also has an exclusive Option to the smallpox vaccine technology after research studies have been completed under the terms of the agreement.

5 Aug 2010

Alnylam second-quarter revenues increase to $26.6 million

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today reported its consolidated financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010, and company highlights.

5 Aug 2010

Certain human leukemias can be treated by targeting stem-cell microRNAs: Research

Hematopoietic stem cells provide the body with a constant supply of blood cells, including the red blood cells that deliver oxygen and the white blood cells that make up the immune system. Hematopoietic-or blood-stem cells must also make more copies of themselves to ensure that they are present in adequate numbers to provide blood throughout a person's lifetime, which means they need to strike a delicate balance between self-renewal and development into mature blood-cell lineages. Perturb that balance, and the result can be diseases such as leukemia and anemia.

5 Aug 2010

Amplimmune collaborates with GSK to develop PD-1 targeting therapies

Amplimmune, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a broad strategic alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to further develop PD-1 targeting therapies that may be effective in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. GSK will obtain exclusive worldwide rights to AMP-224 as well as other potential next generation fusion proteins that target PD-1.

5 Aug 2010

Scientists invent Global Focus microscope for tuberculosis diagnosis

A compact microscope invented at Rice University is proving its potential to impact global health. In a paper published online today in the journal PLoS ONE, Rice alumnus Andrew Miller and co-authors show that his portable, battery-operated fluorescence microscope, which costs $240, stacks up nicely against devices that retail for as much as $40,000 in diagnosing signs of tuberculosis.

5 Aug 2010

PCV-7 vaccine introduction leads to changing patterns of hemolytic uremic syndrome

Introduction of the PCV-7 vaccine to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) has led to a shift in the types of bacteria causing hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)—an important cause of acute kidney failure in children, reports a study in the August issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

4 Aug 2010

Prairie dog study holds significant implications for understanding spread of infectious diseases

Prairie dogs, once abundant in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, have been decimated in recent decades by plague - a virulent bacterial disease spread by fleas.Plague outbreaks periodically sweep through large prairie dog towns with thousands of inhabitants, killing virtually the entire population within months. Other prairie dogs move in and build a new colony, which eventually is wiped out when the disease returns.

4 Aug 2010

ICU Medical's Neutron Neutral-Pressure Needleless Connector receives FDA clearance

ICU Medical, Inc., a worldwide leader in the development, manufacture and sale of proprietary, disposable medical connection systems for use in vascular therapy applications, today confirmed that it has received FDA 510-k clearance for the Neutron™ Neutral-Pressure Needleless Connector.

4 Aug 2010

Vical second-quarter revenues decrease to $2.1 million

Vical Incorporated today reported financial results for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2010. Revenues decreased to $2.1 million for the second quarter of 2010 from $4.0 million for the second quarter of 2009, primarily as a result of a $1.5 million milestone payment in 2009 from Merck & Co., Inc., based on Merck's ongoing Phase 1 clinical-stage development of an investigational cancer vaccine.

3 Aug 2010

An overview of ESA-s Annual Meeting

Whether it is a single rock being overturned or an entire mountaintop being removed, humans play a continuous role in environmental processes, and vice versa. Ecological scientists will discuss findings on human-ecosystem interactions-from the effects of nanomaterials on plant growth to the diversity of insect species on green roofs, and even communities of airborne microbes in hospital buildings-at the Ecological Society of America's 95th Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh from August 1-6, 2010. Here is just some of the research on humans and the environment to be presented:

3 Aug 2010

Telormedix, Swiss TPH Institute collaborate to develop effective vaccines for Malaria, Buruli Ulcer

Telormedix, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company using targeted immunity to treat cancer and other diseases, today announced the start of a collaboration with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) on a pilot study using Telormedix's adjuvant, TMX-201, in connection with immunization for Malaria and Buruli Ulcer.

3 Aug 2010

Alphavirus vaccine blocks tumor growth in advanced cancer: Research

An experimental vaccine based on a virus that causes encephalitis in the wild appears to block tumor growth in some cases of advanced cancer, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center. Scientists say the vaccine is able to stimulate an immune response, even in the face of profound immune system suppression, a condition most patients with advanced cancer experience.

3 Aug 2010