Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

GenVec 2011 net loss decreases to $7.4 million

Today GenVec, Inc. announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2011. For the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company reported a net loss of $7.4 million, or $0.58 per share, compared with a net loss of $12.3 million, or $0.97 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2010.

15 Mar 2012

Scientists discover direct biomarker of Chikungunya fever

Recent breakthroughs in Chikungunya research spearheaded by scientists at A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) have made great strides in the battle against the infectious disease.

15 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: Sandra fluke on slurs; Shifting the cost of uncompensated care

(D)espite the misinformation being spread, the regulation under discussion has absolutely nothing to do with government funding: It is all about the insurance policies provided by private employers and universities that are financed by individual workers, students and their families -- not taxpayers.

14 Mar 2012

Haitian cholera vaccination pilot project temporarily postponed, NPR reports

"A long-planned project to find out whether vaccination is feasible in the midst of an ongoing cholera outbreak in Haiti has been stymied -- temporarily, its proponents insist --" after "a Port-au-Prince radio station reported that the impending vaccination effort was actually a 'medical experiment on the Haitian people' -- a potentially incendiary charge," NPR's "Morning Edition" reports.

14 Mar 2012

Antibody-based therapies successfully protect monkeys from deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses

Army scientists have demonstrated, for the first time, that antibody-based therapies can successfully protect monkeys from the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses. In addition, the animals were fully protected even when treatment was administered two days post-infection, an accomplishment unmatched by any experimental therapy for these viruses to date.

14 Mar 2012

Targeted provider education of HPV vaccination benefits for males critical for achieving vaccination goals

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that a health care provider's attitude toward male human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination may influence the implementation of new guidelines. They believe targeted provider education on the benefits of HPV vaccination for male patients, specifically the association of HPV with certain cancers in men, may be important for achieving vaccination goals.

14 Mar 2012

Inovio achieves strong T cell immune responses in PENNVAX-B Phase I HIV study

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has achieved strong T cell immune responses in a Phase I clinical study of PENNVAX-B, its product for the treatment of the HIV subtype prevalent in North America and Europe, in HIV-positive subjects.

13 Mar 2012

Trudeau Institute creates TICRO to expand the scope of biomedical research

The Trudeau Institute announced today that it has expanded the scope of its biomedical research by creating a contract research organization (CRO), the Trudeau Institute Contract Research Organization.

13 Mar 2012

Pfizer’s Prevnar 13 Phase 3 study for pneumococcal disease meets all study endpoints

Pfizer Inc. announced today that data from a Phase 3 study of Prevnar 13 (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine [Diphtheria CRM197 Protein]) met all study endpoints, showing immunogenicity and establishing a safety profile in children and adolescents aged 5 through 17 years.

12 Mar 2012

OPKO Health, Scripps Research partner to commercialize Parkinson's disease compound, SR 3306

The Scripps Research Institute and OPKO Health, Inc. today announced a global agreement for the development and commercialization of SR 3306, a novel compound discovered by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute that blocks the destruction of brains cells in animal models of Parkinson's disease.

12 Mar 2012

Salk scientists' discovery explains how a class of chemotherapy drugs works

The well-being of living cells requires specialized squads of proteins that maintain order. Degraders chew up worn-out proteins, recyclers wrap up damaged organelles, and-most importantly-DNA repair crews restitch anything that resembles a broken chromosome. If repair is impossible, the crew foreman calls in executioners to annihilate a cell. As unsavory as this last bunch sounds, failure to summon them is one aspect of what makes a cancer cell a cancer cell.

12 Mar 2012

Top-line results from Inviragen's INV21 Phase 1 trial on HFMD

Inviragen today reported top-line results of a placebo-controlled, randomized Phase 1 trial of INV21, the Company's highly purified virus particle vaccine against Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) caused by enterovirus 71.

12 Mar 2012

Policy makers, scientists collaborate to create new science-policy research agenda

One only has to be reminded of the BSE crisis and the MMR vaccine scare to recognise the importance of having policy informed by the best available science. Now, a collaboration of over fifty academics and policy makers from around the world have come together to agree a new research agenda on the role of science in public policy.

12 Mar 2012

New insight into causes of childhood pneumonia

The scientific journal Clinical Infectious Diseases has released its March Special Supplement focusing entirely on the research design of and pilot data from the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) Project, which seeks to identify the causes of pneumonia among the world's most vulnerable populations.

12 Mar 2012

ICAP releases results from HPTN 064 Women's HIV Seroincidence Study

ICAP at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health is part of a network of research organizations that jointly released results, finding that HIV infection rates of black women living in certain parts of the U.S. are higher than previously estimated for black adolescent and women living in the U.S.

12 Mar 2012

Emergent BioSolutions fourth quarter total revenues increase to $107.9M

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced today its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011.

9 Mar 2012

IDRI receives $1 million RHSC grant to eliminate leprosy

Leprosy, otherwise referred to as Hansen's Disease, is one of the most ancient diseases known to humans. Although the World Health Organization declared leprosy to be under control in many previously endemic countries, most experts agree that current approaches to treating the disease are not sufficient to eliminate the disease as a public health problem. Currently, 1.6 billion people are considered at risk of exposure to leprosy, while over 800 new cases occur every day.

9 Mar 2012

Maxygen reports net loss of $2.2 million for fourth quarter 2011

Maxygen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, today announced financial and business results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2011.

9 Mar 2012

PharmAthene revenue increases to $24.3M for year ended December 31, 2011

PharmAthene, Inc., a biodefense company developing medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats, today reported its financial and operational results for the year ended December 31, 2011.

9 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: Wilensky on bipartisan Medicare reform; Mass. 2006 health law and 2012 GOP politics; Reinstating advanced care planning

The Super Tuesday exit polls yielded a mountain of data in 10 states, but the most telling single statistic may have been in Massachusetts, which Mitt Romney won in a largely uncontested rout. Yet believe it or not, he still lost on health care. The exit poll asked voters their opinion of the "Massachusetts Health Care Law," with the options of Did Not Go Far Enough, About Right and Went Too Far. Remarkably, 51% said the bill went too far, while only 37% said it was about right, and 6% said not far enough.

9 Mar 2012