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.

Murdoch Children's Research Institute to roll-out clinical trial of BCG vaccine against COVID-19

Professor Kathryn North AC, Director of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, has announced its infectious disease researchers are preparing to roll-out a multi-center randomized controlled clinical trial of the BCG vaccine against COVID-19.

26 Mar 2020

German scientists test TB vaccine against coronavirus

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had taken a toll on the world, affecting 168 countries and more than 417,000 people. So far, more than 18,600 people have died due to complications of the disease. Scientists across the globe race to develop the first vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

24 Mar 2020

BCG vaccine formulations vary widely in their characteristics, study shows

Each year, more than 100 million newborns around the world receive vaccinations against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or TB, which infects about one-quarter of the world's population.

28 Jan 2020

Rejuvenating the BCG Vaccine

A new primate study published in the journal Nature in January 2020, reports that the almost century-old BCG vaccine against tuberculosis, may be used differently to achieve better protection against lung tuberculosis. While more work remains to be carried out before the findings can be accepted as the basis for clinical practice, they are extremely promising in the fight against this killer.

10 Jan 2020

Intravenous BCG vaccine provides greater protection against tuberculosis

Researchers have found that the BCG vaccine is more efficacious in the prevention of TB when administered intravenously.

2 Jan 2020

Intravenous administration boosts protective power of TB vaccine

Worldwide, more people die from tuberculosis than any other infectious disease, even though the vast majority were vaccinated.

2 Jan 2020

New vaccine against bovine TB

A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports says that for the first time a vaccine has been created against bovine tuberculosis that can be given without affecting the ability to diagnose tuberculosis later using the PPD skin test.

28 Nov 2019

New NIH funding will accelerate progress in TB vaccine development

Seattle Children's Research Institute is one of three recipients of $30 million in first-year-funding provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to establish centers for immunology research to accelerate progress in tuberculosis vaccine development.

15 Nov 2019

CSU awarded $1.2 million subcontract to accelerate tuberculosis vaccine development

A team of researchers in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology at Colorado State University aim to advance what is known about the complex immune response necessary to prevent tuberculosis disease.

15 Nov 2019

New grant funds innovative approach to bladder cancer treatment

The San Antonio Medical Foundation has awarded Texas Biomedical Research Institute Professor Jordi B. Torrelles, Ph.D., with a $173,000 grant to study a modified Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette et Guérin (BCG) vaccine shown to have promise for treating bladder cancer.

30 Oct 2019

New TB vaccine: mid-phase trials confirm safety, long-term prevention

A new study published on October 29, 2019, in the New England Journal of Medicine, reports a new vaccine which could change the face of tuberculosis prevention. The disease kills 1.5 million people worldwide each year.

30 Oct 2019

BCG vaccination in childhood could decrease risk of lung cancer

A common tuberculosis vaccine could decrease the risk of lung cancer if administered during early childhood, according to a study published Sept. 25 in JAMA Network Online.

25 Sep 2019

New technique protects promising TB vaccine from heat damage

Scientists working on a new tuberculosis vaccine have achieved a major step forward by showing that a promising TB antigen and a novel vaccine adjuvant can be protected from heat damage with a technique developed at the University of Bath.

8 Aug 2019

Experimental vaccine strategy shows great promise in treating tuberculosis

For years, scientists have been trying to come up with a better way to protect people against tuberculosis, the disease caused by infection with the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria.

5 Mar 2019

Clinical testing begins for temperature-stable experimental tuberculosis vaccine

Vaccinations have begun in a Phase 1 human clinical trial testing a freeze-dried, temperature-stable formulation of an experimental tuberculosis vaccine candidate.

23 Jan 2019

New TB vaccine effective in half of the population in phase II trials

GlaxoSmithKline has come up with an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) that has shown effective prevention of the infection in half of the population it has been administered to. This could be a breakthrough in preventing the killer disease say researchers since most of the recent vaccines developed against the disease have failed to show efficacy.

26 Sep 2018

Aeras announces publication of Phase 2 results of two TB vaccines

Aeras, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing vaccines against tuberculosis (TB), today announced the publication of the full results from a Phase 2, randomized, controlled clinical trial of two TB vaccines-- the currently available BCG vaccine and an investigational vaccine, H4:IC31--in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

12 Jul 2018

Advanced genetics study of TB bacteria uncovers virulent 'Beijing lineage' strain among young adults

LSTM's Dr Maxine Caws is co-lead investigator on an advanced genetics study published in Nature Genetics(link is external), which has shown that a virulent strain of tuberculosis (TB) has adapted to transmit among young adults in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

23 May 2018

Researchers discover new weapon to combat tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB), an infectious disease which attacks the lungs, claims someone's life every 20 seconds and 1.5 million lives worldwide every year.

11 Jan 2018

Study finds no association between BCG vaccine and childhood asthma

Childhood asthma is a serious public health challenge in Québec and throughout the world. Although the immune mechanisms implicated in the development of childhood asthma are not fully understood, some studies seem to suggest that the BCG vaccine, used in tuberculosis prevention, may have a protective effect on childhood asthma.

3 Oct 2017