Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Vical second-quarter revenues decrease to $2.1 million

Vical Incorporated today reported financial results for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2010. Revenues decreased to $2.1 million for the second quarter of 2010 from $4.0 million for the second quarter of 2009, primarily as a result of a $1.5 million milestone payment in 2009 from Merck & Co., Inc., based on Merck's ongoing Phase 1 clinical-stage development of an investigational cancer vaccine.

3 Aug 2010

An overview of ESA-s Annual Meeting

Whether it is a single rock being overturned or an entire mountaintop being removed, humans play a continuous role in environmental processes, and vice versa. Ecological scientists will discuss findings on human-ecosystem interactions-from the effects of nanomaterials on plant growth to the diversity of insect species on green roofs, and even communities of airborne microbes in hospital buildings-at the Ecological Society of America's 95th Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh from August 1-6, 2010. Here is just some of the research on humans and the environment to be presented:

3 Aug 2010

Telormedix, Swiss TPH Institute collaborate to develop effective vaccines for Malaria, Buruli Ulcer

Telormedix, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company using targeted immunity to treat cancer and other diseases, today announced the start of a collaboration with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) on a pilot study using Telormedix's adjuvant, TMX-201, in connection with immunization for Malaria and Buruli Ulcer.

3 Aug 2010

Alphavirus vaccine blocks tumor growth in advanced cancer: Research

An experimental vaccine based on a virus that causes encephalitis in the wild appears to block tumor growth in some cases of advanced cancer, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center. Scientists say the vaccine is able to stimulate an immune response, even in the face of profound immune system suppression, a condition most patients with advanced cancer experience.

3 Aug 2010

Phase I/II clinical study data of OncoVEXGM-CSF for head and neck cancer published in Clinical Cancer Research

BioVex Inc, a company developing new generation biologics for the treatment of cancer and prevention of infectious disease, announces that the data from its completed Phase I/II clinical study of OncoVEXGM-CSF for the first line treatment of head and neck cancer is being published today in Clinical Cancer Research, an ASCO publication.

2 Aug 2010

Merck reports strong bottom-line performance in second quarter

Merck & Co., Inc. today announced financial results for the second quarter of 2010. The company reported non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) earnings per share (EPS) for the second quarter of $0.86, which excludes purchase accounting adjustments, merger-related expenses, restructuring costs and the gain on AstraZeneca's asset option exercise. Second-quarter GAAP EPS was $0.24.

2 Aug 2010

Study finds ST131 a major cause of antimicrobial-resistant E. coli infections

The new strain, ST131, was a major cause of serious antimicrobial-resistant E. coli infections in the United States in 2007, researchers found. This strain has been reported in multiple countries and encountered all over the United States. In the study, researchers analyzed resistant E. coli isolates collected during 2007 from hospitalized patients across the country. They identified 54 ST131 isolates, which accounted for 67 percent to 69 percent of E. coli isolates exhibiting fluoroquinolone or extended-spectrum cephalosporin resistance.

31 Jul 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Center for Global Development memo offers suggestions for the U.S. to improve its commitment to policies that benefit poor countries after it ranked 17th out of 22 wealthy in the 2009 Commitment to Development Index. Among a set of 20 recommendations, the authors suggest the U.S. "[i]ncrease foreign aid, especially through such vehicles as the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which gives to relatively well-governed countries, or a global 'Cash on Delivery' fund that would pay countries after making confirmed progress toward agreed-upon outcomes, thereby reducing the proliferation of aid projects," the authors write(Prieto/Roodman).

31 Jul 2010

AIDS 2010 follow-up coverage: Global HIV/AIDS funding; HIV/AIDS studies, releases

Media outlets continued to reflect on news from the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010, which attracted over 19,000 participants from 197 countries to Vienna last week, according to the conference blog.

30 Jul 2010

Quidel second-quarter total revenues increase 1.6% to $25.0 million

Quidel Corporation, a leading provider of rapid diagnostic testing solutions, announced today financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

30 Jul 2010

Isis Pharmaceuticals receives $5M payment from GSK for dug development

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has earned a $5 million milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline related to the designation as a development candidate of a drug to treat an undisclosed rare and serious disease. Isis will develop the drug to Phase 2 proof-of-concept, at which time GSK has the option to license it.

29 Jul 2010

Antigenics second-quarter net loss attributable to common stockholders decreases to $5.2 million

Antigenics Inc. reported today its results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010.

