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First results from phase 3 malaria vaccine candidate trial

First results from a large-scale Phase III trial of RTS,S, published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), show the malaria vaccine candidate to provide young African children with significant protection against clinical and severe malaria with an acceptable safety and tolerability profile. The results were announced today at the Malaria Forum hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington.

18 Oct 2011

VEC and AMA release updated information guide, 'Vaccines and Teens'

This week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (VEC) and the American Medical Association released an updated information guide called Vaccines and Teens for parents and physicians, detailing the most current recommendations and information about critical immunizations for older children.

18 Oct 2011

AAP President to outline efforts to advance agenda for children

O. Marion Burton, MD, FAAP, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) will address attendees at 10:30 a.m. ET on Saturday,Oct. 15, 2011, at the AAP National Conference and Exhibition in Boston.

15 Oct 2011

UofL associate professor to create an emergency countermeasure staffing plan

Building on the success of Louisville's response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, Ruth Carrico, PhD, plans to use a $250,000 one-year cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create an emergency countermeasure staffing plan that utilizes nursing, pharmacy and public health students.

13 Oct 2011

VGX International, Inovio partner to co-develop SynCon vaccines for hepatitis B and C infections

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of synthetic vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that it has entered into a product development collaboration agreement with its affiliate, VGX International Inc., to co-develop Inovio's SynCon therapeutic vaccines for hepatitis B and C infections.

10 Oct 2011

The male circumcision debate continues

Much has been written on the controversies and debates on whether males – from infants to adults – have a human right to retain their foreskin. The protestors have helped persuade 18 states to stop paying for circumcisions under their Medicaid health insurance programs.

5 Oct 2011

Parents choosing alternative vaccine schedules for their kids: Survey

According to a new study some parents choose alternative schedules for vaccinating their children and yet others decide their own vaccine timelines.

4 Oct 2011

Emergent BioSolutions receives $1.25B contract to supply 44.75M doses of BioThrax

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. today announced that, in response to solicitation RFP-2011-N-13414, it has received an award to supply the U.S. government with 44.75 million doses of BioThrax (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) over a period of five years for a total value of up to $1.25 billion.

3 Oct 2011

CSL pays heed to FDA observations on faulty manufacturing processes

Australia’s biggest pharmaceutical company CSL has taken steps to address most manufacturing flaws highlighted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and promised that the remaining concerns are being resolved.

2 Oct 2011

Poll: 21.4% of Americans believe vaccines can cause autism

More than one-quarter of Americans are concerned about the value and safety of vaccines and 21.4 percent believe vaccines can cause autism, according to the Thomson Reuters-NPR Health Poll.

1 Oct 2011

Study highlights importance of prior planning before introduction of new vaccines

Proper planning before the introduction of new vaccines into a developing country's active immunization program could prevent storage problems and transportation bottlenecks that decrease the availability of existing vaccines by as much as two-thirds, according to a University of Pittsburgh study.

30 Sep 2011

Increased focus on vaccine for dengue fever is critical to curb spread of disease

In this GlobalPost opinion piece, Zulfiqar Bhutta, Husein Laljee Dewraj professor and head of the Division of Maternal and Child Health at the Aga Khan University Medical Center in Karachi, Pakistan, and Ciro de Quadros, executive vice president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and former director of the Division of Vaccines and Immunization at PAHO, examine the need for a dengue fever vaccine as Pakistan struggles to curb an outbreak of the disease that to date has killed 60 people and has infected more than 8,000.

30 Sep 2011

Scaling up communication and coordination biggest challenge in GAVI's $1B vaccine initiative

In this post in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University, responds to the GAVI Alliance's announcement on Tuesday that it will supply more than $1 billion in childhood vaccines to 37 of the world's poorest countries, writing, "As the Alliance takes perhaps the most significant step ever toward increasing access to lifesaving immunization with this new and exciting round of country approvals, the challenge will be to ensure that every piece of the puzzle is in place to deliver on GAVI's tremendous promise."

29 Sep 2011

Global health blunders can lend useful lessons

New York Times reporter Lawrence Altman recounts his experience in the mid-1960s with a measles immunization campaign in Upper Volta during his time with the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the CDC in a "Doctor's World" perspective piece in the newspaper. Altman says that although the effort to expand the immunization campaign from a small field trial to a regional program "failed miserably," the "lessons learned from these blunders led to a new program that wiped out smallpox, still the only human disease to have been eradicated from the planet."

28 Sep 2011

Britain’s health workers urged to get flu shots to protect patients

Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is urging its staff to take their flu shots amid fresh warnings that low vaccination rates among health professionals could lead to vulnerable patients getting infected and dying. The NHS's employers, health trade unions and the Department of Health have launched a campaign to tackle low immunization rates among frontline staff such as doctors and nurses.

26 Sep 2011

Rotavirus vaccine saved 65,000 hospitalizations and $278 million in healthcare costs: Study

The latest research shows that since the 2006 introduction of routine inoculation against rotavirus -- a leading cause of diarrhea in infants and young children -- almost 65,000 fewer American children have been hospitalized and about $278 million in healthcare costs have been saved.

26 Sep 2011

EMA CHMP adopts positive opinion for Soliris to treat atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive opinion recommending that the therapeutic indication for Soliris® (eculizumab) be extended to include the treatment of pediatric and adult patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) in Europe.

23 Sep 2011

Rite Aid reports $6.3 billion revenues for second quarter ended August, 2011

Rite Aid Corporation today reported financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended August 27, 2011.

22 Sep 2011

GAVI Alliance cited as “game changer” in international development aid

The heads of the US and UK governments’ aid programmes have recognised the GAVI Alliance as offering ”game changing” lessons in the fight against global poverty.

21 Sep 2011

Financial and political commitments to improve health of women and children

In only one year, more than 100 countries, foundations, multilateral organizations, the UN, the private sector, and academic and professional associations have made unprecedented financial and political commitments to greatly improve the health of women and children.

21 Sep 2011