Disease/Infection News

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Developing new antipoverty vaccines may eliminate world's neglected diseases, says Sabin president

Despite significant advancements in increasing distribution and development of vaccines against childhood killer diseases - including pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, and Haemophilus influenzae Type B - global efforts to reduce the burden of infection from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has greatly lagged, argues Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) President Dr. Peter Hotez in an article for the June edition of Health Affairs.

23 Jun 2011

Monash researchers receive MMV Project of the Year award for new anti-malarial drug candidate

Monash University is collaborating on the development of a potential new drug to cure malaria throughout the world.

23 Jun 2011

Veredus Lab-on-Chip application can diagnose and differentiate food-borne pathogens

Veredus Laboratories, a leading provider of molecular detection tests, and its technology partner, STMicroelectronics, today announced the successful development and deployment of VereFoodborne, a Lab-on-Chip application that is able to detect 10 to 12 food-borne pathogens in one test, including the Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli responsible for the recent severe food poisoning outbreak in Europe.

23 Jun 2011

Daewoong, Medivir sign distribution agreement for Xerclear in China and Hong Kong

Medivir AB, a research-based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on infectious diseases, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to exclusively distribute Medivir's unique cold sore treatment Xerclear in China and Hong Kong.

23 Jun 2011

HKU releases draft genome sequence of scarlet fever strain

Scarlet fever has revealed unusual high infect rate in Hong Kong this year. So far, 466 children were infected and 2 of them dead. Scarlet fever is caused by Streptococcus pyogenes, a gram-positive pathogen that can be transmitted via skin wound and airborne droplet.

23 Jun 2011

Incivek-combination therapy increases chances of HCV patients achieving viral cure

The drug Incivek, when given in combination with two other medications, can dramatically increase the chances of people chronically infected with untreated genotype 1 hepatitis C virus achieving a viral cure. That's the finding of a study published in the June 23rd issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

23 Jun 2011

Telaprevir drug shows promise in curing hepatitis C infection

The drug telaprevir (Incivek) provides a dramatic improvement in the treatment of the most common form of hepatitis C infection, says an international team of investigators led by Dr. Ira M. Jacobson of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

23 Jun 2011

India looking to supply generic drugs to Japan

After serving as "a lifeline to poor countries, supplying HIV drugs that have saved millions of lives … now India is aiming to become a drugs factory for rich countries such as Japan," which is looking to use more generic drugs in an effort to slow rising health care costs, Nature News reports.

23 Jun 2011

MUHC/McGill parasite disease researcher wins CPHA International Public Health Award

With close to one third of the world's population infected with parasitic worms, MUHC researcher Dr. Theresa Gyorkos is thinking big when it comes to finding a solution to this global public health challenge. As part of an international research and policy team, she is contributing to the soon-to-be-released WHO Strategic Plan to control intestinal worm infections in more than 100 countries.

23 Jun 2011

Eradicating malaria is a 'realistic possibility'

Eliminating malaria in endemic countries is a "realistic possibility if those countries keep expanding malaria prevention and treatment at the pace set in recent years," Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, writes on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's blog.

23 Jun 2011

LPI receives final FDA approval for generic version of Levaquin tablets

Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (LPI) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted final approval for the Company's Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to market a generic version of Ortho McNeil's Levaquin tablets.

23 Jun 2011

Tobira commences cenicriviroc Phase IIb clinical trial for HIV infection

Tobira Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for HIV, announced today that it has initiated a Phase IIb clinical trial for the CCR5/CCR2 inhibitor cenicriviroc (TBR-652).

22 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 22, 2011

Today's headlines include an exclusive AP report detailing a "twist" in the health law that would allow millions of middle class Americans -- mainly early retirees -- access to Medicaid.

22 Jun 2011

Elsevier introduces new open-access journal on parasitology

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, in association with the Australian Society for Parasitology, is pleased to announce the launch of a new journal, International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance.

22 Jun 2011

Ghana's vice president discusses country's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS

John Dramani Mahama, vice president of the Republic of Ghana, recently spoke with NPR's "Tell Me More" about how Ghana has made significant gains against HIV/AIDS, bringing the prevalence rate down to 1.5 percent from nearly 4 percent.

22 Jun 2011

'Steadfast focus' needed in fight against HIV/AIDS

Recapping the 30-year history of HIV/AIDS from an USAID perspective, Administrator Rajiv Shah writes in this "Impact blog" post, "Our work is far from done. We have a shared responsibility as a global partner to save lives by focusing on smart investments. The generosity of the American people has made sustained progress against this deadly disease possible. Closing the chapter on HIV/AIDS will require a steadfast focus on remaining gaps and challenges as we chart the way forward".

22 Jun 2011

Pharmasset receives U.S. patent titled 'Nucleoside Phosphoramidate Prodrugs'

Pharmasset, Inc. announces that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. patent 7,964,580 titled "Nucleoside Phosphoramidate Prodrugs".

22 Jun 2011

WHO releases first-ever HIV guidelines for MSM and transgender people

The WHO on Tuesday released its first-ever HIV guidelines on men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people, which "urges governments to ensure gay men get equal access to HIV prevention and treatment services," the Associated Press reports.

22 Jun 2011

Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria can be improved, says researcher

Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria are simple, reliable and robust. But errors occur, through misuse or because they aren't designed for primitive circumstances. Researcher Philippe Gillet put them to the test and made a series of suggestions for improvement. It resulted in a PhD at the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp and Maastricht University.

22 Jun 2011

Scientists apply math model to HIV to discover targets for vaccines or drugs

Scientists at the Ragon Institute - a joint enterprise of Massachusetts General Hospital, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University formed in 2009 to bring together diverse disciplines to work on HIV - "using a powerful mathematical tool previously applied to the stock market have identified an Achilles heel in HIV that could be a prime target for AIDS vaccines or drugs," the Wall Street Journal reports.

22 Jun 2011