Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

India emerging as model for improvement in developing countries

In this NDTV opinion piece, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reflects on his recent trip to India, writing, "During my recent visit, I had a chance to see the latest progress on things that matter a lot to us: on eradicating polio and curtailing the spread of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, for example."

21 Jun 2012

FDA grants Orphan Drug Designation to Medgenics’ INFRADURE Biopump

Medgenics, Inc., the developer of Biopump, a novel technology for the sustained production and delivery of therapeutic proteins in patients using their own tissue, today announced that its INFRADURE Biopump has received Orphan Drug Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD) for the treatment of hepatitis D.

21 Jun 2012

Zimbabwe launches week-long immunization campaign with funding from Japan

"Zimbabwe embarked on a massive immunization campaign against measles and polio on Monday, targeting about two million children under the age of five," VOA News reports.

20 Jun 2012

Researchers unlock structure of STING protein

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have unlocked the structure of a key protein that, when sensing certain viruses and bacteria, triggers the body's immediate immune response.

20 Jun 2012

NCOA spearheads new initiative to help protect older adults from influenza

The National Council on Aging announced today it is spearheading a new initiative to help protect older adults from influenza this upcoming flu season. The educational program, Flu + You, in collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur, aims to educate older adults and their caregivers about the seriousness of influenza, the importance of annual influenza immunization, and available vaccine options.

20 Jun 2012

New patent filed for VAC-3S, an immunotherapy for treating HIV infections

InnaVirVax, a biopharmaceutical company specialized in the research and development of therapeutic and diagnostic innovations focused on immune dysregulation, announced today that a new European patent application has been filed on VAC-3S, a “first-in-class” immunotherapy for the treatment of HIV infections.

19 Jun 2012

Militants ban polio vaccination in northwest Pakistan in response to U.S. drone strikes in region

"A Pakistani militant group threatened action on Saturday against anyone conducting polio vaccinations in the region where it is based, saying the health care drive was a cover for U.S. spies," Reuters reports, adding, "The group, based in North Waziristan and led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, said it had banned vaccinations for as long as U.S. drone aircraft continued to make missile strikes in Pakistan" (Mujtaba, 6/16).

19 Jun 2012

Single-dose vaccine for treatment of cocaine addiction

A single-dose vaccine capable of providing immunity against the effects of cocaine offers a novel and groundbreaking strategy for treating cocaine addiction is described in an article published Instant Online in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

19 Jun 2012

iBio expands iBioModulator portfolio with allowance of patent for anthrax vaccines

iBio, Inc. today announced that the US Patent Office has allowed patent application 11/706,576 entitled "Bacillus anthracis Antigens, Vaccine Compositions, and Related Methods."

19 Jun 2012

Vetter prepares new filling line for syringes at Ravensburg location

The demand for prefilled syringes is on the rise and Vetter is prepared. The company, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization is building a state-of-the-art, high-performance filling line for syringes at its Ravensburg Vetter South location.

19 Jun 2012

Wellcome Trust awards University of Maryland $4M to accelerate development of conjugate NTS vaccine

The University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) has received a $4 million Strategic Translation Award from the prestigious Wellcome Trust to support a collaboration with Bharat Biotech for clinical development of a new conjugate vaccine to prevent the potentially lethal infectious disease caused by invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella.

18 Jun 2012

CINJ commences enrollment in three-drug combination trial for breast cancer

Researchers at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) are enrolling patients for a clinical trial, which aims to evaluate a new drug for breast cancer that has spread (metastatic) in combination with two chemotherapy agents called doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide.

18 Jun 2012

Ambrx, Merck collaborate to develop and commercialize biotherapeutic drug conjugates

Ambrx today announced that the company has entered into a collaboration with Merck to design and develop rationally optimized biologic drug conjugates based on Ambrx's site-specific protein medicinal chemistry technology.

18 Jun 2012

Scientists discover master regulator gene needed for development of M cells

Scientists have found a master regulator gene needed for the development of M cells, a mysterious type of intestinal cell involved in initiating immune responses.

18 Jun 2012

Opinion pieces address Child Survival Call to Action

The governments of the United States, India, and Ethiopia, in collaboration with UNICEF, on Thursday launched the Child Survival Call to Action in Washington, D.C., during a two-day event that brings together world leaders, public health experts, child health advocates and others in an effort to reduce child mortality to 20 per 1,000 by 2035 worldwide, with the ultimate goal of ending preventable child deaths.

16 Jun 2012

Governments, private sector partners come together at Child Survival Call to Action in Washington

The two-day Child Survival Call to Action, "a conference hosted by the government in collaboration with Ethiopia, India and UNICEF to recognize and promote efforts to curtail child mortality," began in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports, noting that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and actor Ben Affleck, founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative, "were two of more than 80 governmental, civil society and business leaders slated to speak at the conference Thursday and Friday."

16 Jun 2012

Opinion pieces, blog posts address Child Survival Call to Action

The governments of the United States, India, and Ethiopia, in collaboration with UNICEF, today are scheduled to launch the Child Survival Call to Action in Washington, D.C., a two-day event that brings together world leaders, public health experts, child health advocates and others in an effort to reduce child mortality to 20 per 1,000 by 2035 worldwide, with the ultimate goal of ending preventable child deaths.

15 Jun 2012

NIH awards $9 million grant to study aging and immunity to infections

The Trudeau Institute today announced that faculty member Laura Haynes, Ph.D., was awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how aging impacts the immune system's response to influenza infection and vaccination.

15 Jun 2012

FDA approves GSK’s MenHibrix to treat meningococcal and Hib diseases

GlaxoSmithKline plc announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the vaccine MenHibrix [Meningococcal Groups C and Y and Haemophilus b Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine].

15 Jun 2012

FDA approves Menhibrix for vaccination against meningococcal and Hib diseases

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Menhibrix, a combination vaccine for infants and children ages 6 weeks through 18 months, for prevention of invasive disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroups C and Yand Haemophilus influenzae type b.

15 Jun 2012