Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Public awareness campaign needed to curb health threats posed by hepatitis B and hepatitis C

Stepped-up vaccination requirements, a boost in resources for prevention and treatment, and a public awareness campaign similar to the effort that dispelled the stigma of HIV/AIDS are needed to curb the health threats posed by hepatitis B and hepatitis C, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

12 Jan 2010

Official H1N1-related death count approaches 13,000 worldwide, WHO says

H1N1 (swine flu) has killed 12,799 people worldwide since the virus first emerged, the WHO said on Friday, United Press International reports (1/8). According to the WHO, more than half of the H1N1-related deaths worldwide occurred in the Americas, China Daily reports (1/9).

12 Jan 2010

Inovio Biomedical expands existing license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania

Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced today that it has expanded its existing license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania, adding exclusive worldwide licenses for technology and intellectual property for novel DNA vaccines against pandemic influenza, Chikungunya, and foot-and-mouth disease.

11 Jan 2010

KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi Pasteur partner in development of KB001 biologic for Pa infections

KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced an agreement with Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the sanofi-aventis Group, for the development and commercialization of KB001, an investigational new biologic for the treatment or prevention of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) infections. Sanofi Pasteur will be responsible for the development and commercialization of KB001 and initially focus on hospital indications, including the prevention of Pa pneumonias in mechanically ventilated patients.

11 Jan 2010

SeraCare Life Sciences launches new products to aid discovery and development of drugs and diagnostics

SeraCare Life Sciences, Inc. announced today that the Company has added five new, differentiated products to its portfolio to meet the needs of SeraCare’s growing customer base in the life sciences industry.

9 Jan 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Lancet Comment examines the "grossly insufficient" progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing under-5 child mortality. "Accelerated progress can be achieved, even in the poorest environments, through: integrated, evidence-driven, and community-based programmes that focus on addressing the major causes of death, including pneumonia, diarrhoea, newborn disorders, malaria, HIV, and undernutrition; reaching the unreached with a basic package of interventions at large scale and achieving coverage with equity; and using data for action and advocacy," the comment concludes (You et al., 1/9).

9 Jan 2010

Scientists and clinicians address diagnosis and treatment for autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases

Autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases are a major health issue. The National Institutes of Health reports that up to 23.5 million Americans are afflicted. The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association reports the number is closer to 50 million. Scientists and clinicians at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston can address the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions, as well as the latest advances in research.

8 Jan 2010

Cell Medica signs R&D agreement with the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy

Cell Medica, a clinical cellular therapeutics company developing proven cell therapies which address important unmet clinical needs in oncology and infectious diseases, announced today the signing of an R&D agreement with the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, a joint program of Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital and The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas.

8 Jan 2010

Frequent chlamydia screening does not reduce infection in teenage girls

Frequent testing and treatment of infection does not reduce the prevalence of chlamydia in urban teenage girls, according to a long term study by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers published in the January 1, 2010 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

8 Jan 2010

LSUHSC receives $2.1 million grant for pneumonia research

Dr. Jay Kolls, Professor and Chairman of Genetics at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, has been awarded a $2.1 million grant over five years by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to further his work on a discovery that plays a critical role in the body's defense against pneumonia.

8 Jan 2010

Initiation of double blind placebo controlled multi-center trial of DAS181 announced

NexBio, Inc. announced today the initiation of a double blind placebo controlled multi-center trial in the U.S. and Mexico of DAS181 (Fludase®) for the treatment of laboratory confirmed influenza infection.

8 Jan 2010

UAB issues updated guidelines for childhood and teen immunization schedule

The co-director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases is a member of the committee that this week issued updated guidelines for childhood and teen immunizations to include formal recommendations that children older than 6 months get the H1N1 influenza vaccine to guard against swine flu, and that combination vaccines are generally preferred over separate injections.

7 Jan 2010

CFIDS Association of America issues statement in response to XMRV study

The CFIDS Association of America issued the following statement in response to a study published in today’s edition of PLoS One that failed to detect the XMRV virus in banked samples drawn from 186 CFS patients in the United Kingdom. A study published Oct. 8, 2009 in Science reported that 68 of 101 CFS patients from clinics in the U.S. tested positive for XMRV.

