Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

ARTES acquires ANAVAX virus-like particle technology from Select Vaccines

ARTES Biotechnology announces today the acquirement of the ANAVAX virus-like particle (VLP) technology from Select Vaccines Ltd. ANAVAX is a patent-protected VLP technology that can be applied to the prevention of several infectious diseases.

27 Sep 2010

WA teenage death related to swine flu

Teenager Andrew Allan died hours after being sent home from Northam Hospital, Western Australia (WA) with some Paracetamol by a nurse on the 17th September. He was ill with fever and vomiting but was not assessed by a doctor. Health officials now believe his illness was due to swine flu and are urging people to get vaccinated. Nine people have died from swine flu in WA this year.

26 Sep 2010

Key pathway used by malaria parasite to infect human cells identified

Development of an effective vaccine for malaria is a step closer following identification of a key pathway used by the malaria parasite to infect human cells. The discovery, by researchers at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, provides a new vaccine target through which infection with the deadly disease could be prevented.

24 Sep 2010

Global leaders announce new commitments to accelerate progress towards ending malaria deaths

Prominent leaders in global health and development joined several African heads of state at UN Headquarters today to announce new commitments to accelerate progress toward ending deaths from malaria, a disease that claims the lives of more than 850,000 Africans each year.

24 Sep 2010

Eastmont Community Center launches new adolescent immunization awareness initiative

Eastmont Community Center responded today to alarmingly low whooping cough and meningococcal meningitis immunization rates among Latino adolescents by launching a new adolescent immunization awareness initiative. The grassroots campaign aims to educate local Latino families about free or low-cost vaccines available to help protect children against these and other infectious diseases.

24 Sep 2010

Researchers discover new signaling pathway for cell development

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a new cell signaling pathway that controls cell growth and development, a pathway that, when defective, helps promote the formation of several major forms of human cancer, including lymphoma and leukemia.

24 Sep 2010

Researchers discover molecular signature to predict TB infection

Dallas scientists recently discovered a molecular signature in the blood of patients with tuberculosis (TB) that may explain why some people develop an active TB infection, while others exposed to the bacteria which causes the dangerous respiratory virus do not.

24 Sep 2010

ASTMH recommends FDA to include neglected infections of poverty in orphan classification

Today, U.S. scientists committed to finding answers to reducing and eliminating what are known as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that plague the world's poorest people in developing countries, urged the FDA to include in its orphan classification the neglected infections of poverty that also affect Americans, and expressed support for stronger relationships with the FDA to ultimately halt these ancient scourges.

24 Sep 2010

New website offers real-life case studies and immunology breakthroughs on HIV

Amid a devastating HIV epidemic, some South African pediatricians treat as many as 100 children per day. With such overwhelming case loads, the physicians have little time to review the information they were offered in medical school on the topic of immunology. Recognizing the potential value of an understanding of up-to-date immunology in the treatment of HIV, immunologist Clive Gray developed Immunopaedia, a Web site that quickly and efficiently gives doctors a working knowledge of immunology through real-life case studies and news of immunology breakthroughs.

24 Sep 2010

CIC proposes criteria to improve endpoints for cancer immunotherapy trials

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC), the leading global initiative in advancing the emerging field of immuno-oncology, has proposed criteria for improved endpoints for cancer immunotherapy trials, which were published online on September 8 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

24 Sep 2010

AJMS journal provides research update on new infectious pathogens

Newly recognized disease-causing viruses, bacteria, and other infections are continually emerging around the world, posing difficult challenges for patient diagnosis and treatment and for public health responses. A special symposium section of the September issue of The American Journal of the Medical Sciences (AJMS), official journal of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation, provides a research update on important new infectious pathogens.

24 Sep 2010

Swine flu making a come back

A second elderly man succumbed to the swine flu virus as the Northern Territory experiences an upsurge in infection rates from the virus. Both men had serious health problems that raised their risk of dying with the disease.

24 Sep 2010

Vaxonco initiates Phase I clinical trial of novel DNA-based polyepitope vaccine against malaria

Vaxonco Inc., a Korean company specializing in peptide-based vaccines and Ichor Medical Systems (Ichor), whose advanced TriGrid™ Delivery System (TriGrid™) is being tested worldwide for its ability to enhance delivery of DNA drugs and vaccines, announced today the initiation of a Phase I clinical trial to evaluate a novel DNA-based polyepitope vaccine against malaria.

23 Sep 2010

Scarab Genomics, Lonza enter sales agreement for Clean Genome technology

Scarab Genomics, a pioneer in the world of E. coli genomics and production strains, and Lonza, a world leader in biopharmaceutical development and production, announced today the companies have entered into a preferred marketing and sales agreement for Scarab Genomics' Clean Genome E. coli. Financial details of the contract were not disclosed.

23 Sep 2010

World leaders address country ownership, accountability, women at MDG summit

At the U.N. Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on Tuesday African leaders said "they could do more to meet U.N. goals to slash extreme poverty and urged stronger leadership among developing countries to tackle hunger and disease and attract investment," Reuters reports in an article that examines the leaders' call for African nations to take greater ownership over their development.

23 Sep 2010

Wall Street Journal reports on building epidemiological capacity in developing countries

The Wall Street Journal examines programs funded partly by the U.S. government that are helping "Nigeria, Vietnam and dozens of other countries" to expand "efforts to respond to disease threats, as epidemics add to the burden on their health-care systems and new pathogens spread around the globe."

23 Sep 2010

Merck expands patient assistance programs to provide medicines to needy people

Today, Merck announced that it has significantly expanded the number of Merck medicines available through its Merck Helps patient assistance programs, which include the Merck Patient Assistance Program, the Merck Vaccine Patient Assistance Program, the ACT Program for Oncology and Hepatitis C medicines, and the SUPPORT Program for HIV/AIDS medicines.

23 Sep 2010

Opinions: Genetically-modified crops can improve vaccines; MDG focus on women and girls; U.S. leadership for MDGs; Boosting access to drugs; Merits of bilateral development assistance

"The U.N. estimates that diarrheal diseases kill 1.8 million people every year. … So you might take it as good news that American company Ventria Bioscience says it has hit on an improvement to existing rehydration therapies, which could mean another tool in the fight against diarrhea," according to a Wall Street Journal editorial examining the delays the company has experienced since it first sought to have its product approved by the FDA back in 2004, even "[a]fter a panel of food, medicine, immunology, child nutrition and health experts had declared its product safe."

23 Sep 2010

DCGI approves ADXS11-001 human testing for cervix cancer

As part of approving the human testing of ADXS11-001 the lead agent for the treatment of cervix cancer of Advaxis, Inc., the live, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) immunotherapy company the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) required that the agent be tested to assure its safety prior to use.

23 Sep 2010

Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation to initiate clinical trial of new investigational vaccine

At an international gathering of TB vaccine researchers in Tallinn today, the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation announced it will initiate a clinical trial of an investigational live recombinant tuberculosis vaccine to be led by researchers at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The announcement was made at the Second Global Forum on TB Vaccine Development.

23 Sep 2010