Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Ventilation mask leakage may contaminate hospital setting

New research shows that certain noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) masks may leak exhaled air up to a distance of 1 m from patients receiving treatments.

6 Oct 2009

Nano Mask retains AlvaMed for assistance in obtaining FDA approval of its anti-viral NanoMask

Nano Mask Inc today announced that it has retained AlvaMed LLC, an FDA consulting firm specializing in medical devices, to prepare the company's latest generation disposable, anti-viral NanoMask for FDA approval.

6 Oct 2009

Vivaldi receives US patent for live attenuated influenza vaccines

Vivaldi Biosciences Inc. (Vivaldi), a biotechnology company focused on development of vaccines for influenza, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued US Patent 7,588,768 covering live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIVs) with modifications to the viral NS1 gene, and methods for producing the vaccines in cell culture systems.

6 Oct 2009

New study to boost immune cells for pathogen resistance and vaccine efficacy in elderly

A new study from the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, New York, demonstrates that immune system cells important for both pathogen resistance and vaccine efficacy live longer in older animals but because of this longevity acquire functional defects. The work may provide new targets for boosting immune system function in older individuals.

6 Oct 2009

Emergency preparedness and business continuity planning to prevent and manage H1N1 virus

This fall the CDC estimates that upwards of 50 percent of Americans could come down with the H1N1 virus, killing as many as 1.2 million people. Additionally, there are estimates that many companies will experience between 30-50 percent absenteeism due to employee illness.

6 Oct 2009

Inviragen, SingVax merge their complementary vaccine pipelines

Inviragen and SingVax have merged their complementary vaccine pipelines and their international product development capabilities to create a company that is developing a wide range of vaccines for infectious diseases prevalent in emerging economies.

6 Oct 2009

Fresenius Medical Care to offer seasonal influenza and H1N1 flu vaccines

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts a more severe flu season this year, people with chronic health conditions are especially at risk and can develop a more severe illness from any influenza infection, including the H1N1 virus.

6 Oct 2009

Majority of Europeans not concerned about H1N1

Three quarters of European people surveyed between the 30th April and 6th May 2009 said they were either not at all concerned or only a little concerned about swine flu.

6 Oct 2009

New York health workers protest H1N1 vaccine mandate

The first doses of H1N1 vaccines are expected to be released this week and a controversy brews as health workers protest a flu vaccine mandate. CBS News reports that health care workers in New York's capital "vowed to fight an unprecedented order from state health officials: a requirement for every health care worker to get seasonal and H1N1 flu shots or face the possibility of being fired."

6 Oct 2009

Schering-Plough receives FDA recommendation approval for PEGINTRON

Schering-Plough Corp. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommended approval by a vote of six to four for PEGINTRON® (pegylated interferon alfa-2b) in the adjuvant treatment of patients with Stage III malignant melanoma.

6 Oct 2009

High mortality rates may play a role in the evolution of human body size

A new study suggests that high mortality rates in small-bodied people, commonly known as pygmies, may be part of the reason for their small stature. The study, by Jay Stock and Andrea Migliano, both of the University of Cambridge, helps unravel the mystery of how small-bodied people got that way.

6 Oct 2009

U.N. officials highlight need for vaccine assistance to poor countries

U.N. officials on Sunday said that the H1N1 (swine flu) virus had arrived in poorer countries, highlighting a growing need for financial assistance and H1N1 vaccines for such regions, SAPA/News24.com reports.

6 Oct 2009

Research reveals that 52% Americans are not worried about H1N1 virus and its impact

As the first recipients of the H1N1 vaccine are vaccinated, more than half of Americans surveyed (52 percent) do not believe the H1N1 virus, or Swine Flu, will have a major impact in the United States compared to 44 percent who believe it will, according to the results of a new Deloitte Center for Health Solutions survey.

6 Oct 2009

$40B needed to 'dramatically' reduce millions of child deaths annually, report says

Two million infants die within 24 hours of birth each year and almost nine million children died before the age of 5 in 2008, according to a report by Save the Children, which says it would take $40 billion annually to "dramatically" cut these numbers, Agence France-Presse reports (Mohiuddin, 10/5).

5 Oct 2009

AVI BioPharma receives $11.5M DTRA fund to develop AVI-7012 for treating Junin virus infection

AVI BioPharma, Inc. a developer of RNA-based drugs, announced today that it has received expanded contract funding of approximately $11.5 million from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA) Transformational Medical Technologies Initiative (TMTI) to support development of the Investigational New Drug (IND) data package for its candidate drug, AVI-7012, to treat Junin virus infection.

5 Oct 2009

Baxter launches HYLENEX recombinant for pediatric rehydration at the 2009 ACEP

Baxter International Inc. today announced the commercial launch of HYLENEX recombinant (hyaluronidase human injection) for use in pediatric rehydration at the 2009 American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) scientific assembly (Boston). HYLENEX, an enzyme, allows fluids to be administered under the skin (subcutaneously) rather than through a vein.

From Baxter International Inc. 5 Oct 2009

Majority of Americans believe they are well-protected from H1N1

A new Harris poll, commissioned by SCA Tissue North America’s Tork® brand, reveals that 74 percent of U.S. adults say it is unlikely they will contract H1N1 this year.

5 Oct 2009

Baptist Healthcare System deploys Mckesson's Horizon Enterprise Revenue Management solution

Kentucky-based Baptist Healthcare System plans to stay ahead of the information technology curve. When a switch was flipped on Aug. 15 at Baptist Hospital Northeast in La Grange, Ky., the health system became the first to simultaneously implement both the access and business management modules of McKesson’s Horizon Enterprise Revenue Management™ solution.

5 Oct 2009

Theraclone and Zenyaku Kogyo sign multi-year research and development agreement

Theraclone Sciences, Inc., a Seattle-based biotechnology company, and Zenyaku Kogyo Co., Ltd., a pharmaceutical company based in Tokyo, today announced that they have entered into a multi-year research and development agreement.

5 Oct 2009