Influenza News and Research

Latest Influenza News and Research

Multiple, independent European blood centers to report on INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma

Cerus Corporation announced today that investigators from blood centers in Sweden, Belgium, France and Slovenia will present their experience with the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma during a leading international transfusion safety meeting, the XIIth International Haemovigilance Seminar taking place in Dubrovnik, Croatia from February 17 to 19.

18 Feb 2010

Effectiveness of influenza vaccines in older people: No clear conclusions

Evidence for the safety and efficacy of influenza vaccines in the over 65s is poor, despite the fact that vaccination has been recommended for the prevention of influenza in older people for the past 40 years. These are the conclusions of a new Cochrane Systematic Review.

17 Feb 2010

ITS secures £8.65M Series-A equity funding round extension to fund synthetic flu vaccine study

Immune Targeting Systems (ITS) Limited (“ITS”), one of the leading developers of synthetic vaccines for mutating viruses, today announced it had secured a Series-A equity funding round extension for £8.65m which brings the total Series A financing to £13.15m. The company’s key investors HealthCap (Sweden), London Technology Fund (UK), Novartis Venture Fund (US & Basel) and Truffle Capital (France) are all participating. The round will be kept open until mid-2010 for new potential investors to invest.

17 Feb 2010

Iowa State University researchers awarded 30 ARRA grants worth $16.38M

Iowa State University researchers have so far won 30 grants worth a total $16.38 million from federal agencies awarding money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

17 Feb 2010

NanoViricides signs research and development agreement with Dr. Eva Harris’s laboratory at UC Berkeley

NanoViricides, Inc. (the "Company"), reports that it has signed a research and development agreement with Dr. Eva Harris’s laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley).

17 Feb 2010

CMAJ study: Increased dosage of Tamiflu required in treating H1N1 influenza patients

An increased dosage of Tamiflu (oseltamivir) for patients with critical illness is unlikely to be required in the treatment of pandemic (H1N1) influenza, contrary to current international guidelines, found a new study http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/doi/10.1503/cmaj.092127 in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) www.cmaj.ca.

17 Feb 2010

Biota Holdings reports total revenue of $61.7M for half-year of 2009

Biota Holdings Limited today announced a half year net profit after tax of $33.5 million, (1H F09: $7.2m). Profit before tax was $41.4 million (1H F09: $10.1m) benefiting significantly from an increase in Relenza royalties.

16 Feb 2010

Sinovac Beijing expands production capacity with acquisition of buildings and land use rights in Changping

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (SVA), a leading China-based vaccine manufacturer, today announced the completion by its subsidiary, Sinovac Beijing, of the acquisition of buildings and land use rights. The total consideration for the purchase is approximately RMB120 million ($17.6 million), which will be financed from working capital. The initial payment of RMB56.5 million ($8.3 million) will be paid before February 20, 2010 and the balance of the purchase price will be paid in three installments within three years.

16 Feb 2010

WHO will meet to decide if H1N1 has peaked

The WHO will convene a meeting of its emergency committee later this month to assess whether H1N1 (swine flu) has peaked, Keiji Fukuda, the special adviser to the WHO's director general for pandemic influenza, said Thursday, Bloomberg reports.

15 Feb 2010

Rate of seasonal flu vaccination doubles national average at Johns Hopkins East Baltimore medical campus

A campaign that makes seasonal flu vaccinations for hospital staff free, convenient, ubiquitous and hard to ignore succeeds fairly well in moving care providers closer to a state of "herd" immunity and protecting patients from possible infection transmitted by health care workers, according to results of a survey at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

12 Feb 2010

IBM, VLSCI scientists to use Blue Gene supercomputer to study human disease

IBM today announced a Research collaboratory in Melbourne, Australia, where scientists from the Victorian Life Sciences Computational Initiative at the University of Melbourne and the IBM Research Computational Biology Center will use high performance computing – including IBM's Blue Gene supercomputer – to study human disease.

