Smallpox News and Research

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Smallpox is a highly contagious disease caused by the variola virus, a member of the Orthopox virus family. It is one of the most devastating diseases known to humanity, with a mortality rate as high as 30%. In 1967, the World Health Organization embarked upon an intensified vaccination campaign to eliminate smallpox, which culminated in the successful eradication of the disease globally by 1980.

By the mid-1980s, there were only two known repositories of variola virus: the Institute of Virus Preparations in Russia, and the US CDC. The events in the US in September and October 2001 highlighted the risk that the variola virus might be used as an agent of bioterrorism. Governments around the world are taking precautionary measures to be ready to deal with a potential smallpox outbreak.

Exosomes derived from lymphoma, colorectal cancer patients circulated through Aethlon's Hemopurifier

Aethlon Medical, Inc., the pioneer in developing therapeutic filtration devices to address infectious disease and cancer, announced today that it has demonstrated the ability to capture immunosuppressive exosomes derived from individuals with lymphoma and colorectal cancer.

20 Dec 2010

Response Biomedical strengthens patent protection for RAMP technology

Response Biomedical Corporation today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued an official Notice of Allowance on one of the Company's patent applications regarding the RAMP® technology. The patent entitled "Comparative Multiple Analyte Immunoassay" is expected to issue in the first quarter of 2011.

20 Dec 2010

Study suggests unexpected role for NLRP3 protein in cancer vaccine development

The promise of vaccines targeted against various types of cancer has raised the hopes of patients and their families. The reality, however, is that these promising treatments are difficult to develop. One of the challenges is identifying a discrete cellular target to stop cancer growth without inactivating the immune system. Scientists at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center report a laboratory finding that has the potential to increase the effectiveness of therapeutic cancer vaccines.

15 Dec 2010

Reuters looks at cost-effectiveness of pursuing malaria vaccine, eradication

Reuters examines the effort to create an effective malaria vaccine and asks: "[I]s the vaccine - and the global health community's aim of completely eradicating a disease that kills a child every 45 seconds - really worth the money?"

15 Dec 2010

Chimerix reports positive results from CMX157 Phase 1 clinical trial for HIV

Chimerix, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing orally-available antiviral therapeutics, today announced first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial results for CMX157 demonstrating a favorable safety, tolerability and drug distribution profile.

14 Dec 2010

Bavarian Nordic receives SPA for Phase 3 study of PROSTVAC for advanced prostate cancer

Bavarian Nordic A/S announced today that the company has received a letter of concurrence from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on a Special Protocol Assessment for a Phase 3 study required for product registration for its product candidate, PROSTVAC, for the treatment of patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

8 Dec 2010

Vaccine World Summit to be held in New Delhi 1-3 March, 2011

From the 1st to the 3rd of March 2011, vaccine leaders from developing and developed world will meet at Vaccine World Summit in New Delhi. The event will be hosted by IMAPAC, in partnership with DCVMN (Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network).

8 Dec 2010

Guardian examines difficulty of delivering polio vaccines in war-torn parts of Africa, like DRC

UNICEF is calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) so that polio vaccinators can access millions of children in an effort to beat back the re-emergence of the disease in several African nations, the Guardian reports. "We are calling on all parties to the conflict to respect the vaccination days and cease fighting," said Pierrette Vu Thi, UNICEF's representative in the DRC. "All children have the same right to health," Vu Thi said.

7 Dec 2010

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awards $6M grant to NanoBio to develop intranasal vaccine for RSV

NanoBio Corporation announced today that it has received a $6M grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the development of a safe and effective intranasal vaccine for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).

1 Dec 2010

Looking back and moving forward: 100 years of Pneumococcal vaccination

"Since the introduction of smallpox vaccination by Sir Edward Jenner in 1796, it took 184 years until the WHO could declare the world free of smallpox. How long will it take to eliminate pneumococcus from the world?"

25 Nov 2010

Preclinical trial shows Chimerix’s CMX001 inhibits HSV replication

Chimerix, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing orally-available antiviral therapeutics, today announced that data demonstrating preclinical efficacy of Chimerix's lead antiviral compound CMX001 against herpes simplex virus (HSV) as well as its ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier was published in the November 15, 2010 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

23 Nov 2010

New simple diagnostic tool to detect dangerous viruses

Boston University researchers have developed a simple diagnostic tool that can quickly identify dangerous viruses like Ebola and Marburg. The biosensor, which is the size of a quarter and can detect viruses in a blood sample, could be used in developing nations, airports and other places where natural or man-made outbreaks could erupt.

22 Nov 2010

Viruses lead to discovery of security system in host cells

Viruses have led scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to the discovery of a security system in host cells.

18 Nov 2010

Chimerix’s lipid-conjugated drugs reduces nephrotoxicity: Study

Scientists from Chimerix, Inc. today presented in vitro data demonstrating that the company's lipid-conjugated drugs, CMX001 and CMX157, are not substrates for the human Organic Anion Transporters (hOATs) and thus have significantly reduced potential to cause nephrotoxicity via this mechanism.

17 Nov 2010

Scientists to present new findings from NIAID-funded research at ACAAI Annual Meeting

The 2010 Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) brings together leading allergists and immunologists from around the world.

12 Nov 2010

Inviragen to present data on CHIKV vaccine at ASTMH meeting

Inviragen, a biotechnology company developing vaccines to protect against infectious diseases worldwide, together with investigators at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and the Division of Vector Borne Diseases (DVBD) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will make an oral presentation today at the annual American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) meeting on preclinical results of the Company's experimental chikungunya virus (CHIKV) vaccine.

8 Nov 2010

Inviragen receives two grants to develop dengue and chikungunya vaccines

Inviragen, a biotechnology company developing vaccines to protect against infectious diseases worldwide, announced today that it has received two grants totaling $488,958 through the United States government's Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project Program.

3 Nov 2010

New findings suggest way to treat lung diseases

A new study of an exotic, infectious virus that has caused three recent outbreaks in the United States reveals clues to how the virus might damage lungs during infection. The findings also suggest possible new ways to treat lung diseases in humans.

28 Oct 2010

Inviragen commences Phase 1 clinical trial of DENVax dengue vaccine in Colombia

Inviragen, a company developing vaccines to protect against infectious diseases worldwide, and the Program for the Study and Control of Tropical Diseases (PECET), jointly announced the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial of DENVax™ in Colombia. DENVax is an investigational vaccine designed to provide protection against all four dengue virus serotypes. The trial will measure the safety of DENVax as well as the immune responses induced by the vaccine in healthy adults in Rionegro, Colombia.

25 Oct 2010

Chimerix to present CMX001 data for viral infections at IDSA Annual Meeting

Chimerix, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing orally-available antiviral therapeutics, will present promising clinical data for CMX001 in a late-breaker poster session at the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) 48th Annual Meeting.

25 Oct 2010