BCG Vaccine News and Research

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The BCG Vaccine is a vaccine containing bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), an attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis, with non-specific immunoadjuvant and immunotherapeutic activities. Although the mechanism of its anti-tumor activity is unclear, immunization with BCG vaccine likely activates a Th1 cytokine response that includes the induction of interferon. Vaccination with BCG vaccine may be immunoprotective against infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

First new TB vaccine in century fails initial testing

The first of a series of new vaccines that have been developed to combat tuberculosis failed to show efficacy compared with placebo in South African infants, show results from a phase II trial.

7 Feb 2013

Experimental TB vaccine does not protect infants, study shows

"Hopes that a much needed new tuberculosis [TB] vaccine was on the way, the first for 90 years, have been dashed by trial results showing it did not protect babies against the disease," the Guardian reports.

6 Feb 2013

TB vaccine candidate trial results are 'landmark' in fight against disease

"Today marks an important landmark for the fight against tuberculosis (TB)," with the publication in the Lancet of clinical trial results showing the TB vaccine candidate MVA85A "was no more effective in protecting infants from developing pulmonary TB than" the standard Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, Peggy Johnston, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes in the foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

6 Feb 2013

High vaccine prices ignored by ‘Decade of Vaccines’ blueprint

Governments meeting at the World Health Organization’s Executive Board (WHO EB) this week must seize the opportunity to improve serious shortcomings in the document that will drive the global community’s vaccines response in the next few years. If they fail to do so, key reasons why children continue to be missed by immunisation programmes will be left unaddressed.

25 Jan 2013

Trial results of first new TB vaccine candidate in 90 years expected next year

"Researchers will find out early next year whether the first new vaccine against tuberculosis [TB] for 90 years protects against a disease that was once neglected but is now resurgent worldwide," Financial Times reports.

18 Oct 2012

STELARA effectively reduces signs and symptoms of active psoriatic arthritis

Patients with active psoriatic arthritis receiving the interleukin (IL)-12/23 inhibitor STELARA (ustekinumab) experienced significant improvements in signs and symptoms of the disease, according to new findings presented today from a Janssen Research & Development, LLC, (Janssen)-sponsored investigational study.

6 Jun 2012

Einstein receives NIH grant to create new vaccine against TB

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University a five-year, $5.9 million grant to develop a new vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), including the toughest-to-treat forms of the disease known as multi drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant. The grant will build on a new approach to TB vaccine design that is based on genetically altered Mycobacterium smegmatis, which is closely related to the bacterial species (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that causes TB in humans.

1 Jun 2012

Combination of vitamin D and BCG vaccine improves bladder cancer survival

The tuberculosis vaccine is often used as a treatment for bladder cancer, and adding vitamin D might improve the vaccine's effectiveness, according to new research from the University of Rochester Medical Center presented today at the American Urological Association annual meeting.

22 May 2012

BuruliVac project getting closer to a vaccine

During a meeting in Lisbon, the partners of the BuruliVac research consortium found the project to be running smoothly, and getting closer to a vaccine against Buruli ulcer, a disfiguring and mutilating disease that causes a lot of suffering and now is difficult to treat. Several vaccine candidates work well in mice and are ready for further testing on blood of patients; one is ready for testing in mice.

19 Apr 2012

Emergent receives NIAID grant to advance development of MVA85A TB vaccine

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. today announced that it has received a multi-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to advance the development of MVA85A, a candidate vaccine against tuberculosis.

23 Mar 2012

Bill Gates meets MTBVAC TB vaccine researchers in Spain

On 21 February Bill Gates met with Dr. Carlos Martin of the University of Zaragoza and members of his team in Madrid, Spain. The scientists are working on the development of MTBVAC, a new vaccine against tuberculosis (TB). Gates showed great interest in the scientific background of MTBVAC, the most advanced vaccine based on attenuation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

5 Mar 2012

Study shows decline in number of TB cases across America during 2009

The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the U.S. is reported as being on the decrease, however untreated infected people act as a reservoir for disease. Any pool of the world's population harboring this disease gives cause for concern, especially since the BCG vaccine is only 70-80% effective at best. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Public Health, shows that in 2009 the number of cases of TB reported across America was much lower than that recorded in previous years.

7 Nov 2011

Einstein researchers develop tuberculosis vaccine candidate

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University report in the September 4 online edition of Nature Medicine that they have developed a tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidate that proved both potent and safe in animal studies.

5 Sep 2011

BCG vaccine can help immune system recognise cancer cells as 'foreign'

Scientists have found a potential new mechanism to stimulate the body's own ability to fight cancer using Baculillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) - the germ commonly used to inoculate against tuberculosis.

11 Aug 2011

Aeras, OETC announce initiation of new TB vaccine Phase IIb trial in patients with HIV

Aeras and the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium (OETC) announce today the start of a Phase IIb proof-of-concept efficacy trial of a new investigational tuberculosis (TB) vaccine that involves people living with the human immunodeficiency virus.

11 Aug 2011

New findings from STELARA psoriasis clinical trial to be presented at 22nd World Congress of Dermatology

New findings to be presented from pooled analyses of the STELARA psoriasis clinical development program showed that the safety profile of STELARA and rates of adverse events remained consistent and stable over time in adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis receiving up to four years of treatment.

25 May 2011

McGill research team finds distinct disease-causing mutations and saves baby girl

About two years ago, Dr. Philippe Gros, a McGill University professor in the Department of Biochemistry and a Principal Investigator in thd McGill Life Sciences Complex, described a mouse mutant that was immunodeficient and hypersensitive to the Bacille Calmette-Gu-rin (BCG) vaccine and to tuberculosis (TB).

12 May 2011

Financial Times, other media outlets highlight key issues in Global TB fight

In recognition of World Tuberculosis Day on Thursday, the Financial Times published a series of stories on TB worldwide.

25 Mar 2011

WHO report urges countries to step up fight against drug-resistant TB

A WHO report released Wednesday says countries with the highest drug-resistant tuberculosis burdens are making progress in addressing the disease, "but despite the recent scale up in efforts, the world needs to do much more to get care to all [multi-drug resistant] patients who need it," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said, Times LIVE reports.

24 Mar 2011

Researchers launch free online Atlas of TB vaccination policies around the world

Tuberculosis continues to pose a major global health threat. Someone in the world is newly infected with TB bacteria every second. Every year, more than 9 million people develop active TB and it claims about 2 million lives.

22 Mar 2011