Cytomegalovirus News and Research

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Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a member of the herpes virus group, which includes herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2, varicella-zoster virus (which causes chickenpox), and Epstein-Barr virus (which causes infectious mononucleosis). Infection with CMV is a major cause of disease and death in immunocompromised patients, including organ transplant recipients, patients undergoing hemodialysis, patients with cancer, patients receiving immunosuppressive drugs, and HIV-infected patients. While drugs are available for treatment of these conditions, the primary drug choices carry significant side effects and warnings. Currently, there are no anti-CMV drugs indicated for treatment of primary CMV infection during pregnancy resulting in infections that can have catastrophic consequences to the newborn. Maternal-fetal transfer of CMV infection results in a fetal death rate of 12% and most survivors have permanent debilitating disorders, including mental retardation, vision loss, and sensorineural deafness.

pSivida awarded $489,000 grant under IRS Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project

pSivida Corp., a leader in the development of sustained release drug delivery products for the treatment of back-of-the-eye disease including the product candidate Iluvien™ for the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema, today announced that it has been awarded two grants totaling $489,000 under the IRS Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP). The grants were awarded to pSivida to help fund further research on new generations of the company's drug delivery technologies targeting ophthalmic diseases.

4 Nov 2010

Human haptoglobin gene mutation increases risk of diabetic complications

Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is a multifactorial disease of complex etiology characterized by the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells. In addition to genetic susceptibility, it is generally accepted that environmental factors play important roles in triggering disease, with virus infection having perhaps the strongest association.

27 Oct 2010

Chimerix to present CMX001 data for viral infections at IDSA Annual Meeting

Chimerix, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing orally-available antiviral therapeutics, will present promising clinical data for CMX001 in a late-breaker poster session at the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) 48th Annual Meeting.

25 Oct 2010

AiCuris’ AIC246 inhibitor treats patient with multi-organ HCMV disease

AiCuris announced today that its novel HCMV inhibitor AIC246 has been used successfully to treat a patient with multi-organ HCMV disease caused by multi-resistant virus. Details will be presented at the 48th IDSA meeting on October 23, presentation number LB-38.

22 Oct 2010

QIAGEN, Abbott enter agreement to strengthen testing menus for automated in-vitro diagnostic applications

QIAGEN and Abbott today announced that they have entered into an agreement that significantly strengthens both companies' testing menus for automated in-vitro diagnostic applications in the United States and Canada. Financial terms were not disclosed.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 13 Oct 2010

HCMV infection may help promote intestinal cancer

More than 50% of adults in the United States test positive for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection. For most people, infection produces no symptoms and results in the virus persisting in the body for a long time. HCMV infects many cell types in the body including the cells that line the intestines (IECs).

12 Oct 2010

Tamir's compounds perform better than Ganciclovir for Cytomegalovirus disease: Study

Tamir Biotechnology, Inc. announced today that scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) reported test results confirming two of our lead compounds outperformed market leader Roche's drug Ganciclovir in cell culture and plaque reduction assay (the gold standard) for Cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease. Additionally, antiviral activity was also apparent against other human herpesviruses, namely, HSV-1 (cold sores), HSV-2 (genital herpes), and Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV) (chicken-pox and shingles).

29 Sep 2010

ASTMH recommends FDA to include neglected infections of poverty in orphan classification

Today, U.S. scientists committed to finding answers to reducing and eliminating what are known as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that plague the world's poorest people in developing countries, urged the FDA to include in its orphan classification the neglected infections of poverty that also affect Americans, and expressed support for stronger relationships with the FDA to ultimately halt these ancient scourges.

24 Sep 2010

Raltegravir could be valid target against all Herpesviridae

Scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) headed by the coordinator of the Structural and Computational Biology Programme, Miquel Coll, have published a new study that demonstrates that raltegravir, the drug approved in 2007 for the treatment of AIDS that is sold by Merck under the name Isentress, cancels the function of an essential protein for the replication of one kind of herpes virus.

23 Sep 2010

pSivida reports $8.8 million consolidated net income for 2010 fiscal year

pSivida Corp., a leader in developing sustained release, drug delivery products for treatment of back of the eye diseases, including the product candidate Iluvien for the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema, today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2010.

23 Sep 2010

G-CSF compound may activate virus, increases risk of infection: Research

Research conducted at Oregon Health & Science University's Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute may spur debate about the risks associated with administering a specific compound in some forms of bone-marrow transplantation. The research is published in the current edition of Cell Host and Microbe.

22 Sep 2010

Abbott to commercialize Celera's CE-marked KIF6 genotyping assay outside U.S.

Celera Corporation and Abbott today announced that they have signed an exclusive distribution agreement to market Celera's CE-marked KIF6 diagnostic test for use on Abbott's CE-marked m2000™ instrument system. The KIF6 genotyping assay detects a genetic marker that may be used in conjunction with clinical evaluation and patient assessment for the identification of individuals at risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), and in patients for whom statin treatment is being considered.

20 Sep 2010

Chimerix presents promising clinical data for CMX001 in late-breaker poster session at 50th ICAAC

Chimerix, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing orally-available antiviral therapeutics, today presented promising clinical data for CMX001 in a late-breaker poster session at the 50th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

16 Sep 2010

ViroPharma presents Phase 1 study data of VP20621 at ICAAC 2010

ViroPharma Incorporated today announced the presentation of data from its Phase 1 study of VP20621 (non-toxigenic Clostridium difficile), a novel treatment approach for preventing recurrent Clostridium difficile infections, a common and dangerous gastrointestinal infection typically occurring in older adults after use of antibiotic medications.

16 Sep 2010

FDA updates dosing recommendation for Valcyte medication

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is notifying health care professionals of updated dosing recommendations for Valcyte (valganciclovir) oral tablets and solution used by children and adolescents receiving a kidney or heart transplant.

16 Sep 2010

Human cytomegalovirus cloned

A team of Welsh scientists have successfully cloned a human virus offering new hope for the treatment of potentially life-threatening diseases.

14 Sep 2010

Vical's TransVax CMV vaccine achieves key endpoints in Phase 2 trial in immunocompromised HCT recipients

Vical Incorporated announced today the achievement of key efficacy, immunogenicity and safety results in a Phase 2 trial, establishing its TransVax™ cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine as the first to provide evidence of protection in immunocompromised hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients, and defining a potential pathway for further development.

13 Sep 2010

Risk of late onset TRAS in living unrelated donor kidney recipients

Patients who have received a new kidney are significantly more likely to develop transplant renal artery stenosis (TRAS) if they are obese or over 50, according to research published in the September issue of the Journal of Renal Care.

7 Sep 2010

Abbott RealTime HBV assay receives marketing approval from FDA

Abbott announced today it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market the Abbott RealTime HBV assay for measuring viral load or the amount of hepatitis B virus in a patient's blood. It is the first and only approved test capable of automating HBV viral load testing from sample extraction to final results.

2 Sep 2010

FDA approves longer Valcyte therapy for CMV disease in adult kidney transplant patients

Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved increasing the length of therapy with Valcyte (valganciclovir hydrochloride) in adult kidney transplant patients at high risk for cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease.

11 Aug 2010