Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

BiondVax gains additional support from NATI for ongoing development of Universal Flu Vaccine

BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. announced today that the National Authority for Technological Innovation, formerly known as the Office of the Chief Scientist, agreed to fund up to 40% of a NIS 3.6 million (US$920,000) project towards ongoing development of the Company's Universal Flu Vaccine.

18 Feb 2016

Umeå University experts describe innovative interventions for fighting Zika virus in Europe

Researchers at Umeå University in Sweden help assess the risk that Zika will spread to Europe by describing the transmission season, areas at risk and intervention strategies. By using previous knowledge on Dengue, they are now strategizing on how Zika can be controlled.

9 Feb 2016

Innate lymphoid cells get destroyed in patients infected with HIV

A research project headed by Henrik Kloeverpris, a postdoc at the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Copenhagen, shows that the so-called ILCs (innate lymphoid cells) - a component of the immune system crucial to maintaining immune system balance - are destroyed in patients infected with HIV.

4 Feb 2016

Immunotherapy could be the future of cancer treatments

For decades most cancers have been treated with the standard of care treatments which typically include surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy. Now there is talk that immunotherapy represents "the future of cancer treatments."

21 Jan 2016

Minor flu strains carry bigger viral punch

Minor variants of flu strains, which are not typically targeted in vaccines, carry a bigger viral punch than previously realized, a team of scientists has found. Its research, which examined samples from the 2009 flu pandemic in Hong Kong, shows that these minor strains are transmitted along with the major strains and can replicate and elude immunizations.

5 Jan 2016

CFDA issues new drug certificate and production license for Sinovac's EV71 vaccine

Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that the China Food and Drug Administration issued the new drug certificate and production license for its Enterovirus 71 ("EV71") vaccine.

4 Jan 2016

Small airway-on-a-chip enables analysis of human COPD and asthma

A research team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University leveraged its organ-on-a-chip technology to develop a model of the human small airway in which lung inflammatory diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third leading cause of mortality worldwide, and asthma can be studied outside the human body.

22 Dec 2015

BiondVax's patent application for universal flu vaccine accepted in Israel

BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. which is developing the Universal Flu Vaccine, announced today that its patent application in Israel on the Multimeric Multi-Epitope Polypeptide Influenza Vaccines (a universal flu vaccine), was accepted.

21 Dec 2015

NIAID scientists successfully test prime-boost H7N9 influenza vaccine concept in clinical trial

In clinical trials, several candidate H7N9 pandemic influenza vaccines made from inactivated viruses have been shown to be safe and to generate an immune response. However, scientists believe for practical use, these potential vaccines would require multiple doses or the addition of adjuvants, which enhance the immune response.

12 Dec 2015

Halyard Health to develop high-speed machine to manufacture respirators for use during pandemic

Halyard Health Inc., formerly Kimberly-Clark Health Care, today announced that it has been awarded a contract by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). Under the contract, BARDA will fund research by Halyard to develop a one-of-a-kind, high-speed machine to manufacture N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFRs) that can be used during a pandemic.

10 Dec 2015

Sinovac gets approval to begin clinical trials on Sabin Inactivated Polio Vaccine candidate

Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that the Company has obtained approval to begin human clinical trials on its Sabin Inactivated Polio Vaccine (or "sIPV") candidate.

10 Dec 2015

Incidence of HIV in Europe reaches record high

Results of recent surveillance conducted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe indicate that the annual number of newly diagnosed HIV infections in Europe reached an all-time high in 2014.

27 Nov 2015

Seqirus announces FDA approval of Fluad for seasonal influenza

Seqirus announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Fluad (Influenza Vaccine, Adjuvanted) to help protect those aged 65 years and older against seasonal influenza. Fluad is the first adjuvanted seasonal influenza vaccine approved in the United States; it was specifically developed for the adult population aged 65 and older.

25 Nov 2015

People with viral infections and identical gene mutations may be prone to hyperinflammatory disorder

A group of people with fatal H1N1 flu died after their viral infections triggered a deadly hyperinflammatory disorder in susceptible individuals with gene mutations linked to the overactive immune response, according to a study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

25 Nov 2015

Experts share 10 steps to prevent future disease outbreaks

An independent group of 19 experts from around the globe, convened by the Harvard Global Health Institute and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, has issued a hard-hitting analysis of the global response to the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, published in The Lancet.

23 Nov 2015

TGen receives 2015 Regents' Award for Outstanding Service to Higher Education

The Arizona Board of Regents presented the Translational Genomics Research Institute with its 2015 Regents' Award for Outstanding Service to Higher Education, recognizing the extensive research TGen has conducted in association with Northern Arizona University.

21 Nov 2015

Researchers devise system to accelerate the process of making life-saving vaccines

Researchers at Brigham Young University have devised a system to speed up the process of making life-saving vaccines for new viruses.

20 Nov 2015

Last resort antibiotics may no longer work

E.coli has become resistant to the last line of antibiotics we have left and untreatable bugs may already be circulating in Britain, warn scientists.

19 Nov 2015

Combatting viral and bacterial lung infections with volatile anesthetics: an interview with Dr Chakravarthy

Inhaled anesthetics are fairly common all over the world for minor and extensive surgical procedures in patients of all age groups. In the olden days when anesthesia was first developed, ether was the first inhaled anesthetic. That has been replaced, with the more recent discoveries of sevoflurane, isoflurane, and desflurane.

9 Nov 2015

BD reports quarterly adjusted revenues of $3.067 billion for fourth fiscal quarter 2015

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company, today reported quarterly adjusted revenues of $3.067 billion for the fourth fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2015, an increase of 39.3 percent over the prior-year period as reported, or 49.1 percent on a currency-neutral basis.

4 Nov 2015