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Creative approach can tackle bacterial infections in patients with cystic fibrosis

An over-the-counter drug used to treat diarrhea combined with minocycline, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, could one day change the lives of those living with cystic fibrosis.

25 Apr 2011

Anacor's AN2728 and GSK '052 new data to be presented at upcoming meetings

Anacor Pharmaceuticals announced today that it will present data on two of its compounds at the following conferences: “Safety and efficacy of AN2728 ointment in a phase 2b dose-ranging bilateral study of mild-to-moderate plaque psoriasis”.

25 Apr 2011

Recent releases in Global Health

When health ministers gather for the World Health Assembly in May they will try to come up with a solution to "a dilemma that has dogged decision-makers for decades - whether and when to destroy the last remaining stocks of the smallpox virus," David Heymann and Emma Ross, both of the Global Health Security Centre at Chatham House, write in an article in The World Today.

25 Apr 2011

Sanofi Pasteur receives FDA approval for Menactra to prevent meningococcal disease

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the use of Menactra in children as young as 9 months for the prevention of invasive meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroups A, C, Y and W-135. Menactra already is approved for use in people ages 2 through 55 years.

24 Apr 2011

Congressman Holt congratulates Vaxinnate for BARDA award to develop next generation of flu vaccines

U.S. Congressman Rush Holt (R-12th) visited the headquarters of VaxInnate Corporation today, where he congratulated the biotechnology company on having received a U.S. government contract to fund development of the next generation of flu vaccines and called for more technology investments to improve the health of all Americans.

22 Apr 2011

Idera announces delay in commencement of IMO-2125 Phase 2 clinical trial in treatment-naive HCV patients

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has chosen to delay initiating its planned Phase 2 clinical trial of IMO-2125 based on preliminary data from a 26-week nonclinical toxicology study of IMO-2125 in rodents. The Phase 2 clinical trial involves the evaluation of IMO-2125 plus ribavirin in treatment-naïve, genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients.

22 Apr 2011

UNITAID has raised $2B through airline tax since 2006, could be model for G20 development funding, UNITAID chair says

UNITAID, an international drug financing program established to help fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries, has raised about $2 billion since 2006 through taxes on airline tickets in 15 countries, Philippe Douste-Blazy, chair of the UNITAID executive board, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports. According to Douste-Blazy, UNITAID's experience could provide a model for G20 development funding efforts.

22 Apr 2011

Sleeping sickness parasites alter form to survive and spread

Fresh insight into the survival strategy of the parasite that causes sleeping sickness could help inform new treatments for the disease.

22 Apr 2011

New study: Children born with HIV are now faring well into adolescence, adulthood

Once facing an almost certain death sentence, most children born with HIV are now faring well into adolescence and adulthood, according to a newly published study co-authored by Tulane infectious diseases expert Dr. Russell Van Dyke. The study was published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

22 Apr 2011

Researchers discover new compound to fight against shingles

Researchers at the University of Georgia and Yale University have discovered a compound with the potential to be more effective than existing agents in treating the very painful blisters known as shingles-a condition that affects up to 30 percent of Americans, mostly elderly, and for which no specific treatment exists.

22 Apr 2011

Also in global health news: Nuclear accidents; measles outbreak in Europe; funding shortfall in Zimbabwe; drinking water in Pakistan; agricultural development in S. Asia

The world must prepare for more major nuclear accidents, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday at a Kiev conference marking the explosion of a reactor at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear reactor 25 years ago, the Associated Press reports.

22 Apr 2011

Scientists discover new mechanism behind Salmonella invasion into gut cells

Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany have discovered a new, hitherto unknown mechanism of Salmonella invasion into gut cells: In this entry mode, the bacteria exploit the muscle power of cells to be pulled into the host cell cytoplasm.

22 Apr 2011

Opinions: Fight against malaria; small, medium businesses in developing countries; BP oil spill health implications

Despite progress over the past decade in the global fight against malaria, significant challenges remain, Awa Marie Coll-Seck, executive director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership and former health minister of Senegal, writes in a Modern Ghana opinion piece ahead of World Malaria Day.

