Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

EC grants marketing authorization for Baxter's VEPACEL to treat influenza A

Baxter International Inc. announced today that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for VEPACEL in all European Union (EU) Member States, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

From Baxter International Inc. 2 Mar 2012

Quadrivalent flu vaccine that fights against four strains of Influenza approved

The FluMist Quadrivalent vaccine from AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit protects against two strains of influenza A and two strains of influenza B, and is approved for people ages 2 to 49. Similar to the previously approved FluMist, the new vaccine is a nasal spray that delivers weakened strains of the virus. The vaccine, FluMist Quadrivalent (MedImmune), will be available for the 2013-2014 flu season.

2 Mar 2012

Cities, states balancing health costs amid continuing economic problems

Some 29 states are dealing with a total budget deficit of $47 billion for fiscal 2013, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Unlike the federal government, nearly all states must balance their budgets every year. Though tax revenues are slowly recovering after bottoming out in 2010, they're still not back to pre-recession levels.

2 Mar 2012

New HS44 molecule inhibits lung metastasis

One type of white blood cell, the Natural Killer T Cells, fights against infections and tumours by freeing cytokine proteins which activate the body's immune response and destroy infected or malignant cells. To do so they must receive an activation signal. Specific receptors located on their surface act as switches: they activate the lymphocyte in presence of an antigen, a molecule which triggers alarm signals.

2 Mar 2012

U.S. panel may re-evaluate bird flu research after scientists present new data about risks to humans

Speaking at the American Society for Microbiology's (ASM) Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research meeting in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Ron Fouchier, the leader of the team at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands that genetically altered the H5N1 bird flu virus, making it transmissible among ferrets and "touching off public fears of a pandemic, said that the virus he created was neither as contagious nor as dangerous as people had been led to believe, prompting the United States government to ask that the experiments be re-evaluated by a government advisory panel that recommended in December that certain details of the work be kept secret and not published," the New York Times reports.

1 Mar 2012

CD4 T cells can directly kill HIV-infected cells

A subpopulation of the immune cells targeted by HIV may play an important role in controlling viral loads after initial infection, potentially helping to determine how quickly infection will progress. In the February 29 issue of Science Translational Medicine, a team of researchers from the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT and Harvard describe finding a population of HIV-specific CD4 T cells - cells traditionally thought to direct and support activities of other immune cells - that can directly kill HIV-infected cells.

1 Mar 2012

FDA approves MedImmune's FluMist Quadrivalent vaccine

MedImmune today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved FluMist Quadrivalent (Influenza Vaccine Live, Intranasal) for prevention of influenza.

29 Feb 2012

iBio receives U.S. patent for fusion-protein vaccine technology

iBio, Inc. today announced issuance of a US patent covering the use of iBio's proprietary fusion-protein technology in combination with influenza virus antigens for vaccine product applications.

29 Feb 2012

U.N. helps kick off polio immunization campaigns in Angola, Central African Republic

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday "launched a national polio vaccination campaign in Angola, where the crippling disease has returned despite being eradicated in 2001, and praised the government for its leadership on the issue," the U.N. News Centre reports.

29 Feb 2012

HPV vaccine recommended for boys

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended boys - not just girls - be vaccinated against HPV, though questions about its cost-effectiveness remain.

29 Feb 2012

Breakthrough discovery about Rhizobium radiobacter

A new discovery involving two Simon Fraser University scientists could lead to a little known and benign bacterium becoming a vital new tool in the development of a vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus.

29 Feb 2012

TMED7 protein can shut down immune system after infection has been cleared

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have discovered a new 'off switch' in our immune response which could be boosted in diseases caused by over-activation of our immune system, or blocked to improve vaccines.

29 Feb 2012

IDWeek 2012 to take place October 17-21 in San Diego

Abstracts are now being accepted for IDWeek 2012, the first-ever combined meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS).

29 Feb 2012

HPV vaccine now recommended for boys: American Academy of Pediatrics

Pediatricians in the U.S. say it's now time for boys, as well as girls, to be vaccinated against human papillomavirus or HPV. The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its guidance to parents and doctors in favor of routine immunization for boys against the virus. Earlier the AAP had said it was OK to vaccinate boys against the HPV, but it only became part of the pediatricians' official schedule of recommended vaccines this month.

28 Feb 2012

USPTO issues two patents on 'Novel Shigella protein antigens and methods' to IVI

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), an international organization based in Seoul devoted to research on the development and introduction of vaccines for the developing world, reached a milestone in its aim to prevent and control dysentery (also commonly called shigellosis or bloody diarrhea), a deadly disease that affects several million people worldwide.

27 Feb 2012

WHO removes India from list of countries with endemic Polio

India is nearly free of deadly paralyzing viral infection polio. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad says the WHO removed India from the list Saturday after the country passed one year without registering any new cases. This means only three countries with endemic polio — Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. India must pass another two years without new cases to be declared polio-free.

27 Feb 2012

Flu season starts late but may be just as virulent: CDC

Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the epidemiology prevention branch at the influenza division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said for the third consecutive week this season the percent of respiratory specimen testing positive for flu surpassed 10 percent, which is generally a marker to indicate the flu season has begun. “This is the latest start to a flu season in the past 29 years,” said Dr. Bresee.

27 Feb 2012

Cross-protective vaccines will make a bout with influenza less severe

An emerging class of long-lasting flu vaccines could do more than just save people the trouble of an annual flu shot.

27 Feb 2012

Collaborative study of physical activity patterns, eating habits in colorectal cancer patients

The five hospitals of Meridian Health, a System Partner of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), have joined forces with CINJ in offering a clinical research study that examines physical activity patterns and eating habits in colorectal cancer patients who have recently finished treatment.

27 Feb 2012

Scripps Florida receives NIH grant to create novel HIV inhibitors

A Scripps Florida team has been awarded nearly $1.5 million by the National Institutes of Health to identify and develop novel potent inhibitors of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS.

27 Feb 2012