7 Jan 2010

Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals and BioPro Pharmaceutical enter into agreement to commercialize EpiCeram

Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Ceragenix”), a medical device company focused on infectious disease and dermatology today announced that it has entered into an exclusive distribution and supply agreement (the “Agreement”) with BioPro Pharmaceutical, Inc. (“BioPro”), to commercialize EpiCeram®, a prescription topical cream for treating atopic dermatitis and other dry skin conditions, in Hong Kong and Taiwan (the “Territories”).

7 Jan 2010

BioVex's Phase 3 melanoma study amended to include first line patients

BioVex Inc, a company developing new generation biologics for the treatment of cancer and prevention of infectious disease, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed that BioVex's ongoing OPTiM clinical study in unresectable Stage IIIb-IV melanoma be amended to include untreated (i.e., first line) patients as well as previously treated patients as defined in the original protocol.

7 Jan 2010

Antiretroviral therapy improves health outcomes for HIV patients

High antiretroviral therapy adherence, which has been shown to be a major predictor of HIV disease progression and survival, is now associated with lower health care costs, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

7 Jan 2010

Bio-Rad Laboratories acquires Biotest AG's diagnostics businesses

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., a multinational manufacturer and distributor of life science research and clinical diagnostics products, announced today that it has completed the purchase of certain diagnostics businesses of Biotest AG, including its diagnostics products in the areas of blood transfusion testing, transplantation, and infectious diseases for 45 million euros.

6 Jan 2010

Staying in a multi-bed hospital room increases the risk of acquiring serious infectious diseases

Staying in a multi-bed hospital room dramatically increases the risk of acquiring a serious infectious disease, Queen's University researchers have discovered.

5 Jan 2010

Also in global health news: Aid in S. Somalia; virus-resistant mosquitoes; composting toilets in Haiti; U.S. Congressional Group visits India

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) announced Tuesday that it has been forced to halt "aid distribution to about 1 million people in southern Somalia because of attacks against staff and demands by armed groups that aid groups remove women from their teams," the Associated Press reports.

5 Jan 2010

BioPlex 2200 Anti-CCP test for early detection of RA launched

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., a multinational manufacturer and distributor of life science research and clinical diagnostics products, and Axis-Shield plc, an international in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) company, today announced the launch of Bio-Rad's BioPlex® 2200 Anti-CCP test for the early detection of rheumatoid arthritis.

5 Jan 2010

Infectious Diseases News and Research

Public awareness campaign needed to curb health threats posed by hepatitis B and hepatitis C

Official H1N1-related death count approaches 13,000 worldwide, WHO says

Inovio Biomedical expands existing license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania

KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi Pasteur partner in development of KB001 biologic for Pa infections

SeraCare Life Sciences launches new products to aid discovery and development of drugs and diagnostics

Recent releases in Global Health

Scientists and clinicians address diagnosis and treatment for autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases

Cell Medica signs R&D agreement with the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy

Frequent chlamydia screening does not reduce infection in teenage girls

LSUHSC receives $2.1 million grant for pneumonia research

Initiation of double blind placebo controlled multi-center trial of DAS181 announced

UAB issues updated guidelines for childhood and teen immunization schedule

CFIDS Association of America issues statement in response to XMRV study

Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals and BioPro Pharmaceutical enter into agreement to commercialize EpiCeram

BioVex's Phase 3 melanoma study amended to include first line patients

Antiretroviral therapy improves health outcomes for HIV patients

Bio-Rad Laboratories acquires Biotest AG's diagnostics businesses

Staying in a multi-bed hospital room increases the risk of acquiring serious infectious diseases

Also in global health news: Aid in S. Somalia; virus-resistant mosquitoes; composting toilets in Haiti; U.S. Congressional Group visits India

BioPlex 2200 Anti-CCP test for early detection of RA launched

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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

From Puberty to Menopause: Clue’s CEO, Audrey Tsang on the Power of Femtech

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