12 Feb 2010

Study: Hospitalizations for H1N1 differ from hospitalizations associated with typical flu

When compared to a typical flu, the H1N1 virus resulted in a higher proportion of patients requiring specialized hospital services - and affected younger people more - according to a new study released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

12 Feb 2010

Positive results from Shire's velaglucerase alfa Phase III study for Type 1 Gaucher disease

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today presented positive results from its first Phase III study (TKT 032) evaluating safety and efficacy of velaglucerase alfa, its investigational enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of Type 1 Gaucher disease. The data were presented in an oral presentation at the Lysosomal Disease Network (LDN) World Symposium in Miami, Florida.

12 Feb 2010

Fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 results announced by Quidel

Quidel Corporation, a leading provider of rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests, announced today financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2009.

12 Feb 2010

Emory-UGA IPIRC to host symposium on H1N1 virus

The Emory - University of Georgia Influenza Pathogenesis and Immunology Research Center will host a symposium April 18 - 20 at the Emory Conference Center featuring an international roster of speakers.

11 Feb 2010

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group subsidiary receives Chinese SFDA approval for Zanamivir

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, a leading pharmaceutical company specializing in the development, manufacturing, and marketing of branded generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals in China, today announced that one of its subsidiaries, Nanjing Simcere Dongyuan Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., has received new drug registration approval from the State Food and Drug Administration ("SFDA") to manufacture and sell Zanamivir, a neuraminidase inhibitor inhalant used in the prevention and treatment of Influenza A and Influenza B. Zanamivir is marketed globally by GlaxoSmithKline under the trade name Relenza.

11 Feb 2010

Survey shows one quarter of Ontario hospitals have no influenza pandemic plan

One quarter of Ontario hospitals surveyed in a Queen's University-led study do not have an influenza pandemic plan and few plans that do exist have been tested. In addition, key players were not involved in developing the plans, and funding for pandemic preparedness was inadequate.

11 Feb 2010

sanofi-aventis reports 2009 fourth-quarter and full-year net earnings

Commenting on the Group's 2009 performance, sanofi-aventis Chief Executive Officer Christopher A. Viehbacher said, "2009 was the first year of implementation of our new strategy. Major steps have already been achieved in strengthening our growth platforms and reinforcing our R&D pipeline while delivering a double-digit EPS(1) growth".

10 Feb 2010

New method may help assess impact and cost-effectiveness of flu vaccination campaigns

A new study (doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2010.01.002), published by Elsevier this month in Vaccine (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/vaccine) describes a new method that assesses the impact and cost-effectiveness of a range of vaccination options.

10 Feb 2010

Cerus enters into collaborative agreement with EFS for development of INTERCEPT Blood System

Cerus Corporation announced today that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with France's national transfusion service, the Etablissement Français du Sang (EFS), for the development of the company's INTERCEPT Blood System for red blood cells.

10 Feb 2010

Influenza News and Research

Latest Influenza News and Research

Multiple, independent European blood centers to report on INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma

Effectiveness of influenza vaccines in older people: No clear conclusions

ITS secures £8.65M Series-A equity funding round extension to fund synthetic flu vaccine study

Iowa State University researchers awarded 30 ARRA grants worth $16.38M

NanoViricides signs research and development agreement with Dr. Eva Harris’s laboratory at UC Berkeley

CMAJ study: Increased dosage of Tamiflu required in treating H1N1 influenza patients

Biota Holdings reports total revenue of $61.7M for half-year of 2009

Sinovac Beijing expands production capacity with acquisition of buildings and land use rights in Changping

WHO will meet to decide if H1N1 has peaked

Rate of seasonal flu vaccination doubles national average at Johns Hopkins East Baltimore medical campus

IBM, VLSCI scientists to use Blue Gene supercomputer to study human disease

Study: Hospitalizations for H1N1 differ from hospitalizations associated with typical flu

Positive results from Shire's velaglucerase alfa Phase III study for Type 1 Gaucher disease

Fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 results announced by Quidel

Emory-UGA IPIRC to host symposium on H1N1 virus

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group subsidiary receives Chinese SFDA approval for Zanamivir

Survey shows one quarter of Ontario hospitals have no influenza pandemic plan

sanofi-aventis reports 2009 fourth-quarter and full-year net earnings

New method may help assess impact and cost-effectiveness of flu vaccination campaigns

Cerus enters into collaborative agreement with EFS for development of INTERCEPT Blood System

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Influenza News and Research

Latest Influenza News and Research

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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