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CEL-SCI expands work on current H1N1 virus vaccine

CEL-SCI Corporation has announced that it is expanding the scope of its work towards creating a novel treatment and vaccination against the current H1N1 virus, as well as a future mutated form in which the virus has acquired greater morbidity and mortality.

19 Aug 2009

Hard to Treat Diseases' swine flu clinical trials in progress

Hard to Treat Diseases (HTDS.PK) Mellow Hope, an operating subsidiary of HTDS, is pleased to report that its clinical trial is currently being processed.

19 Aug 2009

CSL Biotherapies to supply Afluria influenza vaccines from newly licensed packaging facility

CSL Biotherapies, a subsidiary of CSL Limited, one of the world's leading manufacturers of influenza vaccine, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has licensed the company’s newest vaccine filling and packaging facility, located in Kankakee, Ill. The facility, part of an investment to expand CSL’s U.S. influenza vaccine production capabilities, includes a high-speed, single-dose vaccine syringe filling line.

19 Aug 2009

New production technology to develop vaccine for norovirus

Scientists have used a new vaccine production technology to develop a vaccine for norovirus, a dreaded cause of diarrhea and vomiting that may be the second most common viral infection in the United States after the flu. Sometimes called the "cruise ship virus," this microbe can spread like wildfire through passenger liners, schools, offices and military bases.

19 Aug 2009

H1N1 vaccine administration coverage from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in New Hampshire

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in New Hampshire has announced that it will offer coverage for the administration of the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine when it becomes commercially available to the general public. The vaccine administration will be covered for members whose benefit plans provide coverage for vaccines.

19 Aug 2009

George Rehm and David Mahoney joins Adamas' Board of Directors

Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held company, announced today that it has closed a $40 million Series D round of funding led by aeris CAPITAL AG and DAG Ventures. Earlier investors MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures and Northgate Capital also participated in the round. In conjunction with the financing, the company announced the election of George M. Rehm, Managing Partner of aeris CAPITAL AG, and David L. Mahoney, a private equity investor, to the company's Board of Directors.

19 Aug 2009

Elsevier/Lancet launch H1N1 resource centre

An H1N1 influenza channel has been added to the Elsevier Global Medical News (EGMN) wire service division of the International Medical News Group. The H1N1 channel was created to meet physicians' continuing needs to keep up-to-date with the news about the spread of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, as well as the new diagnostics, vaccines, clinical trials, and treatments for H1N1 infections.

18 Aug 2009

New guidance on novel H1N1 influenza for K-12 schools

The Secretary of Health today released guidance on Novel H1N1, also known as swine flu, for elementary and secondary schools in an effort to keep kids and staff healthy and flu-free this school year.

17 Aug 2009

GSK starts testing H1N1 vaccine; Opinion piece addresses U.S. role in helping developing countries procure vaccine

"GlaxoSmithKline has started testing its pandemic H1N1 swine flu vaccine in humans, and expects to start giving the results to government agencies next month, the drugmaker said on Friday," Reuters reports. The company "plans to conduct 16 different trials of the vaccine and to test 9,000 people in total across Europe, Canada and the United States," according to the news service (Deighton, 8/14).

17 Aug 2009

FDA approves Extavia for multiple sclerosis

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Extavia(R) (interferon beta-1b), the first in a new planned portfolio of multiple sclerosis (MS) medicines from Novartis to help patients manage this devastating disease.

17 Aug 2009

New microneedle-based injection device from Nanopass

Following the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of a swine flu pandemic, NanoPass Technologies Ltd. (NanoPass) announced today that it has successfully developed a microneedle-based injection device that could dramatically enhance both the effectiveness and supply of pandemic flu vaccines.

14 Aug 2009

Terraboost unveils free H1N1 risk mitigation product

Terraboost -- creator of the patent pending combination hand sanitizing display/dispenser -- announced a new program today to provide complimentary touch-free hand sanitizing displays to businesses worldwide, helping people around the globe mitigate risk related to H1N1 swine flu and other disease-causing bacteria.

13 Aug 2009

Mumbai closes schools, some businesses in effort to fight H1N1 spread

Beginning on Thursday, "Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, will shut schools and movie theaters as swine flu-related deaths jumped, ignoring federal government advice to keep educational institutions open," Bloomberg reports. Schools will close for seven days and malls and cinemas for three in an effort to contain the virus, Prajakta Lavangare, a director general of the Maharashtra state government, explained Wednesday (Jatakia/Chatterjee, 8/12).

13 Aug 2009

Cannabis Science reports on future plans for cannabis drug trials

Cannabis Science, Inc. (OTCBB: CBIS) has announced that it has completed its review of the FDA licensing requirements and has made key progress with mapping out its initial cannabis drug medicines for FDA clinical trials.

12 Aug 2009

Health officials gather in South Africa to discuss H1N1 in Africa

On Tuesday, South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi cautioned that Africa might be hit harder by H1N1 (swine) flu than other parts of the world, the Associated Press reports (8/11).

12 Aug 2009

Past flu pandemics help predict the future course of 2009 H1N1 virus

A commonly held belief that severe influenza pandemics are preceded by a milder wave of illness arose because some accounts of the devastating flu pandemic of 1918-19 suggested that it may have followed such a pattern.

12 Aug 2009

Discovery of genetic mutations that increase risk of schizophrenia

In collaboration with colleagues from across Europe, researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark have found mutations in the human genome that lead to an increased risk of developing schizophrenia.

11 Aug 2009

Britain's first swine flu vaccine trials start

Britain's first swine flu vaccine trials, led by the University of Leicester and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, are taking place at the Leicester Royal Infirmary.

11 Aug 2009

U.S., Mexico, Canada vow to work together against H1N1

President Obama together with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper "vowed on Monday to fight the spread of the H1N1 swine flu," during their summit in Guadalajara, Mexico, Reuters reports.

11 Aug 2009

Obama to discuss combating H1N1 at North American Leaders Summit

President Obama arrived in Guadalajara, Mexico, Sunday for a two-day North American Leaders Summit with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Wall Street Journal reports. The leaders "are discussing efforts to stem the spread of the H1N1 flu virus, economic competitiveness, national security, and global climate change," according to White House officials (Williamson, 8/9).

11 Aug 2009