Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

Uganda: First vaccination for GMZ2 malaria vaccine trial

Today, the EDCTP-funded GMZ2 consortium starts volunteer enrolment for the phase IIb clinical trial of the candidate malaria vaccine GMZ2 in Uganda. This is the third trial site to initiate volunteer recruitment for this multi-country study. Vaccination is already underway at trial sites in Gabon (November 2010) and Burkina Faso (April 2011). The Uganda site is in the peri-urban area of Iganga/Mayuge, at the Iganga Hospital. Akin to most areas in Uganda, malaria is one of the major health problems in this district. A team from Makerere University (Kampala) is conducting the trial.

9 May 2011

Novavax first quarter net loss decreases to $7.5 million

Novavax, Inc. today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011.

9 May 2011

KAEL-GemVax wins European telomerase patent challenge

KAEL-GemVax, a leading oncology biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the recent ruling by the European Patent Office dismissing appeals relating to Geron Corporation's European telomerase patent confirms KAEL-GemVax's patent position on lead product GV-1001, an anti-telomerase vaccine, currently completing the TeloVac Phase III trial for pancreatic cancer.

9 May 2011

New GARDASIL data against Human Papillomavirus presented at EUROGIN conference

A real-world study evaluating the safety of GARDASIL among 189,629 females in California found no serious adverse events related to vaccination, no safety signals for any health event resulting in an emergency room visit or hospitalization and no safety signals associated with pre-specified autoimmune conditions or pregnancy outcomes.

9 May 2011

Inovio reports VGX-3100 Phase I study data in cervical dysplasia and cancer

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, has reported data demonstrating long-term durability of immune responses induced by VGX-3100, its investigational DNA vaccine for treating cervical dysplasia and cancer caused by human papillomavirus.

9 May 2011

Adalimumab remains in newborn's bloodstream for at least three months

Adalimumab, a drug often prescribed for women with Crohn's disease, actively crosses the placenta during the final trimester of pregnancy and remains in a newborn's bloodstream for at least three months, researchers at the University of California San Francisco have found.

9 May 2011

Current Opinion in Immunology journal publishes Inovio's article on DNA vaccines

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that the prestigious journal Current Opinion in Immunology has published an article in its current issue entitled, "Electroporation Delivery of DNA Vaccines: Prospects for Success."

7 May 2011

U.N. officials recognize International Day of the Midwife

U.N. officials, recognizing the International Day of the Midwife on Thursday, lauded the efforts of midwives worldwide and "called for greater investment to ensure their life-saving services are available to all who need them around the world," the U.N. News Centre reports.

7 May 2011

Latest research on HIV immunity can help develop vaccine

Latest insights into immunity to HIV could help to develop a vaccine to build antibodies' defences against the disease, a University of Melbourne, Australia study has found.

7 May 2011

AGA's cutting-edge research on GI disorders to be presented at DDW 2011

Clinicians, researchers and scientists from around the world will gather for Digestive Disease Week- 2011, the largest and most prestigious gastroenterology meeting, from May 7-10, 2011, at McCormick Place, Chicago, IL.

7 May 2011

Researchers find temperature-sensing protein in immune cells

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have found a temperature-sensing protein within immune cells that, when tripped, allows calcium to pour in and activate an immune response.

7 May 2011

Recent releases in Global Health

"In 25 countries across Asia, from Kazakhstan to Papua New Guinea, we work to support the success of emerging economies and help address the challenges of hunger and poverty. We do this not just by extending a helping hand, but sharing the hope of the American Dream to people around the world - the mother who eats less so her children can eat more, the girl who risks her life to get an education, the entrepreneur who beats the odds to create a small business that employs his neighbors," Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator, writes in a post on the agency's "Impact blog".

7 May 2011

ImmunoCellular reports updated ICT-107 Phase I trial data in glioblastoma multiforme

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd., a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immune-based cancer therapies, today announced updated long-term data from a Phase I clinical trial of ICT-107, the Company's lead cancer vaccine candidate for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer.

6 May 2011

Study offers means of activating T cells to fight disease without antigenic triggers

For much of the time our T cells-the white blood cells that act as the police of the immune system-are in what immunologists call a "quiescent state," a sort of standby mode. For years, scientists have wondered if quiescence occurred by default or whether T cells need to work at remaining silent.

6 May 2011

Springer author earns ESCMID recognition for work in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases

Dr. Rino Rappuoli has been chosen to receive the 2011 ESCMID Award for Excellence on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

6 May 2011

Opinions: U.S. support for maternal, child health; infection control at borders; the AMFm model; International Affairs budget; organizations supporting women

When Mother's Day is recognized on Sunday, "let's honor motherhood itself by giving all moms the gift they want most - the chance to deliver and raise healthy children," former Sens. Bill Frist and Jon Corzine, who serve as co-chairs of the Save the Children's Newborn and Child Survival Campaign, write in The Hill's "Congress Blog."

6 May 2011

Ben-Gurion U. researcher receives Gates Foundation grant to develop fast, low-cost malaria device

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researcher Alberto Bilenca, Ph.D., has been awarded a prestigious grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the a fast, low-cost device to accuracy diagnose malaria without the need for blood collection in field settings.

6 May 2011

Neutralizing antibodies generated by immunization associated with protection against SIV infection

Using a monkey model of AIDS, scientists have identified a vaccine-generated immune-system response that correlates with protection against infection by the monkey version of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). The researchers found that neutralizing antibodies generated by immunization were associated with protection against SIV infection.

6 May 2011

Scripps Research receives CIRM grant for new research in stem cell biology and disease origins

Stem cells have huge potential in medicine because they have the ability to change or differentiate into many different cell types potentially providing a source of cells to replace those that have been permanently lost by a patient.

6 May 2011

FDA approves Novartis' Afinitor tablets for pancreatic NET treatment

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration approved Afinitor tablets for the treatment of progressive neuroendocrine tumors of pancreatic origin in patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic disease.

6 May 2011