29 Jul 2010

Aphios awarded US patent for compositions, methods for treating diseases involving 5-α reductase enzyme

Aphios® Corporation today announced that it was awarded United States Patent No. 7,744,935 B2 for "Compositions and Methods for Inhibiting 5-α Reductase," granted June 29, 2010. This invention is related to compositions and methods for treating diseases involving the 5-alpha (α) reductase enzyme.

28 Jul 2010

Positive results from study with Genome Sequencer FLX System for HIV drug-resistant mutation detection

454 Life Sciences, a Roche Company, has announced promising new results from a multi-site collaborative research study which used the company's Genome Sequencer FLX System to perform HIV drug-resistant mutation detection.

28 Jul 2010

New York Times examines questions left unanswered by microbicide trial

The New York Times examines a set of questions raised by news out of the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010 last week that a microbicide gel containing the antiretroviral tenofovir used by women before and after sex helped reduce their risk of HIV infection by 39 percent.

28 Jul 2010

Merck signs non-exclusive license agreement with LabCorp for commercialization of genetic test

Merck announced a non-exclusive license agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings for the commercialization of a genetic test that may help predict the response of patients with Hepatitis C virus infection to peginterferon alpha-based therapy.

28 Jul 2010

Dengue fever emerges as major health threat in Gulf coast cities

Several cases of dengue fever, a potentially fatal viral disease transmitted by the bite of urban dwelling Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, have recently been reported in the continental United States. Prevalent in Central America and the Caribbean, dengue fever's most common symptoms include fever, chills, headache, and body aches lasting several days. The disease's more threatening form, dengue hemorrhagic fever, can cause internal bleeding, loss of blood pressure, and death. Over the past five years, outbreaks of both forms of the disease have been reported in Texas and Florida.

28 Jul 2010

NIH awards Akonni $435K to develop point-of-care diagnostics for multi-drug resistant strains of MTB

Akonni Biosystems a molecular diagnostics company focused on developing and manufacturing rapid, high multiplex solutions for infectious disease testing, today announced receipt of a $435K grant from the National Institutes of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health. The award will enable Akonni to accelerate development of its hands-free, sample-to-answer system for identifying a broader range of multi-drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

28 Jul 2010

DIATHERIX Laboratories opens rapid response diagnostic panels for STD, HSV

DIATHERIX Laboratories ,adds a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) panel and Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) panel to its line up of highly sensitive, rapid response diagnostic panels. The HSV panel identifies herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 and the STD panel identifies 10 sexually transmitted diseases simultaneously, many of which cannot be accurately identified by current testing methods. These STD organisms, if not appropriately treated, can cause diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhoeae, chlamydia, bacterial vaginosis, etc. and may lead to blindness, infertility or complications during pregnancy.

28 Jul 2010

Antigenics announces positive results of AG-707 genital herpes vaccine

Antigenics announced positive results with AG-707, an investigational therapeutic vaccine being developed to treat herpes simplex virus-2,the virus that causes genital herpes, in infected patients. Developed by Antigenics, the vaccine triggers a cellular immune response, stimulating both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.

28 Jul 2010

Infectious Diseases News and Research

Vical second-quarter revenues decrease to $2.1 million

An overview of ESA-s Annual Meeting

Telormedix, Swiss TPH Institute collaborate to develop effective vaccines for Malaria, Buruli Ulcer

Alphavirus vaccine blocks tumor growth in advanced cancer: Research

Phase I/II clinical study data of OncoVEXGM-CSF for head and neck cancer published in Clinical Cancer Research

Merck reports strong bottom-line performance in second quarter

Study finds ST131 a major cause of antimicrobial-resistant E. coli infections

Recent releases in Global Health

AIDS 2010 follow-up coverage: Global HIV/AIDS funding; HIV/AIDS studies, releases

Quidel second-quarter total revenues increase 1.6% to $25.0 million

Isis Pharmaceuticals receives $5M payment from GSK for dug development

Antigenics second-quarter net loss attributable to common stockholders decreases to $5.2 million

Aphios awarded US patent for compositions, methods for treating diseases involving 5-α reductase enzyme

Positive results from study with Genome Sequencer FLX System for HIV drug-resistant mutation detection

New York Times examines questions left unanswered by microbicide trial

Merck signs non-exclusive license agreement with LabCorp for commercialization of genetic test

Dengue fever emerges as major health threat in Gulf coast cities

NIH awards Akonni $435K to develop point-of-care diagnostics for multi-drug resistant strains of MTB

DIATHERIX Laboratories opens rapid response diagnostic panels for STD, HSV

Antigenics announces positive results of AG-707 genital herpes vaccine

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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