Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Response Biomedical announces shareholder approval for $8 million private placement

Response Biomedical Corporation announced that at the Company's Special General Shareholders' Meeting held today in Vancouver, shareholders approved the private placement of an aggregate of 13,333,333 common shares, at a price of Cdn. $0.60 per Offered Share, to Caduceus Private Investments III, LP, OrbiMed Associates III, LP and Caduceus Asia Partners, LP for gross proceeds of approximately Cdn. $8 million.

28 Jul 2010

Merck signs non-exclusive license agreement with LabCorp for commercialization of genetic test

Merck announced a non-exclusive license agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings for the commercialization of a genetic test that may help predict the response of patients with Hepatitis C virus infection to peginterferon alpha-based therapy.

28 Jul 2010

Late preterm births risk infant respiratory illness: Study

Babies born between 34 weeks and 37 weeks gestation are much more likely to have respiratory illness compared to infants born at full term, and their risk of respiratory illness decreases with each additional week of gestation until 38 weeks, researchers report.

28 Jul 2010

DIATHERIX Laboratories opens rapid response diagnostic panels for STD, HSV

DIATHERIX Laboratories ,adds a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) panel and Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) panel to its line up of highly sensitive, rapid response diagnostic panels. The HSV panel identifies herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 and the STD panel identifies 10 sexually transmitted diseases simultaneously, many of which cannot be accurately identified by current testing methods. These STD organisms, if not appropriately treated, can cause diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhoeae, chlamydia, bacterial vaginosis, etc. and may lead to blindness, infertility or complications during pregnancy.

28 Jul 2010

'Quit Smoking' Habit Changer program more effective than other popular methods

Today findings from a recent Anderson Analytics market research study were released that examined the underlying reasons for success of common methods used to stop smoking versus a new online approach. This study compared participants that completed the 42-day "Quit Smoking" program by Habit Changer against participants who used nicotine-replacement therapies or other alternatives to quit or reduce intake of cigarettes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), roughly 9.2 million smokers attempt to quit annually.

27 Jul 2010

Life-saving interventions can save 11 million African women, children over next five years: Countdown report

In the next five years, 11 million African women and children could be saved by creating near-universal availability of key life-saving interventions, according to The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and the Countdown to 2015 Decade Report (2000-2010).

27 Jul 2010

ProtAffin signs manufacturing contract with CMC Biologics for COPD drug PA401

ProtAffin AG, a biotechnology company developing a novel class of biopharmaceutical products that act by targeting cell-surface glycan structures, today announced it has signed a manufacturing contract with CMC Biologics' Danish operations, located in Copenhagen, Denmark for manufacture of its lead product PA401 for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The contract will cover manufacture and supply of PA401 for preclinical development and early clinical development in COPD and related respiratory indications.

27 Jul 2010

Novartis launches new OTC children's liquid acetaminophen product

Novartis announces the introduction of Triaminic™ Fever Reducer Pain Reliever, the only branded over-the-counter children's liquid acetaminophen product currently available nationwide in the US. Triaminic® now offers parents a product that combines the pain relieving and fever-reducing power of acetaminophen with the brand that has been trusted by pediatricians and parents for more than 50 years.

27 Jul 2010

GenVec creates novel vectors for vaccine development

GenVec, Inc. announced that research regarding GenVec's efforts to create novel vectors for vaccines is appearing in Vol. 28, issue 35, pages 5691-5702 of Vaccine. The article, "Potent immune responses and in vitro pro-inflammatory cytokine suppression by a novel adenovirus vector based on rare human serotype 28," describes GenVec's efforts to identify and utilize novel adenovirus serotypes as vectors in vaccine development.

27 Jul 2010

Lack of dental insurance a problem for millions

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Lack of dental insurance is an "endemic problem" that affects millions of people, largely those without jobs, health coverage or solid incomes. "It began with a toothache. Tori Pence, 23, could feel the hole that had suddenly developed on her tooth, and she couldn't stand either hot or cold food.

27 Jul 2010

Quidel recommences shipments of QuickVue+ lateral flow diagnostic test for infectious mononucleosis

Quidel Corporation, a leading provider of rapid diagnostic testing solutions, announced today that it has begun taking orders for its QuickVue®+ lateral flow diagnostic test for infectious mononucleosis. Due to strong customer demand, the Company has restarted manufacturing its previous mononucleosis product with shipments to customers expected during the first week of August.

27 Jul 2010

Scientists discover mechanism of herpes virus cell entry machinery

The mechanism by which a herpes virus invades cells has remained a mystery to scientists, but now research from Tufts University and the University of Pennsylvania reveals the unusual structure of a key member of the protein complex that allows a herpes virus to invade cells.The new map details an essential piece of the herpes virus "cell-entry machinery," providing scientists with a new target for antiviral drugs.

27 Jul 2010

Anti-vaccination group declared unsafe

A Bangalow, NSW based group known as the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) had earlier maligned the nation’s immunization campaign calling vaccines unsafe on their website. The New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission had then issued a warning to them to include a disclaimer that the contents of the sites webpages should not be taken as medical advice. AVN failed to heed to the warnings and now the HCCC has issued a safety warning against the group.

26 Jul 2010

Onyx reports positive results from carfilzomib Phase 2b 003-A1 study in multiple myeloma

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced positive top-line results from the Phase 2b 003-A1 study of single-agent carfilzomib, a selective, next generation proteasome inhibitor, in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

26 Jul 2010

School program to help children continue normal educational activities during treatment

Treatment for cancer and other catastrophic disease can last months or years and often makes it impossible for young patients to keep up with their local school curriculum. Teachers in the St. Jude School Program Presented by Target help patients continue their normal educational activities while away from their local schools. They are also part of the health care team that provides opportunities to continue normal educational activities through homebound or hospital-bound educational services. In addition, the team provides school re-entry services to ease the transition back to the community school.

26 Jul 2010

Neu5Gc in drugs provokes strong immune response

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that a kind of sugar molecule common to chimpanzees, gorillas and other mammals but not found in humans provokes a strong immune response in some people, likely worsening conditions in which chronic inflammation is a major issue.

26 Jul 2010

AU Summit panel focuses on water, sanitation to meet MDG targets in Africa

African countries should focus on preventing diarrhea - the biggest killer of children in Africa - in order to achieve Millennium Development Goal targets, Yunia Musaazi, WaterAid's East Africa policy advisor, told delegates at the 15th African Union Summit, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports.

26 Jul 2010

Scientists study Legionella's reprogramming on cells for survival, propagation

When it infects the lungs, the Legionnaire's bacterium Legionella pneumophila causes acute pneumonia. The pathogen's modus operandi is particularly ingenious: it infiltrates deliberately into cells of the human immune system and injects a host of proteins which then interfere in the normal cellular processes. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund have now discovered how Legionella reprogrammes the cells to ensure its own survival and to propagate. They examined a protein used by the pathogen to divert the material transport within the cells for its own purposes.

26 Jul 2010

Advanced Life Sciences enters debt for equity exchange agreement with CEO

Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel drugs in the therapeutic areas of infection, oncology and respiratory diseases, today announced that the Company has entered into a debt for equity exchange agreement with its chairman and CEO Michael T. Flavin, Ph.D.

23 Jul 2010

New rules Thursday on appealing insurance claims, states take lead in health reform implementation

Kaiser Health News /The Washington Post obtained a summary of new rules to be released Thursday by the Obama administration that will make it easier for consumers to appeal the denials of their health insurance claims as the White House tries to "boost political support" for the new health law.

23 Jul 2010