Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

Meningitis B vaccine on the horizon

Meningitis B is particularly dangerous for children, leading to 120 deaths in the UK every year. There are around 1,200 new cases of meningitis B every year. Around 1 in 10 victims die and another 15 per cent are left with permanent disabilities - often limbs have to be amputated due to blood poisoning. The infection causes inflammation of the membranes surrounding the spinal cord and brain. Symptoms include a severe headache, vomiting, a rash, sensitivity to light and a stiff neck.

8 May 2012

Children's vaccine for pneumococcal disease does not offer full protection

The vaccine given to children to immunise against serious pneumococcal disease does not offer full protection, reveals research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, finding that the number of cases diagnosed has tripled over the past 50 years.

7 May 2012

School-based health centers highly effective in delivering comprehensive care

New research from the University of Colorado School of Medicine shows that school-based health centers are highly effective in delivering comprehensive care, especially vaccines to adolescents.

7 May 2012

Intellect Neurosciences announces two new programs in Alzheimer's disease development pipeline

Intellect Neurosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of disease-modifying therapeutic agents for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases, today announced two new programs in its Alzheimer's disease development pipeline. The new programs are based on two antibodies that target early neurotoxic forms of tau protein, which Intellect intends to develop for therapeutic and diagnostic uses.

7 May 2012

Fluidigm offers unrestricted sales of digital PCR and non-invasive prenatal diagnostics

Fluidigm Corporation today announced that it can now offer unrestricted sales of its digital PCR and other advanced technology to customers interested in pursuing research and product development into the prenatal health and non-invasive prenatal diagnostics fields, as well as other fields.

7 May 2012

NovaDigm reports positive data from Phase 1 NDV-3 vaccine program

NovaDigm Therapeutics, a company developing innovative vaccines for fungal and bacterial infections, today announced the presentation of positive data for its NDV-3 vaccine program in a second Phase 1 study.

7 May 2012

Data from Idera IMO-8400 preclinical studies for SLE and psoriasis presented at AAI meeting

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced data from preclinical studies of IMO-8400, demonstrating a novel mechanism of action that may be applicable to the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and psoriasis. IMO-8400 is an inhibitor of specific Toll-like receptors (TLRs).

7 May 2012

Accentia, Johns Hopkins co-host meeting with prospective clinical trial investigators at AAN meeting

Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the Company and leading physicians from Johns Hopkins University co-hosted a meeting with prospective clinical trial investigators at the recent American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

7 May 2012

NFID to host 15th Annual Conference on Vaccine Research from May 7–9

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases will host the 15th Annual Conference on Vaccine Research, May 7–9, 2012, at the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD.

5 May 2012

American voters say U.S. support for WHO important, poll shows

"Nine in 10 U.S. voters say it's important for the United States to support the global health efforts of the U.N.'s World Health Organization, according to a United Nations Foundation/Better World Campaign poll released Thursday," The Hill's "Global Affairs" blog reports.

5 May 2012

Study reveals steepest decline in HPV vaccine completion among girls

The proportion of insured girls and young women completing the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among those who initiated the series has dropped significantly - as much as 63 percent - since the vaccine was approved in 2006, according to new research from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston.

5 May 2012

Guardian examines launch of GAVI-sponsored immunization campaign in Ghana

Ghana's recent "rollout of the rotavirus vaccine and, to much acclaim, a new vaccine against pneumococcal infections, makes it the first country in sub-Saharan African to introduce two new vaccines at the same time," the Guardian reports.

5 May 2012

Highlights: D.C. may have funds for illegal immigrant health care; Fla. passed up $200M because it comes from health law; Texas to build 2 new med schools

D.C. Council member David A. Catania has found an additional $20 million in the budget to continue offering free health insurance to 19,000 undocumented immigrants, reversing a proposal by Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) that could have restricted them from receiving emergency care. Catania (I-At Large) … has made full funding of the Alliance Insurance program a chief priority as the council prepares for final budget deliberations.

5 May 2012

Center for the Promotion of Maternal Health and Infant Development opens

On May 3, 2012, Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and the UC San Diego School of Medicine launched the Center for the Promotion of Maternal Health and Infant Development.

5 May 2012

New light on many biological differences between individual breast cancers

New findings presented at Europe's leading breast cancer translational research conference this year shed new light on the many biological differences between individual breast cancers.

4 May 2012

One of the controversial avian flu studies published in full finally

After endless debates and controversies on whether two studies that demonstrated how bird flu, also known as avian H5N1 influenza, or avian flu, should be published, one of them has appeared in the latest issue of the journal Nature in its entirety. The two studies aimed for publication in journals Nature and Science show how the bird flu virus could become transmissible from mammal-to-mammal; as humans are mammals, the same would apply to humans.

4 May 2012

Reuters profiles GAVI Alliance CEO Seth Berkley

Reuters profiles GAVI Alliance CEO Seth Berkley, recounting his childhood and early career, providing a brief history of GAVI since its inception in 2000, and discussing Berkley's goals and vision for the alliance.

4 May 2012

Chagas disease especially harmful for expectant mothers; New, better treatments needed

"Chagas disease -- a parasitic infection transmitted through an insect commonly known as the 'kissing bug' -- is one of the most common infections among pregnant women in the Western Hemisphere," Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and director of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, writes in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

4 May 2012

GenVec receives NIAID’s Phase I SBIR grant to support RSV vaccine program

GenVec, Inc. announced today that it has received a Phase I Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support the Company's Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine program.

4 May 2012