Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

History of TB policy shows need for care, investment equity in developed, developing countries

In a 200th anniversary article for the New England Journal of Medicine, Salmaan Keshavjee of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Paul Farmer of Partners in Health "seek to elucidate the reasons for the anemic response to drug-resistant tuberculosis [TB] by examining the recent history of tuberculosis policy," they write.

7 Sep 2012

Sleep disruptions may be among the first signs of Alzheimer's

Sleep disruptions may be among the earliest indicators of Alzheimer's disease, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report Sept. 5 in Science Translational Medicine.

6 Sep 2012

Cholera vaccine offers herd immunity, study from Zanzibar shows

"Cholera vaccine gives indirect protection to unvaccinated people in communities where a substantial fraction of the population gets the vaccine," according to a study from the island of Zanzibar in East Africa, published in the Lancet on Tuesday, NPR's "Shots" blog reports.

6 Sep 2012

WHO releases dengue strategy report, sets goal of cutting related deaths in half by 2020

"Saying dengue virus infections and deaths have mushroomed in recent years, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently released a strategy report that sets a goal of cutting deaths in half and reducing cases by 25 percent over the next eight years," CIDRAP reports.

6 Sep 2012

Pakistan official says progress made in vaccinating thousands of children against polio in tribal area

"Pakistan Tuesday claimed progress in vaccinating thousands of children against polio in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan which had been inaccessible due to unrest for about three years," Agence France-Presse reports.

6 Sep 2012

ImmunoCellular completes enrollment in ICT-107 Phase II trial for glioblastoma

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. announced today that the company has completed enrollment for its Phase II randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, multi-center trial of its dendritic cell-based cancer vaccine ICT-107 for treatment of glioblastoma.

6 Sep 2012

People need to protect themselves against West Nile virus

As this year's threat from the West Nile virus continues, one infectious diseases expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham says a vaccine is not in our near future, so people need to protect themselves.

5 Sep 2012

VOA examines global polio eradication efforts

VOA News reports on global efforts to eradicate polio, writing, "Experts say with India now polio-free and the total number of cases at the lowest level ever, this is an opportunity to change history and eradicate the disease entirely."

5 Sep 2012

U.S. outbreaks of Dengue, West Nile demonstrate need for U.S investment in neglected diseases

The "growing public health problems" of West Nile and dengue viruses in the U.S. can "serve as opportunities to pull the U.S. squarely into the global fight against these mosquito-borne viruses," a Bloomberg View editorial states.

5 Sep 2012

NCI awards Soligenix $300,000 SBIR grant for orBec Phase 2 chronic GI GVHD trial

Soligenix, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today that the National Cancer Institute has awarded Soligenix a Small Business Innovation Research grant to support the conduct of a Phase 2 clinical trial designed to evaluate orBec (oral beclomethasone 17,21-dipropionate or BDP) as a treatment for the gastrointestinal manifestation of chronic Graft-versus-Host disease.

5 Sep 2012

ImmusanT commences Nexvax2 clinical trials for celiac disease in New Zealand, Australia and the U.S.

ImmusanT announced today that it has initiated clinical trials in New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. to evaluate Nexvax2, the first therapeutic vaccine for patients with celiac disease. Nexvax2 is designed to re-establish patients' tolerance to the toxic effects of gluten, a protein in wheat, barley and rye, and allow them to return to a normal diet.

5 Sep 2012

GE Healthcare introduces KUBio factory

GE Healthcare, the healthcare business of GE, today introduced KUBio, an innovative off-the-shelf, modular factory designed to save manufacturers of biopharmaceuticals both time and money.

4 Sep 2012

Health Net helps to increase awareness about importance of whooping cough vaccination

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of whooping cough cases in the United States could reach a 50-year high in 2012. The CDC's forecast is based on the fact that, as of July 2012, twice as many cases of whooping cough - or pertussis as it's referred to clinically - had been reported to the CDC thus far this year as compared to the same point in 2011.

1 Sep 2012

VLST, Pfizer enter in-licensing agreement for anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody

VLST Corporation, a Seattle-based biotechnology company focused on the development of therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, today announced an in-licensing agreement with Pfizer Inc. for an anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody.

31 Aug 2012

Study explains why some cancer vaccines are not as effective as hoped

A research report published in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology offers a possible explanation of why some cancer vaccines are not as effective as hoped, while at the same time identifies a new therapeutic strategy for treating autoimmune problems. In the report, scientists suggest that cancer, even in the very early stages, produces a negative immune response from dendritic cells, which prevent lymphocytes from working against the disease.

31 Aug 2012

Less than half of U.S. schools address pandemic preparedness in their school plan

Less than half of U.S. schools address pandemic preparedness in their school plan, and only 40 percent have updated their school plan since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

31 Aug 2012

Soligenix’s RiVax induces greater ricin neutralizing antibody levels in humans

Soligenix, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today the results of a Phase 1B clinical trial of an aluminum hydroxide (Alum) adjuvanted formulation of RiVax, designed to improve the immunogenicity of the vaccine.

31 Aug 2012

Researchers discover new immune response mechanism during infection

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered a new "first response" mechanism that the immune system uses to respond to infection. The findings challenge the current understanding of immunity and could lead to new strategies for boosting effectiveness of all vaccines. The study, conducted in mice, published online today in the journal Immunity.

31 Aug 2012

India's contribution to global health R&D needs domestic, international support

As the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, and China -- invest more in innovations in health technologies and other areas, "many are looking to these countries to correct the global health research and development (R&D) imbalance that leaves the poor without needed products such as an improved tuberculosis (TB) vaccine or tests to help diagnose patients in remote rural settings," David de Ferranti, president of Results for Development Institute (R4D), writes in the Huffington Post Blog.

30 Aug 2012

UTMB to offer HPV vaccination against cervical cancer

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston's Dr. Abbey Berenson has been awarded a $1.2 million grant to start a program that will provide a vaccination against cervical cancer to many hundreds of low-income women who receive health care services at UTMB.

30 Aug 2012