Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

Brain can act as a hiding place for HIV virus: Study

Studies of the spinal fluid of patients given anti-HIV drugs have resulted in new findings suggesting that the brain can act as a hiding place for the HIV virus. Around 10% of patients showed traces of the virus in their spinal fluid but not in their blood.

23 Aug 2010

Researchers find medication for diabetes, smoking cessation

The script for two research teams inducted today into the American Chemical Society (ACS) scientific "hall of fame" the ACS Heroes of Chemistry is a tale of two pills. One team invented a medication that helps people with diabetes control their blood sugar levels. The second team invented a medicine that helps people stop smoking, an addiction that experts regard as today's single greatest preventable cause of death worldwide.

23 Aug 2010

New antisense drugs may help treat accidental infections: Study

New studies show that treatments targeting specific viral genes protected monkeys infected with deadly Ebola or Marburg viruses. Furthermore, the animals were protected even when therapeutics were administered one hour after exposure-suggesting the approach holds promise for treating accidental infections in laboratory or hospital settings.

23 Aug 2010

Hepatitis E vaccine successful in clinical trial: Study

In a Clinical trial in China, a vaccine has been found to protect against Hepatitis E. Hepatitis E virus, usually spread via contaminated food and faeces usually runs its course before the patient recovers. However it can cause severe illness in elderly people and has a mortality rate of 1 to 3 percent. It can also kill 5 to 25 percent of affected pregnant women and those who survive can suffer high rates of miscarriage. Around a third of the world's population have been infected by the virus say researchers.

22 Aug 2010

HHS Secretary releases review of new federal approach to medical countermeasures

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today released an examination of the federal government's system to produce medications, vaccines, equipment and supplies needed for a health emergency, known as medical countermeasures. The Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasure Enterprise Review: Transforming the Enterprise to Meet Long Range National Needs reviews the process and makes recommendations for a better approach.

21 Aug 2010

Immunization rate increases among teens: NIS report

In light of today's report of the National Immunization Survey results, the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) encourages increased efforts in fully immunizing all adolescents.

21 Aug 2010

HHS unveils $1.9B strategy to better prepare for biological threats

"Acknowledging that the development of medical countermeasures against bioterrorism threats and pandemic flu is lagging, [U.S.] federal authorities Thursday announced a $1.9 billion makeover of the system for identifying and manufacturing drugs and vaccines for public-health emergencies," Tribune Company/Seattle Times reports.

21 Aug 2010

Melanoma Research Alliance announces grant to support six research programs

The Melanoma Research Alliance today announced $5.2 million in grants to support six multidisciplinary teams pursuing innovative, translational research approaches designed to benefit melanoma patients.

21 Aug 2010

CDC says teen vaccination rates up but should go higher

The Wall Street Journal writes about vaccination rates among teens: "The CDC says more teenagers got their recommended immunizations last year, but that there's room for improvement — for example, only 27% of teenage girls received the recommended three doses of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine.

21 Aug 2010

USPTO to allow patent for Advaxis’s new vaccine technology

Advaxis, Inc., the live, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) immunotherapy company, has been notified that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will allow a patent issuance of its application No. 11/785,249 entitled "Antibiotic Resistance Free Vaccines and Methods for Constructing and Using Same."

21 Aug 2010

Feds to revamp bioterrorism and flu plans

Federal officials say they will revamp strategies for dealing with bioterrorism and pandemic flu because efforts to develop medical solutions have lagged, the Los Angeles Times reports. They "announced a $1.9-billion makeover of the system for identifying and manufacturing drugs and vaccines for public health emergencies." The makeover includes plans to hasten manufacturing time and improve surveillance to detect such threats more quickly.

21 Aug 2010

First Edition: August 20, 2010

Today's headlines include articles on health insurance for college students, new plans to overhaul the government's bioterror and flu preparations, changes in store for health care for the homeless and a look at the new high risk insurance plans.

20 Aug 2010

Bavarian Nordic comments on Obama Administration's revised strategy for medical countermeasures

Bavarian Nordic A/S -- a leading industrial biotechnology company and long-term collaborator with the U.S. Government on the development of vaccines for the protection against biological threats, today commented on the Obama Administration's revised strategy for development, procurement and stockpiling of medical countermeasures.

20 Aug 2010

Research may puzzle out HIV transmission by sexual contact

The virus that causes AIDS may undergo changes in the genital tract that make HIV-1 in semen different than what it is in the blood, according to a study led by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

20 Aug 2010

Scientists suggest combination vaccine prevents pertussis

If you think you shouldn't be worried about your child's—or your—lingering, nagging cough, think again. Pertussis has reemerged on the scene. In what some public health officials are calling the worst outbreak in 50 years, pertussis, better known by its unique sound—whooping cough, has been found in six states with 1,500 cases reported, six of them fatal.

19 Aug 2010

The George Washington University Professor to comment on water-borne diseases

Dr. Peter Hotez from The George Washington University is available to comment on the risk of water-borne diseases as a result of the recent flooding in Pakistan.

19 Aug 2010

Advaxis completes low dose group patient dosing in phase II cervical dysplasia clinical trial study

Advaxis, Inc.,the live, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) immunotherapy company, has completed the nine (9) doses to be administered to the three (3) vanguard patients in the low dose group of its phase II cervical dysplasia clinical trial study.

19 Aug 2010

Montana State University offers new biomedical technologies for prevention, treatment of viral infections

Researchers at Montana State University have developed six new biomedical technologies that could have applications for treating antibiotic resistant infections, fungal infections and viral infections; boosting humans' innate immunity and improving scientists' ability to study such compounds. The technologies are available for licensing to interested companies and entrepreneurs.

19 Aug 2010

Scientists suggest immunization against oncogenic herpesviruses can prevent cancer

Viruses that can invade host cells, initiate cancer and then flee fromb their own trail of destruction could be stopped in their tracks, say researchers writing in the September issue of the Journal of General Virology.

19 Aug 2010

FDA accepts to review Bristol-Myers Squibb's ipilimumab for melanoma

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted, for filing and review, the Biologics License Application (BLA) for ipilimumab for the treatment of adult patients with advanced melanoma who have been previously treated. The company also announced today that the application has been granted a priority review designation by the FDA.

19 Aug 2010