22 Apr 2011

CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line aims to educate women about meningitis

The California Teratogen Information Service Pregnancy Health Information Line, a state-wide non-profit organization based at the University of California, San Diego with affiliates across North America, will join in the effort to raise awareness of meningitis prevention by helping to launch a new study that will assess safety of the meningitis vaccine in pregnancy.

22 Apr 2011

GM-SCF therapy can reduce flu symptoms and prevent death

New research on mice has shown that pulmonary administration of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor significantly reduces flu symptoms and prevents death after a lethal dose influenza virus.

22 Apr 2011

EPO doping drug can reduce cerebral malaria related deaths

Almost 3.3 billion people, half of the world's population, risk being infected with malaria. Despite having effective means against malaria, the WHO reports 250 million cases of malaria each year and more than 700,000 related deaths. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have now discovered that EPO, the doping drug known from professional cycling, can significantly reduce cerebral malaria related deaths.

22 Apr 2011

Discovery of cancer drugs to kill malaria parasite could open up new strategies for treatment

Ahead of World Malaria Day (25 April), EU-funded researchers have discovered that drugs originally designed to inhibit the growth of cancer cells can also kill the parasite that causes malaria. They believe this discovery could open up a new strategy for combating this deadly disease, which, according to World Health Organisation statistics, infected around 225 million and killed nearly 800 000 people worldwide in 2009.

21 Apr 2011

WSU researcher develops potential vaccine for Chlamydia

A Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher has developed a potential first ever vaccine for Chlamydia, the world's most prevalent sexually transmitted disease and the leading cause of new cases of blindness.

21 Apr 2011

FDA warns four firms to stop making unproven MRSA prevention claims

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued four warning letters to companies that manufacture and market over-the-counter (OTC) drug products, including hand sanitizers, that claim to prevent infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA).

21 Apr 2011

Rate of antiretroviral virological failure higher among children living with HIV/AIDS than adults, study finds

One in eight children living with HIV/AIDS "experiences triple-class virological failure - meaning the virus becomes resistant to multiple drugs - within five years of starting antiretroviral treatment," according to a study published Wednesday in the Lancet, HealthDay News/MSN reports. The "failure rate is higher than in adults and highlights the challenge of maintaining viral load suppression in young patients who begin antiretroviral therapy so early in life, the researchers said," according to the news service (Preidt, 4/19).

21 Apr 2011

Disease/Infection News

Creative approach can tackle bacterial infections in patients with cystic fibrosis

Anacor's AN2728 and GSK '052 new data to be presented at upcoming meetings

Recent releases in Global Health

Sanofi Pasteur receives FDA approval for Menactra to prevent meningococcal disease

Congressman Holt congratulates Vaxinnate for BARDA award to develop next generation of flu vaccines

Idera announces delay in commencement of IMO-2125 Phase 2 clinical trial in treatment-naive HCV patients

UNITAID has raised $2B through airline tax since 2006, could be model for G20 development funding, UNITAID chair says

Sleeping sickness parasites alter form to survive and spread

New study: Children born with HIV are now faring well into adolescence, adulthood

Researchers discover new compound to fight against shingles

Also in global health news: Nuclear accidents; measles outbreak in Europe; funding shortfall in Zimbabwe; drinking water in Pakistan; agricultural development in S. Asia

Scientists discover new mechanism behind Salmonella invasion into gut cells

Opinions: Fight against malaria; small, medium businesses in developing countries; BP oil spill health implications

CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line aims to educate women about meningitis

GM-SCF therapy can reduce flu symptoms and prevent death

EPO doping drug can reduce cerebral malaria related deaths

Discovery of cancer drugs to kill malaria parasite could open up new strategies for treatment

WSU researcher develops potential vaccine for Chlamydia

FDA warns four firms to stop making unproven MRSA prevention claims

Rate of antiretroviral virological failure higher among children living with HIV/AIDS than adults, study finds

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

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